Ezekiel 20:30-22:31

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Ezekiel 20:30 tn Heb “in the way of your fathers.”
2. Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “gifts.”
3. Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “Will I reveal myself to you?”
4. Ezekiel 20:31 tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”
5. Ezekiel 20:32 tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”
6. Ezekiel 20:32 tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”
7. Ezekiel 20:32 tn Heb “serving wood and stone.” sn This verse echoes the content of 1 Sam 8:20.
8. Ezekiel 20:33 sn This phrase occurs frequently in Deuteronomy (Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8).
9. Ezekiel 20:37 tn This is the same Hebrew verb used to describe the passing of the children through the fire.
10. 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.
11. Ezekiel 20:38 tn See the note at 2:3.
12. Ezekiel 20:39 sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.
13. 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.
14. Ezekiel 20:39 sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21 and 20:3.
15. Ezekiel 20:39 tn Or “gifts.”
16. Ezekiel 20:40 tn Heb “all of it.”
17. Ezekiel 20:42 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
18. Ezekiel 20:43 tn Heb “ways.”
19. Ezekiel 20:43 tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”
20. 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.
21. Ezekiel 20:46 tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2 and 13:17.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. Ezekiel 20:47 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
26. Ezekiel 20:47 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7 and 19:12, 14.
27. Ezekiel 20:48 tn Heb “all flesh.”
28. 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.
29. Ezekiel 21:2 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
30. Ezekiel 21:3 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
31. Ezekiel 21:3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
32. 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.
33. Ezekiel 21:3 sn This is the sword of judgment; see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
34. 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.
35. Ezekiel 21:4 tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).
36. Ezekiel 21:4 tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.
37. Ezekiel 21:6 tn Heb “breaking loins.”
38. Ezekiel 21:7 tn Heb “every spirit will be dim.”
39. 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.
40. 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).
41. Ezekiel 21:12 sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cf. Jer 31:19.
42. 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.
43. Ezekiel 21:16 tn Heb “Put to.”
44. Ezekiel 21:16 tn Heb “face.”
45. Ezekiel 21:20 tc The MT reads “Judah in fortified Jerusalem,” a geographic impossibility. The translation follows the LXX, which assumes בְּתוֹכָהּ (b^etokhah, “in it”) for בְּצוּרָה (b^etsurah, “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.
46. Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “mother.”
47. 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.
48. 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).
49. Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “sees.”
50. Ezekiel 21:21 tn Heb “the liver.”
51. Ezekiel 21:22 tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.
52. Ezekiel 21:22 tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.
53. Ezekiel 21:22 tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”
54. Ezekiel 21:23 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the people in Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
55. 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).
56. Ezekiel 21:23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
57. Ezekiel 21:23 tn Or “iniquity.”
58. 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.
59. Ezekiel 21:24 tn Heb “caused to be remembered.”
60. 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.”
61. Ezekiel 21:25 tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.
62. 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.
63. Ezekiel 21:26 tn Heb “This not this.”
64. Ezekiel 21:26 tn Heb “the high one.”
65. 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.
66. 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.
67. 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.”
68. 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.
69. Ezekiel 21:28 tn Heb “their reproach.”
70. 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.
71. 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.
72. Ezekiel 21:29 tn The antecedent for you is the sword mentioned in v. 28.
73. 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.
74. 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.
75. 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.
76. 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.
77. 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.
78. 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.
79. Ezekiel 22:2 tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.
80. Ezekiel 22:3 tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).
81. 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.
82. 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.
83. 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.
84. Ezekiel 22:5 tn Heb “unclean of name.”
85. Ezekiel 22:6 tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”
86. Ezekiel 22:7 tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”
87. 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.
88. Ezekiel 22:9 tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”
89. 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.
90. 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.
91. 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).
92. 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).
93. Ezekiel 22:11 tn Heb “a man.”
94. Ezekiel 22:11 tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.
95. Ezekiel 22:11 sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9 and 20:17.
96. 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.
97. 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.
98. 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.
99. Ezekiel 22:13 sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).
100. Ezekiel 22:13 tn Heb “the blood that was in you.”
101. Ezekiel 22:14 tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.
102. Ezekiel 22:14 tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”
103. Ezekiel 22:15 sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.
104. 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.
105. Ezekiel 22:18 tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26 and Jer 6:27-30.
106. 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.
107. 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.
108. 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).
109. Ezekiel 22:24 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
110. 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.
111. Ezekiel 22:25 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
112. Ezekiel 22:26 tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”
113. 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).
114. Ezekiel 22:28 tn Heb “Her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.
115. Ezekiel 22:29 tn Heb “and the resident foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”
116. Ezekiel 22:30 tn Heb “I did not find.”
117. Ezekiel 22:31 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”