because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Parallel translations
- KJV Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.
- BSB because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.
- NKJV because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
- NASB because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they also profaned My Sabbaths, because their heart continually followed their idols.
- NLT For they had rejected my regulations, refused to follow my decrees, and violated my Sabbath days. Their hearts were given to their idols.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They were excluded because they rejected God's ordinances, broke His Sabbaths, and followed idols in their hearts. Their idolatry was the root of their rebellion.
Overview
God exposes the heart-level cause of their disobedience: their affections were set on idols rather than on Him. Outward law-breaking flowed from inward devotion to false gods. This diagnosis shows that true obedience requires a heart turned to the Lord, a change God promises to work through the new covenant in Christ (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Num 15:39and it shall be to you for a fringe, that you may look on it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you use to play the prostitute;
- Ezek 20:8“‘“But they rebelled against me, and would not listen to me. They didn’t all throw away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them, to accomplish my anger against them in the middle of the land of Egypt.
- Ezek 14:3–4“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their face. Should I be inquired of at all by them?
- Ezek 23:8She hasn’t left her prostitution since leaving Egypt; for in her youth they lay with her. They carressed her youthful nipples; and they poured out their prostitution on her.
- Amos 5:25–26“Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, house of Israel?
- Exod 32:1–8When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
- Acts 7:39–43to whom our fathers wouldn’t be obedient, but rejected him, and turned back in their hearts to Egypt,
- Num 25:2for they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.
- Ezek 20:13–14“‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 20:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.