because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.
Parallel translations
- WEB because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
- KJV Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart 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 15:39These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
- Ezek 20:8But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.
- Ezek 14:3–4“Son of man, these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces. Should I consult with them in any way?
- Ezek 23:8She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.
- Amos 5:25–26Did you bring Me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
- Exod 32:1–8Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
- Acts 7:39–43But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.
- Num 25:2who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods.
- Ezek 20:13–14Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
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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.