I will turn My face away from them, and they will defile My treasured place. Violent men will enter it, and they will defile it.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will also turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Robbers will enter into it, and profane it.
- KJV My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
- NKJV I will turn My face from them, And they will defile My secret place; For robbers shall enter it and defile it.
- NASB I will also turn My face away from them, and they will profane My treasure; then robbers will enter and profane it.
- NLT I will turn my eyes from them as these robbers invade and defile my treasured land.
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
God will turn His face away, allowing robbers to enter and profane His treasured place. Even the temple is given over to defilement.
Overview
The Lord announces He will avert His face and let plunderers desecrate His secret place, likely the sanctuary. The withdrawal of God's protective presence opens the holy place to profanation. This grievous loss shows that persistent sin can forfeit even the privilege of God's dwelling, making all the more precious the new and lasting access to God secured through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 18:17I will scatter them before the enemy like the east wind. I will show them My back and not My face in the day of their calamity.”
- Ps 74:10–11How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?
- Ps 35:22O LORD, You have seen it; be not silent. O Lord, be not far from me.
- Ps 10:11He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.”
- Ps 74:18–23Remember how the enemy has mocked You, O LORD, how a foolish people has spurned Your name.
- Ezek 39:23–24And the nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to Me. So I hid My face from them and delivered them into the hands of their enemies, so that they all fell by the sword.
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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 7:22 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
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