Ezekiel 44:12

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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לְמִכְשׁ֣וֹל

mikshôwl

H4383

“to/for · stumbling block of”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Construct

Appears 14× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Leviticus 19:14

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H3782

TWOT: 1050c

a stumbling, means or occasion of stumbling, stumbling block - stumbling, fall - means or occasion of stumbling, stumbling block

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

21: words
18: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is לְמִכְשׁ֣וֹל stumbling block H4383 — appearing just 14 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לְמִכְשׁ֣וֹל stumbling block H4383 occurs in 14 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
11 nouns
2 prepositions
1 conjunction
3 particles

Verb forms

יְשָׁרְת֤וּ Piel · Imperfect
וְהָי֥וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect
נָשָׂ֨אתִי Qal · Perfect
וְנָשְׂא֖וּ Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

עָוֺ֑ן iniquity H5771 ×2
עַל upon H5921 ×2
נָשָׂ֨אתִי to lift H5375 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 39 words from the Hebrew and 33 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 21 Hebrew tokens and 29 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 44:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Kings 16:10–16 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, and saw the altar that was at Damascus; and king Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship of it.
Psalms 106:26 Therefore he swore to them That he would overthrow them in the wilderness,
Ezekiel 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?
Ezekiel 20:15 Moreover also I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;
Ezekiel 20:23 Moreover I swore to them in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the nations, and disperse them through the countries;
Ezekiel 44:10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.
Deuteronomy 32:40–42 For I lift up my hand to heaven, And say, As I live forever,
1 Samuel 2:29–30 Why kick you at my sacrifice and at my offering, which I have commanded in [my] habitation, and honor your sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel my people?

Isaiah 9:16 For those who lead this people cause them to err; and those who are led of them are destroyed.
Ezekiel 20:6 in that day I swore to them, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.
Ezekiel 20:28 For when I had brought them into the land, which I swore to give to them, then they saw every high hill, and every thick tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering; there also they made their sweet savor, and they poured out there their drink-offerings.
Ezekiel 44:13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.
Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, That you may be no priest to me. Because you have your God's law, I will also forget your children.
Hosea 5:1 "Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, And give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; For you have been a snare at Mizpah, And a net spread on Tabor.
Amos 8:7 Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, "Surely I will never forget any of their works.
Malachi 2:8–9 But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi," says Yahweh of Hosts.

Revelation 10:5–6 The angel who I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his right hand to the sky,

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 44:12 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

יַ֗עַן אֲשֶׁ֨ר יְשָׁרְת֤וּ אוֹתָם֙ לִפְנֵ֣י גִלּֽוּלֵיהֶ֔ם וְהָי֥וּ לְבֵֽית יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְמִכְשׁ֣וֹל עָוֺ֑ן עַל כֵּן֩ נָשָׂ֨אתִי יָדִ֜י עֲלֵיהֶ֗ם נְאֻם֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה וְנָשְׂא֖וּ עֲוֺנָֽם

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 44:12 Septuagint · lemma form

ἀντί ὅς λειτουργέω αὐτός πρό πρόσωπον ὁ εἴδωλον αὐτός καί γίγνομαι ὁ οἶκος ἰσραήλ εἰς κόλασις ἀδικία ἕνεκα οὗτος αἴρω ὁ χείρ ἐγώ ἐπί αὐτός λέγω κύριος ὁ θεός

Because they ministered to them before their idols, and it became to the house of Israel a punishment of iniquity; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord God.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

חֲלַף דַהֲווֹ מְשַׁמְשִׁין יַתְהוֹן קֳדָם טַעֲוָתְהוֹן וַהֲווֹ לְבֵית יִשְׂרָאֵל לְתַקָלַת חוֹבִין עַל כֵּן קְיָמִית בְּמֵימְרִי עֲלֵיהוֹן אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים וִיקַבְּלוּן חוֹבֵיהוֹן:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 44:12 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 44:12 Because they ministered unto them before their idols, and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their iniquity.

Ver. 12. Because they ministered unto them before their idols.] Being carried down the stream of the times, and hurried away by violent temptation, which they afterwards regretted and repented of. So did not those Popish bishops and priests at the coming in of Queen Elizabeth, who were therefore worthily turned out, even fourteen bishops, six abbots, twelve deans, as many archdeacons, fifty prebendaries, fifteen presidents of colleges, many parsons, and other stiff mass priests. {a}

{a} Camden’s Elisabeth.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Tyndale Open Resources

44:12-14 The Levites had encouraged . . . Israel to fall into deep sin by abandoning the Lord and worshiping idols. One of the consequences of that sin was that they could no longer enter the inner court of the Temple like the priests. However, by God’s grace, they would still have a significant ministry in serving the people and slaughtering their sacrifices. • The people as a whole were placed at a greater distance from God because of their idolatry. Prior to the Exile they would have slaughtered their own sacrifices (see Lev 1:5, 11); now they must hand them over to the Levites to be slaughtered on their behalf.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

12. caused … to fall … iniquity] lit. as marg.: were a stumbling-block of iniquity unto. Ch. Eze_7:19, Eze_14:3-4, Eze_18:30. On “idols,” Eze_44:10.

lift up mine hand] i.e. sworn, Eze_20:5.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Because they ministered unto them before their idols,.... Had officiated for them in the priest's office, their idols being in the courts of the Lord at the same time; or preached unto them false doctrines, such as are not agreeable to the word of God; and led them into superstition and will worship, and confirmed them therein:

and caused the house of Israel to fall into iniquity; or, "were for a stumbling block of iniquity" (h); unto them the means of their stumbling and falling; by their ministrations, teaching them unsound doctrine; and by their practices and example, leading them into a way of false worship, and dissoluteness of life and conversation; who ought to have been examples to them in word and conversation, in faith and purity:

therefore have I lifted up mine hand against them, saith the Lord; to smite and afflict them, and chastise them for the same; or, "upon them", or "concerning them" (i); and so it may be expressive of an oath, of which lifting up the hand is a sign; wherefore, that what the Lord had said of them might be believed and expected, he swears to it:

and they shall bear their iniquity; which is repeated for the confirmation and certainty of it; see Eze 44:10, what is meant by it follows.

(h) "in offendiculum iniquitatis", Pagninus, Montanus; "offendiculo ad iniquitatem", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "offendiculo pravitatis", Starckius. (i) "super eos", Pagninus, Montanus; "super ipsos", Starckius; "super ipsis", Cocceius.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Ministered; acted as priests to idols, and in the name of idolatrous worshippers sacrificed to the idols.

Caused the house of Israel; were first occasion of fall to some, when their example was followed; and in after-times they seduced, persuaded, and urged them to serve their idols, and sacrifice to them, for this was the gain of the idol priests.

Lifted up mine hand; sworn against them, that they shall suffer for this their iniquity. This lifting up the hand is the form of an oath, Exo 6:8; Deu 32:40; Eze 20:5.

Their iniquity; the punishment of this sin; so it is Eze 14:10; 18:19,20; 23:35,49.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Iniquity - The punishment of it.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

as a stumbling block of iniquity priests of idolatry, attracting them to it.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 21 words (18 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mikshôwl (“stumbling block”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “stumbling block” (mikshôwl) shape what this verse is saying?
Leviticus 19:14 shares the word «stumbling block» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“iniquity” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
The verb «יְשָׁרְת֤וּ» is Piel Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Tyndale Open Study Notes read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 21 Hebrew ↔ 29 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 27 words in this verse.
“iniquity” occurs 2× in this single verse.
18 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 21 words in this verse.