Ezekiel 8:5-6
Living Bible

5 He said to me, “Son of dust, look toward the north.” So I looked and, sure enough, north of the altar gate in the entrance stood the idol.
6 And he said: “Son of dust, do you see what they are doing? Do you see what great sins the people of Israel are doing here, to push me from my Temple? But come, and I will show you greater sins than these!”




2 Chronicles 36:14
Names of God Bible

14 All the officials, the priests, and the people became increasingly unfaithful and followed all the disgusting practices of the nations. Although Yahweh had made the temple in Jerusalem holy, they made the temple unclean.



Daniel 5:1-4
Living Bible

​5 Belshazzar the king invited a thousand of his officers to a great feast where the wine flowed freely. 2-4 While Belshazzar was drinking, he was reminded of the gold and silver cups taken long before from the Temple in Jerusalem during Nebuchadnezzar’s reign and brought to Babylon. Belshazzar ordered that these sacred cups be brought in to the feast, and when they arrived, he and his princes, wives, and concubines drank toasts from them to their idols made of gold and silver, brass and iron, wood and stone.



Psalm 78:56-60
Names of God Bible

56 They tested Elohim Elyon and rebelled against him.
    They did not obey his written instructions.
57 They were disloyal and treacherous like their ancestors.
    They were like arrows shot from a defective bow.
58 They made him angry because of their illegal worship sites.
    They made him furious because they worshiped idols.
59 When Elohim heard, he became furious.
    He completely rejected Israel.
60 He abandoned his dwelling place in Shiloh,
    the tent where he had lived among humans.



2 Chronicles 26:16-18
Living Bible

16 But at that point he became proud—and corrupt. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the forbidden sanctuary of the Temple and personally burning incense upon the altar. 17-18 Azariah the High Priest went in after him with eighty other priests, all brave men, and demanded that he get out.
“It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense,” they declared. “That is the work of the priests alone, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to this work. Get out, for you have trespassed, and the Lord is not going to honor you for this!”


2 Chronicles 26:16-17
Names of God Bible

​16 But when he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He was unfaithful to Yahweh his Elohim. He went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the incense altar. 17 The priest Azariah went in after him with 80 of Yahweh’s courageous priests.



1 Kings 8:27-30
Living Bible
27 “But is it possible that God would really live on earth? Why, even the skies and the highest heavens cannot contain you, much less this Temple I have built! 28 And yet, O Lord my God, you have heard and answered my request: 29 Please watch over this Temple night and day—this place you have promised to live in—and as I face toward the Temple and pray, whether by night or by day, please listen to me and answer my requests. 30 Listen to every plea of the people of Israel whenever they face this place to pray; yes, hear in heaven where you live, and when you hear, forgive.


Jeremiah 2:26-27
Names of God Bible

26 “As a thief feels ashamed when he’s caught,
    so the nation of Israel will feel ashamed.
        Their kings, princes, priests,
            and prophets will also feel ashamed.
27 You call wood your father.
    You call stone your mother.
    You’ve turned your backs, not your faces, to me.
    But when you’re in trouble, you ask me to come and rescue you.


Jeremiah 32:30-35
Names of God Bible

30 Ever since they were young, the people of Israel and Judah have done what I consider evil. The people of Israel have made me furious by what they’ve done,” declares Yahweh. 31 “The people in this city have made me so angry and furious from the day they built it to this day. So now I must remove this city from my presence.
32 “The people of Israel and Judah have made me furious because they are evil. The people, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, and the Judeans and those who live in Jerusalem 33 have turned their backs, not their faces to me. I taught them again and again, but they refused to listen and learn. 34 They set up their detestable idols in the temple that is called by my name, and they dishonored it. 35 In the valley of Ben Hinnom they built worship sites for Baal to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech. I didn’t ask them to do this. It never entered my mind. I didn’t make Judah sin.


In the Bible, Tammuz is a Mesopotamian fertility god who is mentioned in Ezekiel 8:14, where Ezekiel sees women weeping for him at the north gate of the Jerusalem temple. Tammuz was a god associated with the cycles of life and death, particularly in the realm of vegetation, and his death was mourned in Babylonian and Phoenician traditions. The Bible passage highlights the presence of idolatrous practices within the Temple, as the women were mourning for a pagan deity. 

Key points about Tammuz in the Bible:
  • FERTILITY GOD:
    Tammuz was a fertility god in Mesopotamia, representing the cycles of vegetation and life. 
  • MOURNING:
    His death was mourned in Babylonian and Phoenician traditions, with women weeping for him. 
  • Ezekiel's Vision:
    Ezekiel's vision of women weeping for Tammuz at the Temple highlights the impurity of the religious practices within the Temple. 
  • Association with Adonis:
    Tammuz is also associated with the Greek deity Adonis, another fertility god who was mourned for his death. 
  • Jewish Calendar:
    The name Tammuz is also the name of the fourth month of the Jewish calendar, a fact that may be related to the Babylonian origin of the name. 
  • IDOLATRY:
    The mention of Tammuz in Ezekiel 8:14 is a condemnation of the Israelites' idolatrous practices.