Ezekiel 32:1-16
New English Translation
Lamentation over Pharaoh and Egypt
32 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month,[a] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:
“‘You were like a lion[b] among the nations,
but you are a monster in the seas;
you thrash about in your streams,
stir up the water with your feet,
and muddy your[c] streams.
3 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘I will throw my net over you[d] in the assembly of many peoples;
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4 I will leave you on the ground,
I will fling you on the open field,
I will allow[e] all the birds of the sky to settle[f] on you,
and I will permit[g] all the wild animals[h] to gorge themselves on you.
5 I will put your flesh on the mountains,
and fill the valleys with your maggot-infested carcass.[i]
6 I will drench the land with the flow
of your blood up to the mountains,
and the ravines will be full of your blood.[j]
7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the sky;
I will darken its stars.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not shine.[k]
8 I will darken all the lights in the sky over you,
and I will darken your land,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
9 I will disturb[l] many peoples,
when I bring about your destruction among the nations,
among countries you do not know.
10 I will shock many peoples with you,
and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.
11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘The sword of the king of Babylon[m] will attack[n] you.
12 By the swords of the mighty warriors I will cause your hordes to fall—
all of them are the most terrifying among the nations.
They will devastate the pride of Egypt,
and all its hordes will be destroyed.
13 I will destroy all its cattle beside the plentiful waters;
and no human foot will disturb[o] the waters[p] again,
nor will the hooves of cattle disturb them.
14 Then I will make their waters calm,[q]
and will make their streams flow like olive oil, declares the Sovereign Lord.
15 When I turn the land of Egypt into desolation
and the land is destitute of everything that fills it,
when I strike all those who live in it,
then they will know that I am the Lord.’
16 This is a lament; they will chant it.
The daughters of the nations will chant it.
They will chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes,
declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 32:1 sn This would be March 3, 585 b.c.
- Ezekiel 32:2 tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).
- Ezekiel 32:2 tc The Hebrew reads, “their streams”; the LXX reads, “your streams.”
- Ezekiel 32:3 tn The expression “throw my net” is common in Ezekiel (12:13; 17:20; 19:8).
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Or “cause.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Heb “live.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Or “cause.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Heb “the beasts of the field,” referring to wild as opposed to domesticated animals.
- Ezekiel 32:5 tc The Hebrew text is difficult here, apparently meaning “your height.” Following Symmachus and the Syriac, it is preferable to emend the text to read “your maggots.” See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:203.
- Ezekiel 32:6 tn Heb “from you.”
- Ezekiel 32:7 tn Heb “will not shine its light.” For similar features of cosmic eschatology, see Joel 2:10; 3:15; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:5.
- Ezekiel 32:9 tn Heb “I will provoke the heart of.”
- Ezekiel 32:11 sn The king of Babylon referred to here was Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek 21:19).
- Ezekiel 32:11 tn Heb “approach.”
- Ezekiel 32:13 tn Heb “muddy.”
- Ezekiel 32:13 tn Heb “them,” that is, the waters mentioned in the previous line. The translation clarifies the referent.
- Ezekiel 32:14 tn Heb “sink,” that is, to settle and become clear, not muddied.
Ezekiel 17:1-33:20
New English Translation
A Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine
17 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, offer a riddle,[a] and tell a parable to the house of Israel. 3 Say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:[b]
“‘A great eagle[c] with broad wings, long feathers,[d]
with full plumage that was multi-hued,[e]
came to Lebanon[f] and took the top of the cedar.
4 He plucked off its topmost shoot;
he brought it to a land of merchants
and planted it in a city of traders.
5 He took one of the seedlings[g] of the land,
placed it in a cultivated plot;[h]
a shoot by abundant water,
like a willow he planted it.
6 It sprouted and became a vine,
spreading low to the ground;[i]
its branches turning toward him,[j] its roots were under itself.[k]
So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.
7 “‘There was another great eagle[l]
with broad wings and thick plumage.
Now this vine twisted its roots toward him
and sent its branches toward him
to be watered from the soil where it was planted.
8 In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted
to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.’
9 “Say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Will it prosper?
Will he not rip out its roots
and cause its fruit to rot[m] and wither?
All its foliage[n] will wither.
No strong arm or large army
will be needed to pull it out by its roots.[o]
10 Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper?
Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it?
Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”
11 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel:[p] ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’[q] Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon. 13 He took one from the royal family,[r] made a treaty with him, and put him under oath.[s] He then took the leaders of the land 14 so it would be a lowly kingdom that could not rise on its own but had to keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 15 But this one from Israel’s royal family[t] rebelled against the king of Babylon[u] by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?
16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, surely in the city[v] of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help[w] him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege walls are built to kill many people. 18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note[x]—he gave his promise[y] and did all these things. He will not escape!
19 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him[z] for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me. 21 All the choice men[aa] among his troops will die[ab] by the sword, and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!
22 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘I will take a sprig[ac] from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it.[ad]
I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs;
I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,
and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.
Every bird will live under it;
Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.
24 All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.
I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree.
I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout.
I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!’”
Individual Retribution
18 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel:
“‘The fathers eat sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth become numb?’[ae]
3 “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord,[af] you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore! 4 Indeed! All lives are mine—the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one[ag] who sins will die.
5 “Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right, 6 does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains[ah] or pray to the idols[ai] of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not approach a woman for marital relations[aj] during her period, 7 does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge,[ak] does not commit robbery,[al] but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the naked, 8 does not engage in usury or charge interest,[am] but refrains[an] from wrongdoing, promotes true justice[ao] between men, 9 and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out.[ap] That man[aq] is righteous; he will certainly live,[ar] declares the Sovereign Lord.
10 “Suppose such a man has[as] a violent son who sheds blood and does any of these things[at] mentioned previously 11 (though the father did not do any of them).[au] He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains,[av] defiles his neighbor’s wife, 12 oppresses the poor and the needy,[aw] commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to[ax] idols, performs abominable acts, 13 engages in usury, and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die.[ay] He will bear the responsibility for his own death.[az]
14 “But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example.[ba] 15 He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, 16 does not oppress anyone or keep what has been given in pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his food to the hungry and clothes the naked, 17 refrains from wrongdoing,[bb] does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations, and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity;[bc] he will surely live. 18 As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.
19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer[bd] for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live. 20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer[be] for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer[bf] for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness.[bg]
21 “But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die. 22 None of the sins he has committed will be held[bh] against him; because of the righteousness he has done, he will live. 23 Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the Sovereign Lord? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?
24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.[bi]
25 “Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s conduct[bj] is unjust!’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust? 26 When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it;[bk] because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die. 27 When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life. 28 Because he considered[bl] and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die. 29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’ Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?
30 “Therefore, I will judge each person according to his conduct,[bm] O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent[bn] and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity.[bo] 31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit![bp] Why should you die, O house of Israel? 32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone,[bq] declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Lament for the Princes of Israel
19 “And you, sing[br] a lament for the princes of Israel, 2 and say:
“‘What a lioness was your mother among the lions!
She lay among young lions;[bs] she reared her cubs.
3 She reared one of her cubs; he became a young lion.
He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.[bt]
4 The nations heard about him; he was trapped in their pit.
They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.[bu]
5 “‘When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost.
She took another of her cubs[bv] and made him a young lion.
6 He walked about among the lions; he became a young lion.
He learned to tear prey; he devoured people.
7 He broke down[bw] their strongholds[bx] and devastated their cities.
The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.
8 The nations—the surrounding regions—attacked him.
They threw their net over him; he was caught in their pit.
9 They put him in a collar with hooks;[by]
they brought him to the king of Babylon;
they brought him to prison[bz]
so that his voice would not be heard
any longer on the mountains of Israel.
10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard,[ca] planted by water.
It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.
11 Its boughs were strong, fit[cb] for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds.
It stood out because of its height and its many branches.[cc]
12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.
The east wind[cd] dried up its fruit;
its strong branches broke off and withered—
a fire consumed them.
13 Now it is planted in the wilderness,
in a dry and thirsty land.[ce]
14 A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit.[cf]
No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’
“This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”
Israel’s Rebellion
20 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month,[cg] some of the elders[ch] of Israel came to seek[ci] the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 2 The Lord’s message came to me: 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me,[cj] declares the Sovereign Lord.’ 4 Are you willing to pronounce judgment on them?[ck] Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers, 5 and say to them:
“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore[cl] to the descendants[cm] of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore[cn] to them, “I am the Lord your God.” 6 On that day I swore[co] to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land that I had picked out[cp] for them, a land flowing with milk and honey,[cq] the most beautiful of all lands. 7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you,[cr] and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” 8 But they rebelled against me and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols,[cs] nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out[ct] my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 I acted for the sake of my reputation,[cu] so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived,[cv] before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.[cw]
10 “‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them to the wilderness. 11 I gave them my statutes[cx] and revealed my regulations to them. The one[cy] who carries[cz] them out will live by them![da] 12 I also gave them my Sabbaths[db] as a reminder of our relationship,[dc] so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them.[dd] 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out[de] my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them.[df] 14 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 15 I also swore[dg] to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. 16 I did this[dh] because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols.[di] 17 Yet I had pity on[dj] them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
18 “‘But I said to their children[dk] in the wilderness, “Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations,[dl] nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God; follow my statutes, observe my regulations, and carry them out. 20 Treat my Sabbaths as holy[dm] and they will be a reminder of our relationship,[dn] and then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” 21 But the children[do] rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys[dp] them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out[dq] my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness. 22 But I refrained from doing so[dr] and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 23 I also swore[ds] to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands.[dt] 24 I did this[du] because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on[dv] their fathers’ idols. 25 I also gave[dw] them decrees[dx] that were not good and regulations by which they could not live. 26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices[dy]—they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire[dz]—so that I might devastate them, so that they would know that I am the Lord.’[ea]
27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me. 28 I brought them to the land that I swore[eb] to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoked me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings. 29 So I said to them, “What is this high place you go to?”’ (So it is called “High Place”[ec] to this day.)
30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers[ed] and engage in prostitution with detestable idols? 31 When you present your sacrifices[ee]—when you make your sons pass through the fire—you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me,[ef] O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not allow you to seek me![eg]
32 “‘What you plan[eh] will never happen. You say, “We will be[ei] like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.”[ej] 33 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm[ek] and with an outpouring of rage, I will be king over you. 34 I will bring you out from the nations and will gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm and with an outpouring of rage! 35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Sovereign Lord. 37 I will make you pass under[el] the shepherd’s staff,[em] and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt[en] against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
39 “‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols,[eo] if you will not listen to me.[ep] But my holy name will not be profaned[eq] again by your sacrifices[er] and your idols. 40 For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them[es] in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things. 41 When I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, I will accept you along with your soothing aroma. I will display my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. 42 Then you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land I swore[et] to give to your fathers. 43 And there you will remember your conduct[eu] and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves. You will despise yourselves[ev] because of all the evil deeds you have done. 44 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Prophecy Against the South
45 (21:1)[ew] The Lord’s message came to me: 46 “Son of man, turn toward[ex] the south,[ey] and speak out against the south.[ez] Prophesy against the open scrub[fa] land of the Negev, 47 and say to the scrub land of the Negev, ‘Listen to the Lord’s message! This is what the Sovereign Lord has said: Look here,[fb] I am about to start a fire in you,[fc] and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it. 48 And everyone[fd] will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”
49 Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”
The Sword of Judgment
21 (21:6)[fe] The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[ff] Jerusalem and speak out against the sanctuaries. Prophesy against the land of Israel 3 and say to them,[fg] ‘This is what the Lord says: Look,[fh] I am against you.[fi] I will draw my sword[fj] from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.[fk] 4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will go out from its sheath against everyone[fl] from the south[fm] to the north. 5 Then everyone will know that I am the Lord, who drew my sword from its sheath—it will not be sheathed again!’
6 “And you, son of man, groan with an aching heart[fn] and bitterness; groan before their eyes. 7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ you will reply, ‘Because of the report that has come. Every heart will melt with fear and every hand will be limp; everyone[fo] will faint, and every knee will be wet with urine.’[fp] Pay attention—it is coming and it will happen, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
8 The Lord’s message came to me: 9 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord says:
“‘A sword, a sword is sharpened,
and also polished.
10 It is sharpened for slaughter,
it is polished to flash like lightning!
“‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree![fq]
11 “‘He gave it to be polished,
to be grasped in the hand—
the sword is sharpened, it is polished—
giving it into the hand of the executioner.
12 Cry out and moan, son of man,
for it is wielded against my people;
against all the princes of Israel.
They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.
Therefore, strike your thigh.[fr]
13 “‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more?[fs] declares the Sovereign Lord.’
14 “And you, son of man, prophesy,
and clap your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice, even three times!
It is a sword for slaughter,
a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.
15 So hearts melt with fear and many stumble.
At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter.
Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!
16 Cut sharply on the right!
Swing to[ft] the left,
wherever your edge[fu] is appointed to strike.
17 I too will clap my hands together,
I will exhaust my rage;
I the Lord have spoken.”
18 The Lord’s message came to me: 19 “You, son of man, mark out two routes for the king of Babylon’s sword to take; both of them will originate in a single land. Make a signpost and put it at the beginning of the road leading to the city. 20 Mark out the routes for the sword to take: ‘Rabbah of the Ammonites’ and ‘Judah with Jerusalem in it.’[fv] 21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork[fw] in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens:[fx] He shakes arrows, he consults idols,[fy] he examines[fz] animal livers.[ga] 22 Into his right hand[gb] comes the portent for Jerusalem—to set up battering rams, to give the signal[gc] for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry,[gd] to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall. 23 But those in Jerusalem[ge] will view it as a false omen. They have sworn solemn oaths,[gf] but the king of Babylon[gg] will accuse them of violations[gh] in order to seize them.[gi]
24 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up[gj] your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force.[gk]
25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel,[gl]
whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
26 this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Tear off the turban;[gm]
take off the crown!
Things must change.[gn]
Exalt the lowly;
bring low the exalted![go]
27 A total ruin I will make it![gp]
Indeed, this[gq] will not be
until he comes to whom is the right, and I will give it[gr] to him.’[gs]
28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation:[gt]
“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,
polished to consume,[gu] to flash like lightning—
29 while seeing false visions about you
and reading lying omens about you[gv]—
to place you[gw] on the necks of the profane wicked,[gx]
whose day has come,
the time of final punishment.
30 Return it to its sheath![gy]
In the place where you were created,[gz]
in your native land, I will judge you.
31 I will pour out my anger on you;
the fire of my fury I will blow on you.
I will hand you over to brutal men,
who are skilled in destruction.[ha]
32 You will become fuel for the fire—
your blood will stain the middle of the land;[hb]
you will no longer be remembered,
for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
The Sins of Jerusalem
22 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment?[hc] Are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city?[hd] Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 3 Then say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom),[he] and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity), 4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom;[hf] the end of your years has come.[hg] Therefore I will make[hh] you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation,[hi] full of turmoil.
6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood.[hj] 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt[hk] within you; they have oppressed the resident foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow[hl] within you. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 9 Slanderous men shed blood within you.[hm] Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains;[hn] they commit obscene acts among you.[ho] 10 They have sexual relations with their father’s wife within you;[hp] they violate women during their menstrual period within you.[hq] 11 One[hr] commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates[hs] his sister—his father’s daughter[ht]—within you. 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest;[hu] you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me,[hv] declares the Sovereign Lord.[hw]
13 “‘See, I strike my hands together[hx] at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed[hy] they have done among you. 14 Can your heart endure,[hz] or can your hands be strong when I deal with you?[ia] I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you.[ib] 16 You will be profaned within yourself[ic] in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
17 The Lord’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace;[id] they are the worthless slag of silver. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you[ie] have become slag, look out! I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. 20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can blow on them to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there[if] and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”
23 The Lord’s message came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain[ig] or showers in the day of my anger.’[ih] 25 Her princes[ii] within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows[ij] within it. 26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane,[ik] or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore[il] my Sabbaths, and I am profaned in their midst. 27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey—shedding blood and destroying lives—so they can get dishonest profit. 28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash.[im] They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the resident foreigner and denied them justice.[in]
30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.[io] 31 So I have poured my anger on them and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done,[ip] declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Two Sisters
23 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers[iq] fondled their virgin nipples there. 4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah[ir] the name of her younger sister. They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters.[is] Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine.[it] She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians[iu]—warriors[iv] 6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her sexual favors[iw] on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired[ix]—with all their idols. 8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed[iy] with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.[iz] 9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians[ja] for whom she lusted. 10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious[jb] among women, and they executed judgments against her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this,[jc] but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,[jd] 15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians[je] whose native land is Chaldea. 16 When she saw them,[jf] she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.[jg] 17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her.[jh] They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she[ji] became disgusted with them. 18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness,[jj] I[jk] was disgusted with her, just as I[jl] had been disgusted with her sister. 19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 20 She lusted after her lovers there, whose genitals were like those of donkeys,[jm] and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21 This is how you assessed[jn] the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled[jo] your nipples and squeezed[jp] your young breasts.
22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look here,[jq] I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod,[jr] Shoa,[js] and Koa,[jt] and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will attack[ju] you with weapons,[jv] chariots, wagons, and with a huge army;[jw] they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment;[jx] they will punish you according to their laws. 25 I will direct[jy] my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears,[jz] and your survivors will die[ka] by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution that you have practiced in the land of Egypt.[kb] You will not seek their help[kc] or remember Egypt anymore.
28 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look here,[kd] I am about to deliver you over to[ke] those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for,[kf] and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct.[kg] 30 I will do these things to you[kh] because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment[ki] in your hand. 32 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup;[kj] you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 33 You will be overcome by[kk] drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 34 You will drain it dry,[kl] gnaw its pieces,[km] and tear out your breasts,[kn] for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’
35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me,[ko] you must bear now the punishment for[kp] your obscene conduct and prostitution.”
36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment[kq] on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me,[kr] they have passed through the fire as food to their idols.[ks] 38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day[kt] they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.
40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out.[ku] For them you bathed,[kv] painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her,[kw] including all kinds of men;[kx] even Sabeans[ky] were brought from the desert. The sisters[kz] put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 44 They slept with her[la] the way someone sleeps with a prostitute. In this way they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed,[lb] because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Bring up an army[lc] against them and subject them[ld] to terror and plunder. 47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses.[le] 48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship.[lf] Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.”
The Boiling Pot
24 The Lord’s message came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month:[lg] 2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege[lh] to Jerusalem this very day. 3 Recite a proverb to this rebellious house[li] and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Set on the pot,[lj] set it on,
pour water in it too;
4 add the pieces of meat to it,
every good piece,
the thigh and the shoulder;
fill it with choice bones.
5 Take the choice bone of the flock,
heap up wood under it;
boil rapidly,
and boil its bones in it.
6 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Woe to the city of bloodshed,
the pot whose rot[lk] is in it,
whose rot has not been removed[ll] from it!
Empty it piece by piece.
No lot has fallen on it.[lm]
7 For her blood was in it;
she poured it on an exposed rock;
she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.
8 To arouse anger, to take vengeance,
I have placed her blood on an exposed rock so that it cannot be covered up.
9 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Woe to the city of bloodshed!
I will also make the pile high.
10 Pile up the wood, kindle the fire;
cook the meat well, mix in the spices,
let the bones be charred.
11 Set the empty pot on the coals,[ln]
until it becomes hot and its copper glows,
until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot[lo] is consumed.
12 It has tried my patience;[lp]
yet its thick rot is not removed[lq] from it.
Subject its rot to the fire![lr]
13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct.[ls]
I tried to cleanse you,[lt] but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness[lu]
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
14 “‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment[lv] is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry![lw] I will judge you[lx] according to your conduct[ly] and your deeds, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel’s Wife Dies
15 The Lord’s message came to me: 16 “Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt,[lz] but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears. 17 Groan to moan for the dead,[ma] but do not perform mourning rites.[mb] Bind on your turban[mc] and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip[md] and do not eat food brought by others.”[me]
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. In the morning[mf] I acted just as I was commanded. 19 Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?”
20 So I said to them: “The Lord’s message came to me: 21 Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary—the source of your confident pride,[mg] the object in which your eyes delight,[mh] and your life’s passion.[mi] Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die[mj] by the sword. 22 Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lip or eat food brought by others.[mk] 23 Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you will not mourn or weep, but you will rot[ml] for your iniquities[mm] and groan among yourselves. 24 Ezekiel will be an object lesson for you; you will do all that he has done. When it happens, then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’
25 “And you, son of man, this is what will happen on the day I take[mn] from them their stronghold—their beautiful source of joy, the object in which their eyes delight, and the main concern of their lives,[mo] as well as their sons and daughters:[mp] 26 On that day a fugitive will come to you to report the news.[mq] 27 On that day you will be able to speak again;[mr] you will talk with the fugitive and be silent no longer. You will be an object lesson for them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”
A Prophecy Against Ammon
25 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[ms] the Ammonites[mt] and prophesy against them. 3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile. 4 So take note,[mu] I am about to make you slaves of[mv] the tribes[mw] of the east. They will make camps among you and pitch their tents among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk. 5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon[mx] a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 6 For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced with intense scorn[my] over the land of Israel, 7 take note—I have stretched out my hand against you, and I will hand you over as plunder[mz] to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and make you perish from the lands. I will destroy you; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Moab
8 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Moab[na] and Seir say, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations.” 9 So look, I am about to open up Moab’s flank,[nb] eliminating the cities,[nc] including its frontier cities,[nd] the beauty of the land—Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim. 10 I will hand it over,[ne] along with the Ammonites,[nf] to the tribes[ng] of the east, so that the Ammonites will no longer be remembered among the nations. 11 I will execute judgments against Moab. Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Edom
12 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Edom[nh] has taken vengeance against the house of Judah; they have made themselves fully culpable[ni] by taking vengeance[nj] on them.[nk] 13 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom, and I will kill the people and animals within her,[nl] and I will make her desolate; from Teman to Dedan they will die[nm] by the sword. 14 I will exact my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel. They will carry out in Edom my anger and rage; they will experience[nn] my vengeance, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
A Prophecy Against Philistia
15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines[no] have exacted merciless revenge,[np] showing intense scorn[nq] in their effort to destroy Judah[nr] with unrelenting hostility.[ns] 16 So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill[nt] the Kerethites[nu] and destroy those who remain on the seacoast. 17 I will exact great vengeance upon them with angry rebukes.[nv] Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I exact my vengeance upon them.’”
A Prophecy Against Tyre
26 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month,[nw] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, because Tyre[nx] has said about Jerusalem, ‘Aha, the gateway of the peoples is broken; it has swung open to me. I will become rich,[ny] now that she[nz] has been destroyed,’ 3 therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look,[oa] I am against you,[ob] O Tyre! I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. 4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers. I will scrape her soil[oc] from her and make her a bare rock. 5 She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations, 6 and her daughters[od] who are in the field will be slaughtered by the sword. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
7 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Take note that[oe] I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar[of] of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people. 8 He will kill your daughters in the field with the sword. He will build a siege wall against you, erect a siege ramp against you, and raise a great shield against you. 9 He will direct the blows of his battering rams against your walls and tear down your towers with his weapons.[og] 10 He will cover you with the dust kicked up by his many horses.[oh] Your walls will shake from the noise of the horsemen, wheels, and chariots when he enters your gates like those who invade through a city’s broken walls.[oi] 11 With his horses’ hooves he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people with the sword, and your strong pillars will tumble down to the ground. 12 They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious[oj] homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw[ok] into the water.[ol] 13 I will silence[om] the noise of your songs; the sound of your harps will be heard no more. 14 I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place where fishing nets are spread. You will never be built again,[on] for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.
15 “This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Tyre: Oh, how the coastlands will shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan at the massive slaughter in your midst! 16 All the princes of the sea will vacate[oo] their thrones. They will remove their robes and strip off their embroidered clothes; they will clothe themselves with trembling. They will sit on the ground; they will tremble continually and be shocked at what has happened to you.[op] 17 They will sing this lament over you:[oq]
“‘How you have perished—you have vanished[or] from the seas,
O renowned city, once mighty in the sea,
she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror![os]
18 Now the coastlands will tremble on the day of your fall;
the coastlands by the sea will be terrified by your passing.’[ot]
19 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging[ou] waters overwhelm you, 20 then I will bring you down to bygone people,[ov] to be with those who descend to the Pit. I will make you live in the lower parts of the earth among[ow] the primeval ruins, with those who descend to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or stand[ox] in the land of the living. 21 I will bring terrors on you, and you will be no more! Though you are sought after, you will never be found again, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
A Lament for Tyre
27 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “You, son of man, sing a lament for Tyre.[oy] 3 Say to Tyre, who sits at the entrance[oz] of the sea,[pa] merchant to the peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘O Tyre, you have said, “I am perfectly beautiful.”
4 [pb] Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders have perfected your beauty.
5 They crafted[pc] all your planks out of fir trees from Senir;[pd]
they took a cedar from Lebanon to make your mast.
6 They made your oars from oaks of Bashan;
they made your deck[pe] with cypress wood[pf] from the coasts of Cyprus.[pg]
7 Fine linen from Egypt, woven with patterns, was used for your sail
to serve as your banner;
blue and purple from the coastlands of Elishah[ph] were used for your deck’s awning.
8 The leaders[pi] of Sidon and Arvad[pj] were your rowers;
your skilled men,[pk] O Tyre, were your captains.
9 The elders of Gebal[pl] and her skilled men were within you, mending cracks;[pm]
all the ships of the sea and their mariners were within you to trade for your merchandise.[pn]
10 Men of Persia, Lud,[po] and Put were in your army, men of war.
They hung shield and helmet on you; they gave you your splendor.
11 The Arvadites[pp] joined your army on your walls all around,
and the Gammadites[pq] were in your towers.
They hung their quivers[pr] on your walls all around;
they perfected your beauty.
12 “‘Tarshish[ps] was your trade partner because of your abundant wealth; they exchanged silver, iron, tin, and lead for your products. 13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your clients; they exchanged slaves and bronze items for your merchandise. 14 Beth Togarmah exchanged horses, chargers,[pt] and mules for your products. 15 The Dedanites[pu] were your clients. Many coastlands were your customers; they paid[pv] you with ivory tusks and ebony. 16 Edom[pw] was your trade partner because of the abundance of your goods; they exchanged turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies for your products. 17 Judah and the land of Israel were your clients; they traded wheat from Minnith,[px] millet, honey, olive oil, and balm for your merchandise. 18 Damascus was your trade partner because of the abundance of your goods and of all your wealth: wine from Helbon, white wool from Zahar, 19 and casks of wine[py] from Izal[pz] they exchanged for your products. Wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were among your merchandise. 20 Dedan was your client in saddlecloths for riding. 21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your trade partners; for lambs, rams, and goats they traded with you. 22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah engaged in trade with you; they traded the best kinds of spices along with precious stones and gold for your products. 23 Haran, Kanneh, Eden, merchants from Sheba, Asshur, and Kilmad were your clients. 24 They traded with you choice garments, purple clothes and embroidered work, and multicolored carpets bound and reinforced with cords; these were among your merchandise. 25 The ships of Tarshish[qa] were the transports for your merchandise.
“‘So you were filled and weighed down in the heart of the seas.
26 Your rowers have brought you into surging waters.
The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
27 Your wealth, products, and merchandise, your sailors and captains,
your ship’s carpenters,[qb] your merchants,
and all your fighting men within you,
along with all your crew who are in you,
will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your downfall.
28 At the sound of your captains’ cries the waves will surge;[qc]
29 They will descend from their ships—all who handle the oar,
the sailors and all the sea captains—they will stand on the land.
30 They will lament loudly[qd] over you and cry bitterly.
They will throw dust on their heads and roll in the ashes;[qe]
31 they will tear out their hair because of you and put on sackcloth,
and they will weep bitterly over you with intense mourning.[qf]
32 As they wail they will lament over you, chanting:
“Who was like Tyre, like a tower[qg] in the midst of the sea?”
33 When your products went out from the seas,
you satisfied many peoples;
with the abundance of your wealth and merchandise
you enriched the kings of the earth.
34 Now you are wrecked by the seas, in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your company have sunk[qh] along with you.[qi]
35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands are shocked at you,
and their kings are horribly afraid—their faces are troubled.
36 The traders among the peoples hiss at you;
you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”
A Prophecy Against the King of Tyre
28 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to the prince[qj] of Tyre, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Your heart is proud[qk] and you said, “I am a god;[ql]
I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas”—
yet you are a man and not a god,
though you think you are godlike.[qm]
3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel;[qn]
no secret is hidden from you.[qo]
4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;
you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.
5 By your great skill[qp] in trade you have increased your wealth,
and your heart is proud because of your wealth.
6 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are godlike,[qq]
7 I am about to bring foreigners[qr] against you, the most terrifying of nations.
They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom,[qs]
and they will defile your splendor.
8 They will bring you down to the Pit, and you will die violently[qt] in the heart of the seas.
9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you—
though you are a man and not a god—
when you are in the power of those who wound you?
10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised[qu] by the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
11 The Lord’s message came to me: 12 “Son of man, sing[qv] a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘You were the sealer[qw] of perfection,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.[qx]
Every precious stone was your covering,
the ruby, topaz, and emerald,
the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,
the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl;[qy]
your settings and mounts were made of gold.
On the day you were created they were prepared.
14 I placed you there with an anointed[qz] guardian[ra] cherub;[rb]
you were on the holy mountain of God;
you walked about amidst fiery stones.
15 You were blameless in your behavior[rc] from the day you were created,
until sin was discovered in you.
16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence,[rd] and you sinned;
so I defiled you and banished you[re] from the mountain of God—
the guardian cherub expelled you[rf] from the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
18 By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade,
you desecrated your sanctuaries.
So I drew fire out from within you;
it consumed you,
and I turned you to ashes on the earth
before the eyes of all who saw you.
19 All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you;
you have become terrified and will be no more.’”
A Prophecy Against Sidon
20 The Lord’s message came to me: 21 “Son of man, turn toward[rg] Sidon[rh] and prophesy against it. 22 Say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you,[ri] Sidon,
and I will magnify myself in your midst.
Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments on her
and reveal my sovereign power[rj] in her.
23 I will send a plague into the city[rk] and bloodshed into its streets;
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it[rl] from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers[rm] or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them.[rn] Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.
25 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power[ro] over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely[rp] when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”
A Prophecy Against Egypt
29 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month,[rq] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, turn toward[rr] Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt. 3 Tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against[rs] you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster[rt] lying in the midst of its waterways,
who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.”[ru]
4 I will put hooks in your jaws
and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales.
I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways,
and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales.
5 I will leave you in the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your waterways;
you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected.[rv]
I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.
6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord
because they were a reed staff[rw] for the house of Israel;
7 when they grasped you with their hand,[rx] you broke and tore[ry] their shoulders,
and when they leaned on you, you splintered and caused their legs to be unsteady.[rz]
8 “‘Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will kill[sa] every person and every animal. 9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
“‘Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” 10 I am against[sb] you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol[sc] to Syene,[sd] as far as the border with Ethiopia. 11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal’s foot will pass through it; it will be uninhabited for forty years. 12 I will turn the land of Egypt into a desolation in the midst of desolate lands; for forty years her cities will lie desolate in the midst of ruined cities. I will scatter Egypt among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries.
13 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: At the end of forty years[se] I will gather Egypt from the peoples where they were scattered. 14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and will bring them back[sf] to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin; there they will be an insignificant kingdom. 15 It will be the most insignificant of the kingdoms; it will never again exalt itself over the nations. I will make them so small that they will not rule over the nations. 16 It will never again be Israel’s source of confidence, but a reminder of how they sinned by turning to Egypt for help.[sg] Then they will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.’”
17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month,[sh] the Lord’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar[si] of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre.[sj] Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it. 19 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon. He will carry off her wealth, capture her loot, and seize her plunder; it will be his army’s wages. 20 I have given him the land of Egypt as his compensation for attacking Tyre,[sk] because they did it for me, declares the Sovereign Lord. 21 On that day I will make Israel powerful,[sl] and I will give you the right to be heard[sm] among them. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
A Lament Over Egypt
30 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘Wail, “Alas, the day is here!”[sn]
3 For the day is near,
the day of the Lord is near;
it will be a day of storm clouds,[so]
it will be a time of judgment[sp] for the nations.
4 A sword will come against Egypt
and panic will overtake Ethiopia
when the slain fall in Egypt
and they carry away her wealth
and dismantle her foundations.
5 Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners,[sq] Libya, and the people[sr] of the covenant land[ss] will die by the sword along with them.
6 “‘This is what the Lord says:
Egypt’s supporters will fall;
her confident pride will crumble.[st]
From Migdol to Syene[su] they will die by the sword within her,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
7 They will be desolate among desolate lands,
and their cities will be among ruined cities.
8 They will know that I am the Lord
when I ignite a fire in Egypt
and all her allies are defeated.[sv]
9 “‘On that day messengers will go out from me in ships to frighten overconfident Ethiopia; panic will overtake them on the day of Egypt’s doom;[sw] for beware—it is coming!
10 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,
by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar[sx] of Babylon.
11 He and his people with him,
the most terrifying of the nations,[sy]
will be brought there to destroy the land.
They will draw their swords against Egypt,
and fill the land with corpses.
12 I will dry up the waterways
and hand the land over to[sz] evil men.
I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
13 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
I will destroy the idols,
and put an end to the gods of Memphis.
There will no longer be a prince from the land of Egypt;
so I will make the land of Egypt fearful.[ta]
14 I will desolate Pathros,
I will ignite a fire in Zoan,
and I will execute judgments on Thebes.
15 I will pour out my anger upon Pelusium,[tb]
the stronghold of Egypt;
I will cut off[tc] the hordes of Thebes.
16 I will ignite a fire in Egypt;
Syene[td] will writhe in agony,
Thebes will be broken down,
and Memphis will face enemies every day.
17 The young men of On and of Pi Beseth[te] will die by the sword;
and the cities will go[tf] into captivity.
18 In Tahpanhes the day will be dark[tg]
when I break the yoke of Egypt there.
Her confident pride will cease within her;
a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.
19 I will execute judgments on Egypt.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month,[th] the Lord’s message came to me: 21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm[ti] of Pharaoh king of Egypt.[tj] Look, it has not been bandaged for healing or set with a dressing so that it might become strong enough to grasp a sword. 22 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look,[tk] I am against[tl] Pharaoh king of Egypt, and I will break his arms, the strong arm and the broken one, and I will make the sword drop from his hand. 23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. 24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, and I will place my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan like the fatally wounded before the king of Babylon.[tm] 25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh will fall limp. Then they will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he extends it against the land of Egypt. 26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among foreign countries. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
A Cedar in Lebanon
31 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month,[tn] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and his hordes:
“‘Who are you like in your greatness?
3 Consider Assyria,[to] a cedar in Lebanon,[tp]
with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,
and extremely tall;
its top reached into the clouds.
4 The water made it grow;
underground springs made it grow tall.
Rivers flowed all around the place it was planted,
while smaller channels watered all the trees of the field.[tq]
5 Therefore it grew taller than all the trees of the field;
its boughs grew large and its branches grew long,
because of the plentiful water in its shoots.[tr]
6 All the birds of the sky nested in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field gave birth;
in its shade all the great[ts] nations lived.
7 It was beautiful in its loftiness, in the length of its branches;
for its roots went down deep to plentiful waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not eclipse it,
nor could the fir trees[tt] match its boughs;
the plane trees were as nothing compared to its branches;
no tree in the garden of God could rival its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful with its many branches;
all the trees of Eden, in the garden of God, envied it.
10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because it was tall in stature, and its top reached into the clouds, and it was proud of its height, 11 I gave it over to the leader of the nations. He has judged it thoroughly,[tu] as its sinfulness deserves. I have thrown it out. 12 Foreigners from the most terrifying nations have cut it down and left it to lie there on the mountains. In all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the land[tv] have departed[tw] from its shade and left it. 13 On its ruins all the birds of the sky will live, and all the wild animals[tx] will walk[ty] on its branches. 14 For this reason no watered trees will grow so tall; their tops will not reach into the clouds, nor will the well-watered ones grow that high.[tz] For all of them have been appointed to die in the lower parts of the earth;[ua] they will be among mere mortals,[ub] with those who descend to the Pit.
15 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it[uc] went down to Sheol I caused observers to lament.[ud] I covered it with the deep and held back its rivers; its plentiful water was restrained. I clothed Lebanon in black for it, and all the trees of the field wilted because of it. 16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the Pit.[ue] Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below. 17 Those who lived in its shade, its allies[uf] among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword. 18 Which of the trees of Eden was like you in majesty and loftiness? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the lower parts of the earth; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword! This is what will happen to Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Lamentation over Pharaoh and Egypt
32 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first of the month,[ug] the Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, sing a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him:
“‘You were like a lion[uh] among the nations,
but you are a monster in the seas;
you thrash about in your streams,
stir up the water with your feet,
and muddy your[ui] streams.
3 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘I will throw my net over you[uj] in the assembly of many peoples;
and they will haul you up in my dragnet.
4 I will leave you on the ground,
I will fling you on the open field,
I will allow[uk] all the birds of the sky to settle[ul] on you,
and I will permit[um] all the wild animals[un] to gorge themselves on you.
5 I will put your flesh on the mountains,
and fill the valleys with your maggot-infested carcass.[uo]
6 I will drench the land with the flow
of your blood up to the mountains,
and the ravines will be full of your blood.[up]
7 When I extinguish you, I will cover the sky;
I will darken its stars.
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
and the moon will not shine.[uq]
8 I will darken all the lights in the sky over you,
and I will darken your land,
declares the Sovereign Lord.
9 I will disturb[ur] many peoples,
when I bring about your destruction among the nations,
among countries you do not know.
10 I will shock many peoples with you,
and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.
11 “‘For this is what the Sovereign Lord says:
“‘The sword of the king of Babylon[us] will attack[ut] you.
12 By the swords of the mighty warriors I will cause your hordes to fall—
all of them are the most terrifying among the nations.
They will devastate the pride of Egypt,
and all its hordes will be destroyed.
13 I will destroy all its cattle beside the plentiful waters;
and no human foot will disturb[uu] the waters[uv] again,
nor will the hooves of cattle disturb them.
14 Then I will make their waters calm,[uw]
and will make their streams flow like olive oil, declares the Sovereign Lord.
15 When I turn the land of Egypt into desolation
and the land is destitute of everything that fills it,
when I strike all those who live in it,
then they will know that I am the Lord.’
16 This is a lament; they will chant it.
The daughters of the nations will chant it.
They will chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes,
declares the Sovereign Lord.”
17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month,[ux] the Lord’s message came to me: 18 “Son of man, wail[uy] over the horde of Egypt. Bring it down;[uz] bring[va] her[vb] and the daughters of powerful nations down to the lower parts of the earth, along with those who descend to the Pit. 19 Say to them,[vc] ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?[vd] Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!’ 20 They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; they carry her and all her hordes away. 21 The bravest of the warriors will speak to him from the midst of Sheol along with his allies, saying: ‘The uncircumcised have come down; they lie still, killed by the sword.’
22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave,[ve] all of them struck down by the sword.[vf] 23 Their[vg] graves are located in the remote slopes of the Pit.[vh] Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit. 25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave.[vi] All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the Pit; they are placed among the dead.
26 “Meshech Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave.[vj] All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times,[vk] who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones,[vl] when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.
28 “But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those killed by the sword.
29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the Pit.
30 “All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the Pit.
31 “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled over all his hordes who were killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, declares the Sovereign Lord. 32 Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
Ezekiel Israel’s Watchman
33 The Lord’s message came to me: 2 “Son of man, speak to your people,[vm] and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet,[vn] and warns the people,[vo] 4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death.[vp] 5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself.[vq] If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity,[vr] but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’[vs]
7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman[vt] for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’[vu] and you do not warn[vv] the wicked about his behavior,[vw] the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death.[vx] 9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior,[vy] and he refuses to change,[vz] he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.
10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us,[wa] and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior[wb] and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds![wc] Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
12 “And you, son of man, say to your people,[wd] ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels.[we] As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it.[wf] The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness[wg] if he sins.’[wh] 13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 15 He[wi] returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life,[wj] committing no iniquity. He will certainly live—he will not die. 16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted[wk] against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.
17 “Yet your people[wl] say, ‘The behavior[wm] of the Lord is not right,’[wn] when it is their behavior that is not right. 18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.”[wo]
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 17:2 sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.
- Ezekiel 17:3 tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.
- Ezekiel 17:3 sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).
- Ezekiel 17:3 tn Hebrew has two words for wings; it is unknown whether they are fully synonymous or whether one term distinguishes a particular part of the wing such as the wing coverts (nearest the shoulder), secondaries (mid-feathers of the wing), or primaries (last and longest section of the wing).
- Ezekiel 17:3 tn This term was used in 16:10, 13, and 18 of embroidered cloth.
- Ezekiel 17:3 sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).
- Ezekiel 17:5 tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.
- Ezekiel 17:5 tn Heb “a field for seed.”
- Ezekiel 17:6 tn Heb “short of stature.”
- Ezekiel 17:6 tn That is, the eagle.
- Ezekiel 17:6 tn Or “him,” i.e., the eagle.
- Ezekiel 17:7 sn The phrase another great eagle refers to Pharaoh Hophra.
- Ezekiel 17:9 tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT and appears to have the meaning of “strip off.” In application to fruit the meaning may be “cause to rot.”
- Ezekiel 17:9 tn Heb “all the טַרְפֵּי (tarpe) of branches.” The word טַרְפֵּי occurs only here in the Bible; its precise meaning is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 17:9 tn Or “there will be no strong arm or large army when it is pulled up by the roots.”
- Ezekiel 17:12 tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
- Ezekiel 17:12 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.
- Ezekiel 17:13 tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).
- Ezekiel 17:13 tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”
- Ezekiel 17:15 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 17:15 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 17:16 tn Heb “place.”
- Ezekiel 17:17 tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”
- Ezekiel 17:18 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.
- Ezekiel 17:18 sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).
- Ezekiel 17:19 tn Heb “place it on his head.”
- Ezekiel 17:21 tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhayv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharayv).
- Ezekiel 17:21 tn Heb “fall.”
- Ezekiel 17:22 sn The language is analogous to messianic imagery in Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8; 6:4, although the technical terminology is not the same.
- Ezekiel 17:22 tc The LXX lacks “and plant it.”
- Ezekiel 18:2 tn This word occurs three times, in the Qal stem here and the parallel passage in Jer 31:29-30, and in the Piel stem at Eccl 10:10. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the “bluntness” of the teeth is not due to grinding them down because of the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.
- Ezekiel 18:3 tn This expression occurs often in Ezekiel (5:11; 14:16, 18, 20; 16:48; 17:16, 19; 20:3, 31, 33; 33:11, 27; 34:8; 35:6, 11).
- Ezekiel 18:4 tn Heb “life.”
- Ezekiel 18:6 tn Heb “on the mountains he does not eat.” The mountains are often mentioned as the place where idolatrous sacrifices were eaten (Ezek 20:28; 22:9; 34:6).
- Ezekiel 18:6 tn Heb “does not lift up his eyes.” This refers to looking to idols for help.
- Ezekiel 18:6 tn The expression קָרַב אֶל (qarav ʾel) means “draw near to” or “approach,” but is also used as a euphemism for the intended purpose of sexual relations (Lev 18:14; Deut 22:14; Isa 8:3).
- Ezekiel 18:7 tn Heb “restores to the debtor his pledge.” The root occurs in Exod 22:25 in reference to restoring a man’s garment as a pledge before nightfall.
- Ezekiel 18:7 tn The Hebrew term refers to seizure of property, usually by the rich (Isa 3:14; 10:2; Mic 2:2; see Lev 5:21, 22 HT [6:2, 3 ET]).
- Ezekiel 18:8 sn This law was given in Lev 25:36.
- Ezekiel 18:8 tn Heb, “turns back his hand.”
- Ezekiel 18:8 tn Heb “justice of truth.”
- Ezekiel 18:9 tc The MT reads לַעֲשׂוֹת אֱמֶת (laʿasot ʾemet, “to do with integrity”), while the LXX reads “to do them,” presupposing לַעֲשׂוֹת אֹתָם (laʿasot ʾotam). The ם (mem) and ת (tav) have been reversed in the MT. The LXX reflects the original, supported by similar phrasing in Ezekiel 11:20; 20:19.
- Ezekiel 18:9 tn Heb “he.”
- Ezekiel 18:9 tn Heb “living, he will live.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.
- Ezekiel 18:10 tn Heb “begets.”
- Ezekiel 18:10 tn Heb “and he does, a brother, from one of these.” If “brother” is retained, it may be an adverbial accusative: “against a brother” (i.e., fellow Israelite). But the form is likely dittographic, as the consonants that spell “brother” אח (alef-het) occur in the following word).
- Ezekiel 18:11 tn Heb “and he all of these did not do.” The parenthetical note refers back to the father described in the preceding verses.
- Ezekiel 18:11 sn See note on “mountains” in v. 6.
- Ezekiel 18:12 sn The poor and needy are often mentioned together in the OT (Deut 24:14; Jer 22:16; Ezek 16:49; Pss 12:6; 35:10; 37:14).
- Ezekiel 18:12 tn Heb “lifts up his eyes.”
- Ezekiel 18:13 tn Heb “be put to death.” The translation follows an alternative reading that appears in several ancient textual witnesses.
- Ezekiel 18:13 tn Heb “his blood will be upon him.”
- Ezekiel 18:14 tn Heb “and he sees and does not do likewise.”
- Ezekiel 18:17 tc This translation follows the LXX. The MT reads: “restrains his hand from the poor,” which makes no sense here.
- Ezekiel 18:17 tn Or “in his father’s punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 18, 19, 20; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”
- Ezekiel 18:19 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
- Ezekiel 18:20 tn Heb “the righteousness of the righteous one will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be upon him.”
- Ezekiel 18:22 tn Heb “remembered.”
- Ezekiel 18:24 tn Heb “because of them he will die.”
- Ezekiel 18:25 tn Heb “way.”
- Ezekiel 18:26 tn Heb “for them” or “because of them.”
- Ezekiel 18:28 tn Heb “he saw.”
- Ezekiel 18:30 tn Heb “ways.”
- Ezekiel 18:30 tn The verbs and persons in this verse are plural whereas the individual has been the subject of the chapter.
- Ezekiel 18:30 tn Or “leading to punishment.”
- Ezekiel 18:31 sn In Ezek 11:19 and 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.
- Ezekiel 18:32 tn Heb “the death of the one dying.”
- Ezekiel 19:1 tn Heb “lift up.”
- Ezekiel 19:2 sn Lions probably refer to Judahite royalty and/or nobility. The lioness appears to symbolize the Davidic dynasty, though some see the referent as Hamutal, the wife of Josiah and mother of Jehoahaz and Zedekiah. The background for Judah being compared to lions seems to be Gen 49:9.
- Ezekiel 19:3 tn Heb “a man.”
- Ezekiel 19:4 sn The description applies to King Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:31-34; Jer 22:10-12).
- Ezekiel 19:5 sn The identity of this second lion is unclear; the referent is probably Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. If the lioness is Hamutal, then Zedekiah is the lion described here.
- Ezekiel 19:7 tc The Hebrew text reads “knew” but is apparently the result of a ד/ר (dalet/resh) confusion. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. However, Allen retains the reading “widows” as the object of the verb, which he understands in the sense of “do harm to,” and translates the line: “He did harm to women by making them widows” (p. 282). The line also appears to be lacking a beat for the meter of the poem.
- Ezekiel 19:7 tc The Hebrew text reads “widows” instead of “strongholds,” apparently due to a confusion of ר (resh) and ל (lamed). L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284) favors the traditional text, understanding “widows” in the sense of “women made widows.” D. I. Block, (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:602) also defends the Hebrew text, arguing that the image is that of a dominant male lion who takes over the pride and by copulating with the females lays claim to his predecessor’s “widows.”
- Ezekiel 19:9 tn Or “They put him in a neck stock with hooks.” The noun סּוּגַר (sugar), translated “collar,” occurs only here in the Bible. L. C. Allen and D. I. Block point out a Babylonian cognate that refers to a device for transporting prisoners of war that held them by their necks (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:597, n. 35; L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284). Based on the Hebrew root, the traditional rendering had been “cage” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Ezekiel 19:9 tc The term in the MT occurs only here and in Eccl 9:12, where it refers to a net for catching fish. The LXX translates this as “prison,” which assumes a confusion of dalet and resh took place in the MT.
- Ezekiel 19:10 tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב/כ (beth/kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.
- Ezekiel 19:11 tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.
- Ezekiel 19:11 tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”
- Ezekiel 19:12 sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.
- Ezekiel 19:13 sn This metaphor depicts the Babylonian exile of the Davidic dynasty.
- Ezekiel 19:14 tn The verse uses language similar to that in Judg 9:20.
- Ezekiel 20:1 sn The date would be August 14th, 591 b.c. The seventh year is the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile.
- Ezekiel 20:1 tn Heb “men from the elders.”
- Ezekiel 20:1 tn See the note at 14:3.
- Ezekiel 20:3 tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”
- Ezekiel 20:4 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment.
- Ezekiel 20:5 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:5 tn Heb “seed.”
- Ezekiel 20:5 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:6 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”
- Ezekiel 20:6 tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”
- Ezekiel 20:6 sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).
- Ezekiel 20:7 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.
- Ezekiel 20:8 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”
- Ezekiel 20:8 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
- Ezekiel 20:9 tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”
- Ezekiel 20:9 tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”
- Ezekiel 20:9 tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.
- Ezekiel 20:11 sn The laws were given at Mount Sinai.
- Ezekiel 20:11 tn Heb “the man.”
- Ezekiel 20:11 tn Heb “does.”
- Ezekiel 20:11 tn The wording and the concept are contained in Lev 18:5 and Deut 30:15-19.
- Ezekiel 20:12 sn Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah, also stressed the importance of obedience to the Sabbath law (Jer 17).
- Ezekiel 20:12 tn Heb “to become a sign between me and them.”
- Ezekiel 20:12 tn Or “set them apart.” The last phrase of verse 12 appears to be a citation of Exod 31:13.
- Ezekiel 20:13 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
- Ezekiel 20:13 tn Heb “to bring them to an end.”
- Ezekiel 20:15 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:16 tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 15-16 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.
- Ezekiel 20:16 tn Heb “for after their idols their heart was going.” The use of the active participle (“was going”) in the Hebrew text draws attention to the ongoing nature of their idolatrous behavior.
- Ezekiel 20:17 tn Heb “my eye pitied.”
- Ezekiel 20:18 tn Heb “sons,” reflecting the patriarchal idiom of the culture.
- Ezekiel 20:18 tn Or “standard of justice.” See Ezek 7:27.
- Ezekiel 20:20 tn Or “set apart my Sabbaths.”
- Ezekiel 20:20 tn Heb “and they will become a sign between me and you.”
- Ezekiel 20:21 tn Heb “sons.”
- Ezekiel 20:21 tn Or “carries them out.”
- Ezekiel 20:21 tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”
- Ezekiel 20:22 tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.
- Ezekiel 20:23 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:23 sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.
- Ezekiel 20:24 tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 23-24 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.
- Ezekiel 20:24 tn Or “they worshiped” (NCV, TEV, CEV); Heb “their eyes were on” or “were after” (cf. v. 16).
- Ezekiel 20:25 tn Or “permitted.” sn The content of the verse is shocking: that God would “give” bad decrees. This probably does not refer to the Mosaic law but to the practices of the Canaanites who were left in the land in order to test Israel. See Judg 2:20-23, the note on “decrees” here in Ezek 20:25, and the note on “pass through the fire” in v. 26.
- Ezekiel 20:25 tn The Hebrew term חֻקּוֹת (khuqqot; translated “statutes” elsewhere in this chapter) is normally feminine. Here Ezekiel changes the form to masculine: חֻקִּים (khuqqim). Further, they are not called “my decrees” as vv. 11 and 13 refer to “my statutes.” The change is a signal that Ezekiel is not talking about the same statutes in vv. 11 and 13, which lead to life.
- Ezekiel 20:26 tn Or “gifts.”
- Ezekiel 20:26 sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).
- Ezekiel 20:26 sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.
- Ezekiel 20:28 tn Heb “that I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:29 tn The Hebrew word בָּמָה (bamah) means “high place.”
- Ezekiel 20:30 tn Heb “in the way of your fathers.”
- Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “gifts.”
- Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “Will I reveal myself to you?”
- Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”
- Ezekiel 20:32 tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”
- Ezekiel 20:32 tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”
- Ezekiel 20:32 tn Heb “serving wood and stone.” sn This verse echoes the content of 1 Sam 8:20.
- Ezekiel 20:33 sn This phrase occurs frequently in Deuteronomy (Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8).
- Ezekiel 20:37 tn This is the same Hebrew verb used to describe the passing of the children through the fire.
- Ezekiel 20:37 sn The metaphor may be based in Lev 27:32 (see also Jer 33:13 and Matt 25:32-33). A shepherd would count his sheep as they passed beneath his staff.
- Ezekiel 20:38 tn See the note at 2:3.
- Ezekiel 20:39 sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.
- Ezekiel 20:39 tn Heb “and after, if you will not listen to me.” The translation leaves out “and after” for smoothness. The text is difficult. M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:374) suggests that it may mean “but afterwards, if you will not listen to me…” with an unspoken threat.
- Ezekiel 20:39 sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21 and 20:3.
- Ezekiel 20:39 tn Or “gifts.”
- Ezekiel 20:40 tn Heb “all of it.”
- Ezekiel 20:42 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
- Ezekiel 20:43 tn Heb “ways.”
- Ezekiel 20:43 tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”
- Ezekiel 20:45 sn Beginning with 20:45, the verse numbers through 21:32 in the English Bible differ by five from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:45 ET = 21:1 HT, 20:46 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:6 HT etc., through 21:32 ET = 21:37 HT. Beginning with 22:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
- Ezekiel 20:46 tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2 and 13:17.
- Ezekiel 20:46 tn Or “the way toward the south,” or “the way toward Teman.” Teman is in the south and may be a location or the direction.
- Ezekiel 20:46 tn Or “toward Darom.” Darom may mean the south or a region just north of the southern city of Beer Sheba. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:417-18.
- Ezekiel 20:46 tn The Hebrew term can also mean “forest,” but a meaning of uncultivated wasteland fits the Negev region far better. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:418.
- Ezekiel 20:47 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 20:47 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7 and 19:12, 14.
- Ezekiel 20:48 tn Heb “all flesh.”
- Ezekiel 21:1 sn Ezek 21:1 in the English Bible is 21:6 in the Hebrew text (BHS). See the note at 20:45.
- Ezekiel 21:2 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
- Ezekiel 21:3 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
- Ezekiel 21:3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 21:3 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 21:3 sn This is the sword of judgment; see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
- Ezekiel 21:3 sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25. The words do not require all the people in each category to be cut off.
- Ezekiel 21:4 tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).
- Ezekiel 21:4 tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.
- Ezekiel 21:6 tn Heb “breaking loins.”
- Ezekiel 21:7 tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”
- Ezekiel 21:7 sn This expression depicts in a very vivid way how they will be overcome with fear. See the note on the same phrase in 7:17.
- Ezekiel 21:10 tn Heb “Or shall we rejoice, scepter of my son? It despises every tree.” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned just before this. Alternatively, the line may be understood as “Let us not rejoice, O tribe of my son; it despises every tree.” The same word in Hebrew may be either “rod,” “scepter,” or “tribe.” The word sometimes translated as “or” or taken as an interrogative particle may be a negative particle. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:672, n. 79.sn The people of Judah should not place false hope in their king, symbolized by his royal scepter, for God’s judgment (symbolized by fire and then a sword) would destroy every tree (see 20:47), symbolizing the righteous and wicked (see 21:3-4).
- Ezekiel 21:12 sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cf. Jer 31:19.
- Ezekiel 21:13 tn Heb “For testing (will come), and what if also a scepter it despises will not be?” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned in the previous verses. The text is very difficult, and any rendering is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 21:16 tn Heb “Put to.”
- Ezekiel 21:16 tn Heb “face.”
- Ezekiel 21:20 tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (betokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (betsurah, “fortified”). sn As the Babylonians approached from the north, one road would branch off to the left and lead down the east side of the Jordan River to Ammon. The other road would veer to the right and lead down west of the Jordan to Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “mother.”
- Ezekiel 21:21 sn Mesopotamian kings believed that the gods revealed the future through omens. They employed various divination techniques, some of which are included in the list that follows. A particularly popular technique was the examination and interpretation of the livers of animals. See R. R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 90-110.
- Ezekiel 21:21 tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).
- Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “sees.”
- Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “the liver.”
- Ezekiel 21:22 tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.
- Ezekiel 21:22 tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.
- Ezekiel 21:22 tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”
- Ezekiel 21:23 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people in Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 21:23 sn When the people of Judah realized the Babylonians’ intentions, they would object on grounds that they had made a treaty with the Babylonian king (see 17:13).
- Ezekiel 21:23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 21:23 tn Or “iniquity.”
- Ezekiel 21:23 tn Heb “and he will remind of guilt to be captured.” The king would counter their objections by pointing out that they had violated their treaty with him (see 17:18), thus justifying their capture.
- Ezekiel 21:24 tn Heb “caused to be remembered.”
- Ezekiel 21:24 tn Heb “Because you have brought to remembrance your guilt when your transgressions are uncovered so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds—because you are remembered, by the hand you will be seized.”
- Ezekiel 21:25 tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.
- Ezekiel 21:26 tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.
- Ezekiel 21:26 tn Heb “This not this.”
- Ezekiel 21:26 tn Heb “the high one.”
- Ezekiel 21:27 tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.
- Ezekiel 21:27 tn The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“will not be”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS), In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king's turban crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. It ultimately denotes kingship in Israel, as with “not this” in v. 26.
- Ezekiel 21:27 tn Horace D. Hummel, Ezekiel (Concordia Commentary), 2:642, states that the suffixed object of the Hebrew verb for “give” (נָתַן, natan) can be indirect: “to him,” while the direct object (“it”) is understood from the preceding “right.” However, a more likely candidate for the understood object would be “this,” the turban/crown and the kingship it implies. The one who comes already has the “right.”
- Ezekiel 21:27 tn Hummel, Ezekiel, 2:658, states that “very early” interpreters saw similarity between this verse and Gen 49:10. Early Christian scholars like Jerome interpreted Ezek 21:27 of Jesus Christ, as did the majority of Christian scholars until rather recent times. The phrase “until he comes to whom it belongs” in Gen 49:10 resembles the words here. “Until” and “comes” are the same in both verses. In both verses there follows a relative pronoun like “who,” the preposition “to,” a prepositional object “him,” and an understood linking verb “is.” An allusion would favor those Hebrew words having the same meaning in both verses, with “right, legal claim” as the sense for מִשְׁפָּט, (mishpat) rather than “judgment,” since it is more compatible with an allusion. sn A popular alternative view of this verse takes “right” as “judgment,” views the one who comes as Nebuchadnezzar, and translates “until” (עַד, ‘ad) as “when.” The basis for this unique translation of עַד (which rarely can mean “while”) is that here it would refer to the period during which the devastation is realized rather than to its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. Ezekiel often has מִשְׁפָּט as “judgment” and does not use it elsewhere as “right.” God promises to “give” “judgment” to the Babylonians in 23:24, as he would here. However, “right” is a normal sense for מִשְׁפָּט, and even most who see Nebuchadnezzar as the one who comes find an allusion to Gen 49:10 here, though inverted. However, this verse can alter the idea of Gen 49:10 even without Allen’s view, since Gen 49:10 promises that the scepter will not depart from Judah until the Messiah comes, while Ezek 21:27 promises that the royal turban/crown will be a ruin until Messiah comes. Robert W. Jenson, Ezekiel (Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible), 173, favors the traditional view “because of the eschatological rhetoric of the whole poem,” adding that “ending merely with Nebuchadnezzar would be a poetically disastrous anticlimax.” For Ezek 34:23-24 and 37:22, 24-25 promise the restoration of Davidic kingship in the Messiah.
- Ezekiel 21:28 tn Heb “their reproach.”
- Ezekiel 21:28 tn Heb “to contain, endure,” from כוּל (khul). Since that sense is difficult here, most take the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” GKC 186 §68.i suggests that the form represents the Hiphil of אָכַל (’akhal, “consume”). The ’alef (א) would have dropped out, as it sometimes does and might do with אָכַל in Ezek 42:5. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:693) prefers seeing כוּל as a byform of כָּלָה (kalah, “be complete”), with a meaning like “consume” in the Hiphil. The weakness of Block’s suggestion is that כָּלָה does not elsewhere exhibit a Hiphil.
- Ezekiel 21:29 tn Heb “in the seeing concerning you falsehood, in divining concerning you a lie.” This probably refers to the attempts of the Ammonites to ward off judgment through prophetic visions and divination.
- Ezekiel 21:29 tn The antecedent for you is the sword mentioned in v. 28.
- Ezekiel 21:29 sn The second half of the verse appears to state that the sword of judgment would fall upon the wicked Ammonites, despite their efforts to prevent it.
- Ezekiel 21:30 sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands a halt. The resheathed sword will return to the land where it was created, and there itself face judgment. The pronouns continue to be second person feminine singular. The sword figuratively represents the Babylonian nation, whose land is the locus of judgment.
- Ezekiel 21:30 tn In the Hebrew text of vv. 30-32 the second person verbal and pronominal forms are generally feminine singular. This continues the address of the personified Babylonian sword from verse 29 (the Hebrew word for “sword” is feminine). “Return” is masculine, either due to the Hebrew preference for the masculine gender, or to the fact that soldiers were men.
- Ezekiel 21:31 sn The imagery of blowing on the sword with fire and putting it in the hands of skillful men can evoke the work of smithies.
- Ezekiel 21:32 tn Heb “your blood will be in the middle of the land.” sn This can be the blood that covered the sword in its great slaughter (v. 14), figuratively representing the end of Babylon. The pronouns are still second person feminine singular.
- Ezekiel 22:2 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.
- Ezekiel 22:2 tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.
- Ezekiel 22:3 tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).
- Ezekiel 22:4 tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refer to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.
- Ezekiel 22:4 tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29), some prefer to emend the text and read: “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.
- Ezekiel 22:4 tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.
- Ezekiel 22:5 tn Heb “unclean of name.”
- Ezekiel 22:6 tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”
- Ezekiel 22:7 tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”
- Ezekiel 22:7 tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.
- Ezekiel 22:9 tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”
- Ezekiel 22:9 tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.
- Ezekiel 22:9 sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.
- Ezekiel 22:10 tn Heb “The nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).
- Ezekiel 22:10 tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).
- Ezekiel 22:11 tn Heb “a man.”
- Ezekiel 22:11 tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.
- Ezekiel 22:11 sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9 and 20:17.
- Ezekiel 22:12 tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.
- Ezekiel 22:12 sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.
- Ezekiel 22:12 tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.
- Ezekiel 22:13 sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).
- Ezekiel 22:13 tn Heb “the blood that was in you.”
- Ezekiel 22:14 tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.
- Ezekiel 22:14 tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”
- Ezekiel 22:15 sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.
- Ezekiel 22:16 tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58. tn The phrase “within yourself” is the same as the several previous occurrences of “within you” but adjusted to fit this clause, which is the culmination of the series of indictments.
- Ezekiel 22:18 tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26 and Jer 6:27-30.
- Ezekiel 22:19 tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.
- Ezekiel 22:20 tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.
- Ezekiel 22:24 tc The MT reads: “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads: “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context. A poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).
- Ezekiel 22:24 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
- Ezekiel 22:25 tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.
- Ezekiel 22:25 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
- Ezekiel 22:26 tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”
- Ezekiel 22:26 tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).
- Ezekiel 22:28 tn Heb “Her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.
- Ezekiel 22:29 tn Heb “and the resident foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”
- Ezekiel 22:30 tn Heb “I did not find.”
- Ezekiel 22:31 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
- Ezekiel 23:3 tn In the Hebrew text the subject is left unstated and must be supplied from the context.
- Ezekiel 23:4 tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”
- Ezekiel 23:4 sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.
- Ezekiel 23:5 tn Heb “while she was under me.” The expression indicates that Oholah is viewed as the Lord’s wife. See Num 5:19-20, 29. sn Engaged in prostitution refers to alliances with pagan nations in this context. In Ezek 16 harlotry described the sin of idolatry.
- Ezekiel 23:5 tn Heb “Assyria.”
- Ezekiel 23:5 tn The term apparently refers to Assyrian military officers; it is better construed with the description that follows. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:738.
- Ezekiel 23:7 tn Heb “her harlotries.”
- Ezekiel 23:7 tn Heb “lusted after.”
- Ezekiel 23:8 tn Heb “lied down with.” The verb שָׁכַב (shakav) “to lie down” can imply going to bed to sleep or be a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Ezekiel 23:8 tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”
- Ezekiel 23:9 tn Heb “I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria.”
- Ezekiel 23:10 tn Heb “name.”
- Ezekiel 23:11 tn The word “this” is not in the original text.
- Ezekiel 23:14 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.
- Ezekiel 23:15 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
- Ezekiel 23:16 tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”
- Ezekiel 23:16 sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).
- Ezekiel 23:17 tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”
- Ezekiel 23:17 tn Heb “her soul.”
- Ezekiel 23:18 tn Heb “She exposed her harlotry and exposed her nakedness.”
- Ezekiel 23:18 tn Heb “my soul.”
- Ezekiel 23:18 tn Heb “my soul.”
- Ezekiel 23:20 tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?), whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is difficult here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. It is possible that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of them. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” which is reflected in the translation above.
- Ezekiel 23:21 tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.
- Ezekiel 23:21 tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
- Ezekiel 23:21 tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
- Ezekiel 23:22 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 23:23 sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.
- Ezekiel 23:23 sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.
- Ezekiel 23:23 sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).
- Ezekiel 23:24 tn Heb “come against.”
- Ezekiel 23:24 tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 23:24 tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”
- Ezekiel 23:24 tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”
- Ezekiel 23:25 tn Heb “give.”
- Ezekiel 23:25 tn Heb “they will remove.” sn This method of punishment is attested among ancient Egyptian and Hittite civilizations. See W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:489.
- Ezekiel 23:25 tn Heb “fall.”
- Ezekiel 23:27 tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”
- Ezekiel 23:27 tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”
- Ezekiel 23:28 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 23:28 tn Heb “I am giving you into the hand of.”
- Ezekiel 23:29 tn The Hebrew term means “labor,” but by extension it can also refer to that for which one works.
- Ezekiel 23:29 tn Heb “The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, and your obscene conduct and your harlotry.”
- Ezekiel 23:30 tn The infinitive absolute continues the sequence begun in v. 28: “Look here, I am about to deliver you.” See Joüon 2:430 §123.w.
- Ezekiel 23:31 tn Heb “her cup.” A cup of intoxicating strong drink is used, here and elsewhere, as a metaphor for judgment because both leave one confused and reeling. (See Jer 25:15, 17, 28; Hab 2:16.) The cup of wrath is a theme also found in the NT (Mark 14:36).
- Ezekiel 23:32 sn The image of a deep and wide cup suggests the degree of punishment; it will be extensive and leave the victim helpless.
- Ezekiel 23:33 tn Heb “filled with.”
- Ezekiel 23:34 tn Heb “You will drink it and drain (it).”
- Ezekiel 23:34 tn D. I. Block compares this to the idiom of “licking the plate” (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:754, n. 137). The text is difficult as the word translated “gnaw” is rare. The noun is used of the shattered pieces of pottery and so could envision a broken cup. But the Piel verb form is used in only one other place (Num 24:8), where it is a denominative from the noun “bone” and seems to mean to “break (bones).” Why it would be collocated with “sherds” is not clear. For this reason some emend the phrase to read “consume its dregs” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:44) or emend the verb to read “swallow,” as if the intoxicated Oholibah breaks the cup and then eats the very sherds in an effort to get every last drop of the beverage that dampens them.
- Ezekiel 23:34 sn The severe action is more extreme than beating the breasts in anguish (Isa 32:12; Nah 2:7). It is also ironic, for these are the very breasts she so blatantly offered to her lovers (vv. 3, 21).
- Ezekiel 23:35 tn Heb “and you cast me behind your back.” The expression pictures her rejection of the Lord (see 1 Kgs 14:9).
- Ezekiel 23:35 tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text but is demanded by the context.
- Ezekiel 23:36 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment. See 20:4 and 22:2.
- Ezekiel 23:37 sn The Lord speaks here in the role of the husband of the sisters.
- Ezekiel 23:37 tn Heb “they have passed to them for food.” The verb is commonly taken to refer to passing children through fire, especially as an offering to the pagan god Molech. See Jer 32:35.
- Ezekiel 23:38 tn Heb “in that day.”
- Ezekiel 23:40 tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.
- Ezekiel 23:40 tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.
- Ezekiel 23:42 tn Heb “(was) in her.”
- Ezekiel 23:42 tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”
- Ezekiel 23:42 tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.
- Ezekiel 23:42 tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
- Ezekiel 23:44 tn Heb “approached.” The verb בּוֹא (boʾ) with the preposition אֶל (ʾel) means “come to” or “approach” but is also used as a euphemism for sexual relations.
- Ezekiel 23:45 tn Heb “and upright men will judge them (with) the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood.”
- Ezekiel 23:46 tn Heb “assembly.”
- Ezekiel 23:46 tn Heb “give them to.”
- Ezekiel 23:47 tn The Hebrew text adds: “with fire.”
- Ezekiel 23:49 tn Heb “and the sins of your idols you will bear.” By extension it can mean the punishment for the sins.
- Ezekiel 24:1 tn The date of this oracle was January 15, 588 b.c.
- Ezekiel 24:2 tn Heb “lean on, put pressure on.”
- Ezekiel 24:3 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
- Ezekiel 24:3 sn See Ezek 11:3-12.
- Ezekiel 24:6 tn Or “rust.”
- Ezekiel 24:6 tn Heb “has not gone out.”
- Ezekiel 24:6 tn Here “lot” may refer to the decision made by casting lots; it is not chosen at all.
- Ezekiel 24:11 tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”
- Ezekiel 24:11 tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).
- Ezekiel 24:12 tn Heb “(with) toil she has wearied.” The meaning of the statement is unclear in the Hebrew text; some follow the LXX and delete it. The first word in the statement (rendered “toil” in the literal translation above) occurs only here in the OT, and the verb “she has wearied” lacks a stated object. Elsewhere the Hiphil of the verb refers to wearying someone or trying someone’s patience. The feminine subject is apparently the symbolic pot.
- Ezekiel 24:12 tn Heb “does not go out.”
- Ezekiel 24:12 tn Heb “in fire its rust.” The meaning of the expression is unclear. The translation understands the statement as a command to burn the rust away. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:768.
- Ezekiel 24:13 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
- Ezekiel 24:13 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
- Ezekiel 24:13 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
- Ezekiel 24:14 tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 24:14 tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”
- Ezekiel 24:14 tc Some medieval Hebrew mss and the major ancient versions read a first person verb here. Most Hebrew mss read have an indefinite subject, “they will judge you,” which could be translated, “you will be judged.”
- Ezekiel 24:14 tn Heb “ways.”
- Ezekiel 24:16 tn Heb “a strike.”
- Ezekiel 24:17 tn As it stands in the MT, the syntax is difficult. Most translations say something like “groan in silence,” but this is problematic. According to their form, the two verbs that begin the verse, הֵאָנֵק (heʾanek; to groan) and דֹּם (dom; to be silent), may each be parsed as either imperative or infinitive construct. This allows four possible sequences. An infinitive followed by an infinitive would lack a main verb and can be dismissed. An infinitive followed by an imperative is improper syntax and nowhere occurs with both in the same clause. An imperative followed by an infinitive is very rare. The only three clear cases (Ps 33:3; Isa 1:16; 23:16) appear to involve infinitive complements, which does not fit these terms. Two imperatives back to back are common, occurring over 200 times, but in no case does the second imperative tell the manner of the action in the first (except perhaps a couple disputable parsings of מַהֵר (maher; be quick). So there is no combination of the forms in the MT that supports the common translation. It may also be said that groaning and being silent are mutually exclusive concepts. However, there is a rare homonym, also attested in the cognate languages Ugaritic and Akkadian, another root דמם (dmm), which means to moan. The translation above follows the suggestion of M. Greenberg that דֹּם מֵתִים (dom metim) be taken together and דֹּם be derived from דָּמַם (damam, “to moan, murmur”) meaning: “Groan a moaning for the dead.” See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:508. Note that in verse 23 Ezekiel affirms that the people will moan to each other (though there the root is נָהַם, naham); therefore, it is reasonable to suppose that Ezekiel is moaning here, since his actions forecast theirs.
- Ezekiel 24:17 tn Heb “(For) the dead mourning you shall not conduct.” In the Hebrew text the word translated “dead” is plural, indicating that mourning rites are in view. Such rites would involve outward demonstrations of one’s sorrow, including wailing and weeping.
- Ezekiel 24:17 sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).
- Ezekiel 24:17 sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.
- Ezekiel 24:17 tn Heb “the bread of men.” The translation follows the suggestion accepted by M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 2:509) that this refers to a meal brought by comforters to the one mourning. Some repoint the consonantal text to read “the bread of despair” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:56), while others, with support from the Targum and Vulgate, emend the consonantal text to read “the bread of mourners” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:784).
- Ezekiel 24:18 tn This almost certainly refers to the following morning. For a discussion of various interpretive options in understanding the chronology reflected in verse 18, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:790.
- Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “the pride of your strength” means “your strong pride.”
- Ezekiel 24:21 sn Heb “the delight of your eyes.” Just as Ezekiel was deprived of his beloved wife (v. 16, the “desire” of his “eyes”), so the Lord would be forced to remove the object of his devotion, the temple, which symbolized his close relationship to his covenant people.
- Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “the object of compassion of your soul.” The accentuation in the traditional Hebrew text indicates that the descriptive phrases (“the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life’s passion”) modify the preceding “my sanctuary.”
- Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “fall.”
- Ezekiel 24:22 tn See v. 17.
- Ezekiel 24:23 tn The same verb appears in 4:17 and 33:10.
- Ezekiel 24:23 tn Or “in your punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
- Ezekiel 24:25 tn Heb “(Will) it not (be) in the day I take?”
- Ezekiel 24:25 tn Heb “the uplifting of their soul.” According to BDB 672 s.v. מַשָּׂא 2, the term “uplifting” refers to “that to which they lift up their soul, their heart’s desire.” However, this text is the only one listed for this use. It seems more likely here that the term has its well-attested nuance of “burden, load,” referring to that which weighs them down emotionally and is a constant source of concern or worry.
- Ezekiel 24:25 tn In the Hebrew text there is no conjunction before “their sons and daughters.” For this reason one might assume that the preceding descriptive phrases refer to the sons and daughters, but verse 21 suggests otherwise. The descriptive phrases appear to refer to the “stronghold,” which parallels “my sanctuary” in verse 21. The children constitute a separate category.
- Ezekiel 24:26 tn Heb “to make the ears hear.”
- Ezekiel 24:27 tn Heb “your mouth will open.”
- Ezekiel 25:2 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
- Ezekiel 25:2 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.” Ammon was located to the east of Israel.
- Ezekiel 25:4 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something and has been translated here with a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
- Ezekiel 25:4 tn Heb “Look, I am about to give you for a possession to.”
- Ezekiel 25:4 tn Heb “sons.”
- Ezekiel 25:5 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.”
- Ezekiel 25:6 tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”
- Ezekiel 25:7 tc The translation here follows the Qere reading: בַּז (baz, “spoil, plunder”). The Kethib reading of the consonantal text, בַּג (bag), is not a word.
- Ezekiel 25:8 sn Moab was located immediately south of Ammon.
- Ezekiel 25:9 tn Heb “shoulder.”
- Ezekiel 25:9 tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).
- Ezekiel 25:9 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
- Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “I will give it for a possession.”
- Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon” (twice in this verse).
- Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “the sons.”
- Ezekiel 25:12 sn Edom was located south of Moab.
- Ezekiel 25:12 tn Heb “and they have become guilty, becoming guilty.” The infinitive absolute following the finite verb makes the statement emphatic and draws attention to the degree of guilt incurred by Edom due to its actions.
- Ezekiel 25:12 tn Heb “and they have taken vengeance.”
- Ezekiel 25:12 sn Edom apparently in some way assisted in the destruction of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c. (Ps 137:7; Lam 4:21, 22; Joel 3:19; Obadiah).
- Ezekiel 25:13 tn Heb “and I will cut off from her man and beast.”
- Ezekiel 25:13 tn Heb “fall.”
- Ezekiel 25:14 tn Heb “know.”
- Ezekiel 25:15 sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.
- Ezekiel 25:15 tn Heb “have acted with vengeance and taken vengeance with vengeance.” The repetition emphasizes the degree of vengeance which they exhibited, presumably toward Judah.
- Ezekiel 25:15 tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”
- Ezekiel 25:15 tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.
- Ezekiel 25:15 tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.
- Ezekiel 25:16 tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Kerethites,” and draws attention to the statement.
- Ezekiel 25:16 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
- Ezekiel 25:17 tn Heb “with acts of punishment of anger.”
- Ezekiel 26:1 tc Date formulae typically include the month. According to D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:34, n. 27) some emend to “in the twelfth year in the eleventh month,” relying partially on the copy of the LXX from Alexandrinus, where Albright suggested that “eleventh month” may have dropped out due to haplography.sn April 23, 587 b.c.
- Ezekiel 26:2 sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.
- Ezekiel 26:2 tn Heb “I will be filled.”
- Ezekiel 26:2 sn That is, Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 26:3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 26:3 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 26:4 tn Or “debris.”
- Ezekiel 26:6 sn That is, the towns located inland that were under Tyre’s rule.
- Ezekiel 26:7 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.
- Ezekiel 26:7 tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-uṣur has an an “r” rather than an “n.”
- Ezekiel 26:9 tn Heb “swords.”
- Ezekiel 26:10 tn Heb “From the abundance of his horses he will cover you (with) their dust.”
- Ezekiel 26:10 tn Heb “like those who enter a breached city.”
- Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “desirable.”
- Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “set.”
- Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “into the midst of the water.”
- Ezekiel 26:13 tn Heb “cause to end.”
- Ezekiel 26:14 sn This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great in 332 b.c.
- Ezekiel 26:16 tn Heb “descend from.”
- Ezekiel 26:16 tn Heb “and they will be astonished over you.”
- Ezekiel 26:17 tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”
- Ezekiel 26:17 tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.
- Ezekiel 26:17 tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”
- Ezekiel 26:18 tn Heb “from your going out.”
- Ezekiel 26:19 tn Heb “many.”
- Ezekiel 26:20 tn Heb “to the people of antiquity.”
- Ezekiel 26:20 tn Heb “like.” The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition כ (kaf, “like”) to ב (bet, “in, among”).
- Ezekiel 26:20 tn Heb “and I will place beauty.” This reading makes little sense; many, following the lead of the LXX, emend the text to read: “nor will you stand,” with the negative particle before the preceding verb understood by ellipsis; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:73. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:47) offers another alternative, taking the apparent first person verb form as an archaic second feminine form and translating “nor radiate splendor.”
- Ezekiel 27:2 tn Heb “lift up over Tyre a lament.”
- Ezekiel 27:3 tn Heb “entrances.” The plural noun may reflect the fact that Tyre had two main harbors.
- Ezekiel 27:3 sn Rome, another economic power, is described in a similar way in Rev 17:1.
- Ezekiel 27:4 tn The city of Tyre is described in the following account as a merchant ship.
- Ezekiel 27:5 tn Heb “built.”
- Ezekiel 27:5 tn Perhaps the hull or deck. The term is dual, so perhaps it refers to a double-decked ship.
- Ezekiel 27:6 tn Or “hull.”
- Ezekiel 27:6 tc The Hebrew reads, “Your deck they made ivory, daughter of Assyria.” The syntactically difficult “ivory” is understood here as dittography and omitted, though some construe this to refer to ivory inlays. “Daughter of Assyria” is understood here as improper word division, and the vowels are repointed as “cypresses” and translated as “cypress wood.”
- Ezekiel 27:6 tn Heb “from the coastlands (or islands) of Kittim,” generally understood to be a reference to the island of Cyprus, where the Phoenicians had a trading colony on the southeast coast.
- Ezekiel 27:7 sn This is probably a reference to Cyprus.
- Ezekiel 27:8 tc The MT reads, “the residents of”; the LXX reads, “your rulers who dwell in.” With no apparent reason for the LXX to add “the rulers,” many suppose something has dropped out of the Hebrew text. While more than one may be possible, Allen’s proposal, positing a word meaning “elders,” is the most likely to explain the omission in the MT from a graphic standpoint and also provides a parallel to the beginning of v. 9. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:81.
- Ezekiel 27:8 sn Sidon and Arvad, like Tyre, were Phoenician coastal cities.
- Ezekiel 27:8 tn Or “wise.”
- Ezekiel 27:9 sn Another Phoenician coastal city located between Sidon and Arvad.
- Ezekiel 27:9 tn Heb “strengthening damages.” Here “to strengthen” means to repair. The word for “damages” occurs several times in 1 Kgs 12 about some type of damage to the temple, which may have referred to or included cracks. Since the context describes Tyre in its glory, we do not expect this reference to damages to be of significant scale, even if there are repairmen. This may refer to using pitch to seal the seams of the ship, which had to be done periodically and could be considered routine maintenance rather than repair of damage.
- Ezekiel 27:9 sn The reference to “all the ships of the sea…within you” suggests that the metaphor is changing; previously Tyre had been described as a magnificent ship, but now the description shifts back to an actual city. The “ships of the sea” were within Tyre’s harbor. Verse 11 refers to “walls” and “towers” of the city.
- Ezekiel 27:10 sn See Gen 10:22.
- Ezekiel 27:11 tn Heb “sons of Arvad.”
- Ezekiel 27:11 sn The identity of the Gammadites is uncertain.
- Ezekiel 27:11 tn See note on “quivers” in Jer 51:11 on the meaning of Hebrew שֶׁלֶט (shelet) and also M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:553.
- Ezekiel 27:12 sn Tarshish refers to a distant seaport sometimes believed to be located in southern Spain (others identified it as Carthage in North Africa). In any event it represents here a distant, rich, and exotic port that was a trading partner of Tyre.
- Ezekiel 27:14 tn The way in which these horses may have been distinguished from other horses is unknown. Cf. ASV “war-horses” (NASB, NIV, NRSV, CEV are all similar); NLT “chariot horses.”
- Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “sons of Dedan.”
- Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “they returned as your gift.”
- Ezekiel 27:16 tc Many Hebrew mss, Aquila’s Greek translation, and the Syriac version read “Edom.” The LXX reads “man,” a translation that assumes the same consonants as Edom. This reading is supported from the context as the text deals with Damascus, the capital of Syria (Aram), later (in v. 18).
- Ezekiel 27:17 sn The location is mentioned in Judg 11:33.
- Ezekiel 27:19 tc The MT leaves v. 18 as an incomplete sentence and begins v. 19 with “and Dan and Javan [Ionia] from Uzal.” The LXX mentions “wine.” The translation follows an emendation assuming some confusions of vav and yod. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:82.
- Ezekiel 27:19 sn According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 2:82), Izal was located between Haran and the Tigris and was famous for its wine.
- Ezekiel 27:25 tn Or perhaps “Large merchant ships.” The expression “ships of Tarshish” may describe a class of vessel, that is, large oceangoing merchant ships.
- Ezekiel 27:27 tn Heb “your repairers of damage.” See v. 9.
- Ezekiel 27:28 tn Compare this phrase to Isa 57:20 and Amos 8:8. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:561.
- Ezekiel 27:30 tn Heb “make heard over you with their voice.”
- Ezekiel 27:30 tn Note a similar expression to “roll in the ashes” in Mic 1:10.
- Ezekiel 27:31 tn Heb “and they will weep concerning you with bitterness of soul, (with) bitter mourning.”
- Ezekiel 27:32 tn As it stands, the meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. The translation follows the suggestion of M. Dahood, “Accadian-Ugaritic dmt in Ezekiel 27:32, ” Bib 45 (1964): 83-84. Several other explanations and emendations have been offered. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:83, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:85-86, for a list of options.
- Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “fallen.”
- Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “in the midst of you.”
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “lifted up.” sn See Prov 16:5.
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “I am divine.”
- Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “and you made your heart/mind (לֵב, lev) like the heart/mind of gods.”
- Ezekiel 28:3 sn Or perhaps “Danel” (so TEV), referring to a ruler known from Canaanite legend. See the note on “Daniel” in 14:14. A reference to Danel (preserved in legend at Ugarit, near the northern end of the Phoenician coast) makes more sense here when addressing Tyre than in 14:14.
- Ezekiel 28:3 sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.
- Ezekiel 28:5 tn Or “wisdom.”
- Ezekiel 28:6 tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”
- Ezekiel 28:7 sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.
- Ezekiel 28:7 tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”
- Ezekiel 28:8 tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”
- Ezekiel 28:10 sn The Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so the language here must be figurative, indicating that they would be treated in a disgraceful manner. Uncircumcised peoples were viewed as inferior and unclean. See 31:18 and 32:17-32, as well as the discussion in D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:99.
- Ezekiel 28:12 tn Heb “lift up.”
- Ezekiel 28:12 tn For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.
- Ezekiel 28:13 sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubim placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.
- Ezekiel 28:13 tn The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20, which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the Exod 28 list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn The meaning of this phrase in Hebrew is uncertain. The word translated here “guards” occurs in Exod 25:20 in reference to the cherubim “covering” the ark.
- Ezekiel 28:14 tn Heb “you (were) an anointed cherub that covers, and I placed you.” In the Hebrew text the ruler of Tyre is equated with a cherub, and the verb “I placed you” is taken with what follows (“on the holy mountain of God”). However, this reading is problematic. The pronoun “you” at the beginning of verse 14 is feminine singular in the Hebrew text; elsewhere in this passage the ruler of Tyre is addressed with masculine singular forms. It is possible that the pronoun is a rare (see Deut 5:24; Num 11:15) or defectively written (see 1 Sam 24:19; Neh 9:6; Job 1:10; Ps 6:3; Eccl 7:22) masculine form, but it is more likely that the form should be repointed as the preposition “with” (see the LXX). In this case the ruler of Tyre is compared to the first man, not to a cherub. If this emendation is accepted, then the verb “I placed you” belongs with what precedes and concludes the first sentence in the verse. It is noteworthy that the verbs in the second and third lines of the verse also appear at the end of the sentence in the Hebrew text. The presence of a conjunction at the beginning of “I placed you” is problematic for the proposal, but it may reflect a later misunderstanding of the syntax of the verse. For a defense of the proposed emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:15 tn Heb “ways.”
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
- Ezekiel 28:21 tn Heb “set your face against.”
- Ezekiel 28:21 sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.
- Ezekiel 28:22 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 28:22 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.
- Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
- Ezekiel 28:24 sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13.
- Ezekiel 28:24 tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”
- Ezekiel 28:25 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
- Ezekiel 28:26 sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.
- Ezekiel 29:1 tn January 7, 587 b.c.
- Ezekiel 29:2 tn Heb “set your face against.”
- Ezekiel 29:3 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 29:3 tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).
- Ezekiel 29:3 sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.
- Ezekiel 29:5 tc Some Hebrew mss, the Targum, and the LXX read “buried.”
- Ezekiel 29:6 sn Cf. Isa 36:6.
- Ezekiel 29:7 tc The Hebrew consonantal text (Kethib) implies בְכַפְּךָ (vekappeka, “by your hand”) but the marginal reading (Qere) has simply בַכַּף (vakkaf, “by the hand”). The LXX reads: “with their hand,” implying בְכַפָּם (vekappam).
- Ezekiel 29:7 tn Or perhaps “dislocated.”
- Ezekiel 29:7 tn Heb “you caused to stand for them all their hips.” An emendation that switches two letters but is supported by the LXX yields the reading: “you caused all their hips to shake.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:103. In 2 Kgs 18:21 and Isa 36:6 trusting in the Pharaoh is compared to leaning on a staff. The oracle may reflect Hophra’s attempt to aid Jerusalem (Jer 37:5-8).
- Ezekiel 29:8 tn Heb “I will cut off from you.”
- Ezekiel 29:10 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 29:10 sn This may refer to a site in the Egyptian Delta that served as a refuge for Jews (Jer 44:1; 46:14).
- Ezekiel 29:10 sn Syene is known today as Aswan.
- Ezekiel 29:13 sn In Ezek 4:4-8 it was said that the house of Judah would suffer forty years.
- Ezekiel 29:14 tc Thus the MT, which reads וַהֲשִׁבֹתִי (vahashivoti, “I will cause to return”), a Hiphil of the verb שׁוּב (shuv, “to return”). The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew had the vocalization וְהֹשַׁבְתִּי (vehoshavti, “I will cause to inhabit”), a Hiphil from יָשַׁב (yashav “to dwell”).
- Ezekiel 29:16 tn Heb “reminding of iniquity when they turned after them.”
- Ezekiel 29:17 sn April 26, 571 b.c.
- Ezekiel 29:18 tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more exact spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-uṣur has an “r” rather than an “n” (so also in v. 19).
- Ezekiel 29:18 sn Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre from 585 to 571 b.c.
- Ezekiel 29:20 tn Heb “for which he worked,” referring to the assault on Tyre (v. 18).
- Ezekiel 29:21 tn Heb “I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel.” The horn is used as a figure for military power in the OT (Ps 92:10). A similar expression is made about the Davidic dynasty in Ps 132:17.
- Ezekiel 29:21 tn Heb “I will grant you an open mouth.”
- Ezekiel 30:2 tn Heb “Alas for the day.”
- Ezekiel 30:3 tn Heb “a day of clouds.” The expression occurs also in Joel 2:2 and Zeph 1:15; it recalls the appearance of God at Mount Sinai (Exod 19:9, 16, 18).
- Ezekiel 30:3 tn Heb “a time.” The words “of judgment” have been added in the translation for clarification (see the following verses).
- Ezekiel 30:5 tn The same expression appears in Exod 12:38; Jer 25:20; 50:37; Neh 13:3. It may refer to foreign mercenaries serving in the armies of the nations listed here.
- Ezekiel 30:5 tn Heb “sons.”
- Ezekiel 30:5 tn The expression “sons of the covenant land” possibly refers to Jews living in Egypt (Jer 44).
- Ezekiel 30:6 tn Heb “come down.”
- Ezekiel 30:6 sn Syene is known as Aswan today.
- Ezekiel 30:8 tn Heb “all who aid her are broken.”
- Ezekiel 30:9 tn Heb “in the day of Egypt.” The word “doom” has been added in the translation to clarify the nature of this day.
- Ezekiel 30:10 tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more exact spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-uṣur has an “r” rather than an “n.”
- Ezekiel 30:11 tn The Babylonians were known for their cruelty (2 Kgs 25:7).
- Ezekiel 30:12 tn Heb “and I will sell the land into the hand of.”
- Ezekiel 30:13 tn Heb “I will put fear in the land of Egypt.”
- Ezekiel 30:15 tn Heb “Sin” (so KJV, NASB), a city commonly identified with Pelusium, a fortress on Egypt’s northeastern frontier.
- Ezekiel 30:15 tn Or “kill.”
- Ezekiel 30:16 tc The LXX reads “Syene,” which is Aswan in the south. The MT reads Sin, which has already been mentioned in v. 15.
- Ezekiel 30:17 sn On and Pi Beseth are generally identified with the Egyptian cities of Heliopolis and Bubastis.
- Ezekiel 30:17 tn Heb “they will go.” The pronoun and verb are feminine plural, indicating that the cities just mentioned are the antecedent of the pronoun and the subject of the verb. The translation makes this clear by stating the subject as “the cities.”
- Ezekiel 30:18 sn In Zeph 1:15 darkness is associated with the day of the Lord.
- Ezekiel 30:20 tn April 29, 587 b.c.
- Ezekiel 30:21 sn The expression “breaking the arm” indicates the removal of power (Pss 10:15; 37:17; Job 38:15; Jer 48:25).
- Ezekiel 30:21 sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.
- Ezekiel 30:22 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 30:22 tn Or “I challenge.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî ’êlékâ’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
- Ezekiel 30:24 tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 31:1 sn June 21, 587 b.c.
- Ezekiel 31:3 sn Either Egypt or the Lord compares Egypt to Assyria, which is described in vv. 3-17 through the metaphor of a majestic tree. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:185. Like Egypt, Assyria had been a great world power, but in time God brought the Assyrians down. Egypt should learn from history the lesson that no nation, no matter how powerful, can withstand the judgment of God. Rather than following the text here, some prefer to emend the proper name Assyria to a similar sounding common noun meaning “boxwood” (see Ezek 27:6), which would make a fitting parallel to “cedar of Lebanon” in the following line. In this case vv. 3-18 in their entirety refer to Egypt, not Assyria. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:121-27.
- Ezekiel 31:3 sn Lebanon was known for its cedar trees (Judg 9:15; 1 Kgs 4:33; 5:6; 2 Kgs 14:9; Ezra 3:7; Pss 29:5; 92:12; 104:16).
- Ezekiel 31:4 tn Heb “Waters made it grow; the deep made it grow tall. It [the deep] was flowing with its rivers around the place it [the tree] was planted. It [the deep] sent out its channels to all the trees of the field.”
- Ezekiel 31:5 tn Heb “when it sends forth.” Repointing the consonants of the Masoretic text would render the proposed reading of “shoots” (cf. NRSV).
- Ezekiel 31:6 tn Or “many.”
- Ezekiel 31:8 tn Or “cypress trees” (cf. NASB, NLT); NIV “pine trees.”
- Ezekiel 31:11 tn Heb “acting he has acted with regard to it.” The infinitive absolute precedes the main verb to emphasize the certainty and decisiveness of the action depicted.
- Ezekiel 31:12 tn Or “earth” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
- Ezekiel 31:12 tn Heb “gone down.”
- Ezekiel 31:13 tn Heb “the beasts of the field,” referring to wild as opposed to domesticated animals.
- Ezekiel 31:13 tn Heb “be.”
- Ezekiel 31:14 tn Heb “and they will not stand to them in their height, all the drinkers of water.”
- Ezekiel 31:14 tn Heb “for death, to the lower earth.”
- Ezekiel 31:14 tn Heb “the sons of men.”
- Ezekiel 31:15 tn Or “he.”
- Ezekiel 31:15 tn Heb “I caused lamentation.” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 2:194-95) proposes an alternative root that would give the meaning: “I gated back the waters,” i.e., shut off the water supply.
- Ezekiel 31:16 sn For the expression “going down to the Pit,” see Ezek 26:20 and 32:18, 24, 29.
- Ezekiel 31:17 tn Heb “its arm.”
- Ezekiel 32:1 sn This would be March 3, 585 b.c.
- Ezekiel 32:2 tn The lion was a figure of royalty (Ezek 19:1-9).
- Ezekiel 32:2 tc The Hebrew reads, “their streams”; the LXX reads, “your streams.”
- Ezekiel 32:3 tn The expression “throw my net” is common in Ezekiel (12:13; 17:20; 19:8).
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Or “cause.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Heb “live.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Or “cause.”
- Ezekiel 32:4 tn Heb “the beasts of the field,” referring to wild as opposed to domesticated animals.
- Ezekiel 32:5 tc The Hebrew text is difficult here, apparently meaning “your height.” Following Symmachus and the Syriac, it is preferable to emend the text to read “your maggots.” See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:203.
- Ezekiel 32:6 tn Heb “from you.”
- Ezekiel 32:7 tn Heb “will not shine its light.” For similar features of cosmic eschatology, see Joel 2:10; 3:15; Amos 5:18-20; Zeph 1:5.
- Ezekiel 32:9 tn Heb “I will provoke the heart of.”
- Ezekiel 32:11 sn The king of Babylon referred to here was Nebuchadnezzar (Ezek 21:19).
- Ezekiel 32:11 tn Heb “approach.”
- Ezekiel 32:13 tn Heb “muddy.”
- Ezekiel 32:13 tn Heb “them,” that is, the waters mentioned in the previous line. The translation clarifies the referent.
- Ezekiel 32:14 tn Heb “sink,” that is, to settle and become clear, not muddied.
- Ezekiel 32:17 tn March 17, 585 b.c. The LXX adds “first month.”
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
- Ezekiel 32:18 sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.
- Ezekiel 32:18 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
- Ezekiel 32:19 tc The LXX places this verse after v. 21.tn The words “say to them” are added in the translation for clarity to indicate the shift in addressee from the prophet to Egypt.
- Ezekiel 32:19 tn Heb “pleasantness.”
- Ezekiel 32:22 tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.
- Ezekiel 32:22 tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.
- Ezekiel 32:23 tn Heb “whose.”
- Ezekiel 32:23 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the Pit” is in Isa 14:15.
- Ezekiel 32:25 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
- Ezekiel 32:26 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
- Ezekiel 32:27 tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.
- Ezekiel 32:27 tc Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear. In light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend עֲוֹנֹתָם (ʿavonotam; “their iniquities”) to צִנּוֹתָם or צִנָּתָם (tsinnotam or tsinnatam; “their shields” or “their shield”) See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.
- Ezekiel 33:2 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
- Ezekiel 33:3 tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).
- Ezekiel 33:3 tn Sounding the trumpet could warn of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).
- Ezekiel 33:4 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
- Ezekiel 33:5 tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”
- Ezekiel 33:6 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
- Ezekiel 33:6 tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”
- Ezekiel 33:7 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
- Ezekiel 33:8 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
- Ezekiel 33:8 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
- Ezekiel 33:8 tn Heb “way.”
- Ezekiel 33:8 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
- Ezekiel 33:9 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
- Ezekiel 33:9 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
- Ezekiel 33:10 tn Heb “(are) upon us.”
- Ezekiel 33:11 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
- Ezekiel 33:11 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
- Ezekiel 33:12 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
- Ezekiel 33:12 tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.
- Ezekiel 33:12 tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”
- Ezekiel 33:12 tn Heb “by it.”
- Ezekiel 33:12 tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”
- Ezekiel 33:15 tn Heb “the wicked one.”
- Ezekiel 33:15 tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”
- Ezekiel 33:16 tn Heb “remembered.”
- Ezekiel 33:17 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
- Ezekiel 33:17 tn Heb “way.”
- Ezekiel 33:17 tn The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.
- Ezekiel 33:20 tn Heb “ways.”
Ezekiel 40:1-9
New English Translation
Vision of the New Temple
40 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city[a] was struck down, on this very day,[b] the hand[c] of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there.[d] 2 By divine visions[e] he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain,[f] and on it was a structure like a city, to the south. 3 When he brought me there, I saw[g] a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway. 4 The man said to me, “Son of man, watch closely, listen carefully, and pay attention[h] to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I can show it to you.[i] Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”
5 I saw[j] a wall all around the outside of the temple.[k] In the man’s hand was a measuring stick 10½ feet[l] long. He measured the thickness of the wall[m] as 10½ feet,[n] and its height as 10½ feet. 6 Then he went to the gate facing east. He climbed its steps and measured the threshold of the gate as 10½ feet deep.[o] 7 The alcoves were 10½ feet long and 10½ feet wide; between the alcoves were 8¾ feet.[p] The threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate facing inward was 10½ feet. 8 Then he measured the porch of the gate facing inward as 10½ feet. 9 He measured the porch of the gate as 14 feet,[q] and its jambs as 3½ feet;[r] the porch of the gate faced inward.
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- Ezekiel 40:1 sn That is, Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 40:1 tn April 19, 573 b.c.
- Ezekiel 40:1 tn Or “power.” sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
- Ezekiel 40:1 sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).
- Ezekiel 40:2 tn The expression introduces the three major visions of Ezekiel (1:1; 8:3; 40:2).
- Ezekiel 40:2 tn The reference to a very high mountain is harmonious with Isa 2:2.
- Ezekiel 40:3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 40:4 tn Heb “look with your eyes, hear with your ears, and set your mind on.”
- Ezekiel 40:4 tn Heb “in order to show (it) to you.”
- Ezekiel 40:5 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
- Ezekiel 40:5 tn Heb “house.”
- Ezekiel 40:5 tn Heb “a measuring stick of 6 cubits, [each] a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Therefore the measuring stick in the man’s hand was 10.5 feet (3.15 meters) long. Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.
- Ezekiel 40:5 tn Heb “building.”
- Ezekiel 40:5 tn Heb “one rod [or “reed”]” (also a second time in this verse, twice in v. 6, three times in v. 7, and once in v. 8).
- Ezekiel 40:6 tn The Hebrew text adds “the one threshold 10½ feet deep.” This is probably an accidental duplication of what precedes. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:517.
- Ezekiel 40:7 tn Heb “5 cubits” (i.e., 2.625 meters) according to the “long” cubit. See the note on the first occurrence of the phrase “10½ feet” in v. 5.
- Ezekiel 40:9 tn Heb “8 cubits” (i.e., 4.2 meters).
- Ezekiel 40:9 tn Heb “2 cubits” (i.e., 1.05 meters).
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