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

EZEKIEL 20:16KJV
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Ezekiel 20:16 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 20:16 mean?

Ezekiel 20:16 explains that God was displeased with the Israelites because they rejected His decisions, did not follow His rules, treated His sabbath days as unimportant, and let their hearts be drawn to worship other gods. The verse lists these reasons as the cause for God's judgment against them.

In this verse, God is speaking through the prophet Ezekiel to the people of Israel, reminding them of their ancestors' repeated disobedience during the time after leaving Egypt. The verse highlights specific failures: ignoring God's commands, disrespecting the sabbath, and turning to idols. This is part of a larger message where God recounts Israel's history of unfaithfulness to explain why they faced consequences.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 20:16

  • "Despised" (מָאַס, ma'as): This word means to reject or treat with contempt. It shows that the people did not just ignore God's judgments but actively dismissed them as unworthy.
  • "Polluted" (חָלַל, chalal): This word often means to make something common or profane. Here, it means the Israelites treated the sabbath (שַׁבָּת, shabbat) as ordinary, not as a special day set apart for God.
  • "Heart" (לֵב, lev) and "went after" (הָלַךְ אַחַר, halakh achar): These words together show that the people's deepest desires and loyalties were directed toward idols (גִּלּוּל, gillul), not toward God. The phrase paints a picture of their inner life being drawn away from God.

Why Ezekiel 20:16 matters

  • This verse clarifies that the problem was not just outward actions but a deep, ongoing rejection of God's ways, including both public worship and private loyalty.
  • Ezekiel 20:16 connects the people's treatment of the sabbath with their overall faithfulness, showing that honoring the sabbath was a key sign of their relationship with God.
  • The verse helps the reader see that idolatry was not just about statues or rituals, but about the direction of the people's hearts and desires, which is a major theme throughout Ezekiel's message.

Where else these words appear

“idols” Hebrew H1544 · used in 45 verses

  • Leviticus 26:30 And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.
  • Ezekiel 8:10 So I went in and saw; and behold every form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, pourtrayed upon the wall round about.
  • Ezekiel 20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

“despised” Hebrew H3988 · used in 69 verses

  • Leviticus 26:15 And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant:
  • Job 30:1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock.
  • Isaiah 33:15 He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

“sabbaths” Hebrew H7676 · used in 89 verses

  • Exodus 16:23 And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
  • Leviticus 26:35 As long as it lieth desolate it shall rest; because it did not rest in your sabbaths, when ye dwelt upon it.
  • Nehemiah 13:21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.

“statutes” Hebrew H2708 · used in 100 verses

  • Genesis 26:5 Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.
  • Leviticus 26:43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
  • 2 Kings 17:34 Unto this day they do after the former manners: they fear not the LORD, neither do they after their statutes, or after their ordinances, or after the law and commandment which the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;