Ezekiel 20:26

24 For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.

25 I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.

And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.

27 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed Me by their unfaithfulness against Me.

28 When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.
KJV
And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
WEB
I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused all that opens the womb to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.”’
ASV
and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through [the fire] all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am Jehovah.
DARBY
and I defiled them by their own gifts, in that they devoted all that opened the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I [am] Jehovah.
BLB
And I made them unclean through their gifts, in making pass through all their firstborn, so that I might make them desolate, so that they would know that I [am] YHWH.
ÅB
Jeg lot dem bli urene ved sine offergaver, idet de lot alt som åpner mors liv, gå igjennom ilden, så jeg kunne ødelegge dem, for at de skulle kjenne at jeg er Herren.
OTB
Jeg lot dem bli urene gjennom deres gaver—ofringen av hver førstefødt—slik at de kunne bli fylt med skrekk så de ville vite at jeg er Herren.’
B1930
Jeg lot dem bli urene ved sine offergaver, idet de lot alt som åpner mors liv, gå igjennem ilden, så jeg kunde ødelegge dem, forat de skulde kjenne at jeg er Herren.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Ezekiel 6:7

    The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

    Read in context
  • Leviticus 18:21

    You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.

    Read in context
  • Isaiah 63:17

    Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.

    Read in context
  • Ezekiel 20:31

    When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

    Read in context
  • Ezekiel 16:20–21

    You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

    Read in context
  • 2 Kings 17:17

    They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 19:9

    I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

    Read in context
  • Jeremiah 32:35

    They have built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Hinnom to make their sons and daughters pass through the fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor had it ever entered My mind, that they should commit such an abomination and cause Judah to sin.

    Read in context