Ezekiel 20:16
New International Version
because they rejected my laws and did not follow my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths. For their hearts were devoted to their idols.

New Living Translation
For they had rejected my regulations, refused to follow my decrees, and violated my Sabbath days. Their hearts were given to their idols.

English Standard Version
because they rejected my rules and did not walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.

Berean Standard Bible
because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.

King James Bible
Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

New King James Version
because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.

New American Standard Bible
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.

NASB 1995
because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their idols.

NASB 1977
because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their idols.

Legacy Standard Bible
because they rejected My judgments, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their heart continually walked after their idols.

Amplified Bible
because they rejected My ordinances, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My Sabbaths, for their heart continually went after their [worthless] idols.

Christian Standard Bible
because they rejected my ordinances, profaned my Sabbaths, and did not follow my statutes. For their hearts went after their idols.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
because they rejected My ordinances, profaned My Sabbaths, and did not follow My statutes. For their hearts went after their idols.

American Standard Version
because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

Contemporary English Version
I said this because they had not only ignored my laws and teachings, but had disgraced my Sabbath and worshiped idols.

English Revised Version
because they rejected my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They rejected my rules, and they didn't live by my laws. They dishonored the days to worship me, because their hearts chased disgusting idols.

Good News Translation
I made the vow because they had rejected my commands, broken my laws, and profaned the Sabbath--they preferred to worship their idols.

International Standard Version
because they kept on rejecting my ordinances. They didn't live life consistent with my statutes, they profaned my Sabbaths, and their hearts followed their idols.

Majority Standard Bible
because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.

NET Bible
I did this because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols.

New Heart English Bible
because they rejected my ordinances, and didn't walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

Webster's Bible Translation
Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but profaned my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

World English Bible
because they rejected my ordinances, and didn’t walk in my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
Because they kicked against My judgments, "" And they have not walked in My statutes, "" And they have defiled My Sabbaths, "" For their heart is going after their idols.

Young's Literal Translation
Because against My judgments they did kick, And in My statutes they have not walked, And My sabbaths they have polluted, For after their idols their heart is going.

Smith's Literal Translation
Because they rejected upon my judgments, and my laws they went not in them, and my Sabbaths they profaned: for their heart went after their blocks.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
Because they cast off my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, and violated my sabbaths: for their heart went after idols.

Catholic Public Domain Version
For they cast aside my judgments, and they did not walk in my precepts, and they violated my Sabbaths. For their heart went after idols.

New American Bible
Their hearts followed after their idols so closely that they did not live by my statutes, but rejected my ordinances and desecrated my sabbaths.

New Revised Standard Version
because they rejected my ordinances and did not observe my statutes, and profaned my sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
Because they despised my judgments and polluted my sabbaths exceedingly; for their hearts went after their idols.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
Because they rejected my judgments and they have severely defiled my Sabbaths, and their heart goes after their idols
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
because they rejected Mine ordinances, and walked not in My statutes, and profaned My sabbaths--for their heart went after their idols.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
because they rejected mine ordinances, and walked not in my commandments, but profaned my sabbaths, and went after the imaginations of their hearts.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Israel's Rebellion in Egypt
15Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands— 16because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols. 17Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or bring them to an end in the wilderness.…

Cross References
Psalm 78:40-41
How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! / Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Numbers 14:22-23
not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times— / not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it.

Deuteronomy 32:51-52
For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence. / Although you shall see from a distance the land that I am giving the Israelites, you shall not enter it.”

Hebrews 3:16-19
For who were the ones who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? / And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? / And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? ...

Psalm 95:10-11
For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.” / So I swore on oath in My anger, “They shall never enter My rest.”

Isaiah 63:10
But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

Numbers 20:12
But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”

Deuteronomy 9:23-24
And when the LORD sent you out from Kadesh-barnea, He said, “Go up and possess the land that I have given you.” But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You neither believed Him nor obeyed Him. / You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I came to know you.

Hebrews 4:1-2
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be deemed to have fallen short of it. / For we also received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, since they did not share the faith of those who comprehended it.

Psalm 106:24-26
They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. / They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. / So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness,

Jeremiah 7:23-24
but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that it may go well with you. / Yet they did not listen or incline their ear, but they followed the stubborn inclinations of their own evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.

Nehemiah 9:16-17
But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments. / They refused to listen and failed to remember the wonders You performed among them. They stiffened their necks and appointed a leader to return them to their bondage in Egypt. But You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in loving devotion, and You did not forsake them.

Acts 7:39-42
But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. / They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’ / At that time they made a calf and offered a sacrifice to the idol, rejoicing in the works of their hands. ...

1 Corinthians 10:5-6
Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness. / These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.

Deuteronomy 1:26-27
But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. / You grumbled in your tents and said, “Because the LORD hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to be annihilated.


Treasury of Scripture

Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

they

Ezekiel 20:13,14
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them…

Ezekiel 20:8
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 14:3,4
Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them? …

Ezekiel 23:8
Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her.

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Continually Decrees Desecrated Despised Devoted Follow Guided Heart Hearts Idols Judgments Kick Laws Orders Ordinances Polluted Profaned Rejected Respect Rules Sabbaths Statutes Turned Walk Walked
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Continually Decrees Desecrated Despised Devoted Follow Guided Heart Hearts Idols Judgments Kick Laws Orders Ordinances Polluted Profaned Rejected Respect Rules Sabbaths Statutes Turned Walk Walked
Ezekiel 20
1. God refuses to be consulted by the elders of Israel
4. He shows the story of their rebellions in Egypt
19. in the desert
27. and in the land
33. He promises to gather them by the Gospel
45. Under the name of a forest he shows the destruction of Jerusalem














because they rejected My ordinances
The Hebrew word for "rejected" is "מאסו" (ma'asu), which conveys a strong sense of despising or casting away. This rejection is not merely passive but an active decision to turn away from God's established laws. In the historical context, the Israelites were given ordinances as a covenantal framework to live by, reflecting God's holiness and justice. Their rejection signifies a breach of this covenant, highlighting a deep-seated rebellion against divine authority. This phrase serves as a reminder of the importance of valuing and adhering to God's commands as expressions of His will and character.

refused to walk in My statutes
The term "refused" in Hebrew is "לא אבו" (lo avu), indicating a deliberate unwillingness or stubbornness. "Walk" (הלך, halak) is often used metaphorically in the Bible to describe one's conduct or way of life. "Statutes" (חקותי, chukotai) refers to decrees or laws that are meant to guide the moral and spiritual life of the community. The refusal to walk in God's statutes suggests a conscious choice to live contrary to His guidance, reflecting a heart that is resistant to divine instruction. This phrase underscores the necessity of aligning one's life with God's statutes to maintain a relationship with Him.

and profaned My Sabbaths
The word "profaned" comes from the Hebrew "חללו" (chalalu), meaning to defile or treat something sacred with irreverence. The Sabbath was a sign of the covenant between God and Israel, a day set apart for rest and worship. By profaning the Sabbath, the Israelites were not only breaking a commandment but also disregarding the sanctity of their relationship with God. This act of desecration reveals a deeper spiritual malaise, where the sacred is treated as common. The phrase calls believers to honor the Sabbath as a time to renew their commitment to God and to rest in His presence.

For their hearts continually went after their idols
The "heart" (לב, lev) in Hebrew culture is the center of one's being, encompassing mind, will, and emotions. The phrase "continually went after" suggests a persistent and habitual pursuit. "Idols" (גלוליהם, giluleihem) are not just physical objects but represent anything that takes the place of God in one's life. Historically, Israel's idolatry was a recurring issue, leading them away from the true worship of Yahweh. This phrase highlights the danger of allowing anything to capture our hearts more than God, urging believers to examine their own lives for modern-day idols that may hinder their relationship with Him.

Verse 16. - Their heart went after their idols. The words may point generally to the fact that the idolatrous tendencies of the people, though suppressed, were not really eradicated. The history of Baal-peor (Numbers 25:3-9) shows how ready they were to pass into act, and Amos 5:25, 26 implies a tradition of other like acts during the whole period of the wanderings in the wilderness.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
because
יַ֜עַן (ya·‘an)
Adverb
Strong's 3282: Heed, purpose, to indicate the reason, cause

they kept rejecting
מָאָ֗סוּ (mā·’ā·sū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 3988: To spurn, to disappear

My ordinances,
בְּמִשְׁפָּטַ֣י (bə·miš·pā·ṭay)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 4941: A verdict, a sentence, formal decree, divine law, penalty, justice, privilege, style

profaning
חִלֵּ֑לוּ (ḥil·lê·lū)
Verb - Piel - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 2490: To bore, to wound, to dissolve, to profane, to break, to begin, to play

My Sabbaths,
שַׁבְּתוֹתַ֖י (šab·bə·ṯō·w·ṯay)
Noun - common plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 7676: Intermission, the Sabbath

and refusing
לֹא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to walk
הָלְכ֣וּ (hā·lə·ḵū)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person common plural
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

in My statutes.
חֻקּוֹתַי֙ (ḥuq·qō·w·ṯay)
Noun - feminine plural construct | first person common singular
Strong's 2708: Something prescribed, an enactment, statute

For
כִּ֛י (kî)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

their hearts
לִבָּ֥ם (lib·bām)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 3820: The heart, the feelings, the will, the intellect, centre

continually went
הֹלֵֽךְ׃ (hō·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

after
אַחֲרֵ֥י (’a·ḥă·rê)
Preposition
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

their idols.
גִלּוּלֵיהֶ֖ם (ḡil·lū·lê·hem)
Noun - masculine plural construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 1544: A log, an idol


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 20:16 Because they rejected my ordinances and didn't (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 20:15
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