Ezekiel 11
New Living Translation
Judgment on Israel’s Leaders
11 Then the Spirit lifted me and brought me to the east gateway of the Lord’s Temple, where I saw twenty-five prominent men of the city. Among them were Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, who were leaders among the people.
2 The Spirit said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who are planning evil and giving wicked counsel in this city. 3 They say to the people, ‘Is it not a good time to build houses? This city is like an iron pot. We are safe inside it like meat in a pot.[a]’ 4 Therefore, son of man, prophesy against them loudly and clearly.”
5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and he told me to say, “This is what the Lord says to the people of Israel: I know what you are saying, for I know every thought that comes into your minds. 6 You have murdered many in this city and filled its streets with the dead.
7 “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: This city is an iron pot all right, but the pieces of meat are the victims of your injustice. As for you, I will soon drag you from this pot. 8 I will bring on you the sword of war you so greatly fear, says the Sovereign Lord. 9 I will drive you out of Jerusalem and hand you over to foreigners, who will carry out my judgments against you. 10 You will be slaughtered all the way to the borders of Israel. I will execute judgment on you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 11 No, this city will not be an iron pot for you, and you will not be like meat safe inside it. I will judge you even to the borders of Israel, 12 and you will know that I am the Lord. For you have refused to obey my decrees and regulations; instead, you have copied the standards of the nations around you.”
13 While I was still prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah suddenly died. Then I fell face down on the ground and cried out, “O Sovereign Lord, are you going to kill everyone in Israel?”
Hope for Exiled Israel
14 Then this message came to me from the Lord: 15 “Son of man, the people still left in Jerusalem are talking about you and your relatives and all the people of Israel who are in exile. They are saying, ‘Those people are far away from the Lord, so now he has given their land to us!’
16 “Therefore, tell the exiles, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have scattered you in the countries of the world, I will be a sanctuary to you during your time in exile. 17 I, the Sovereign Lord, will gather you back from the nations where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel once again.’
18 “When the people return to their homeland, they will remove every trace of their vile images and detestable idols. 19 And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart,[b] 20 so they will obey my decrees and regulations. Then they will truly be my people, and I will be their God. 21 But as for those who long for vile images and detestable idols, I will repay them fully for their sins. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
The Lord’s Glory Leaves Jerusalem
22 Then the cherubim lifted their wings and rose into the air with their wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 23 Then the glory of the Lord went up from the city and stopped above the mountain to the east.
24 Afterward the Spirit of God carried me back again to Babylonia,[c] to the people in exile there. And so ended the vision of my visit to Jerusalem. 25 And I told the exiles everything the Lord had shown me.
Ezekiel 11
New English Translation
The Fall of Jerusalem
11 A wind[a] lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.[b] 2 The Lord[c] said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 3 They say,[d] ‘The time is not near to build houses;[e] the city[f] is a cooking pot,[g] and we are the meat in it.’ 4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came[h] upon me and said to me, “Say: ‘This is what the Lord says: This is what you are thinking,[i] O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds.[j] 6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 7 Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped[k] in the midst of the city[l] are the meat, and this city[m] is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it.[n] 8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. 9 ‘But I will take you out of the city.[o] And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not[p] be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”
13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, Sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!”[q]
14 Then the Lord’s message came to me: 15 “Son of man, your brothers,[r] your relatives,[s] and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘They have gone far away[t] from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little[u] sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them;[v] I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies[w] and I will give them tender hearts,[x] 20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.[y] 21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done,[z] says the Sovereign Lord.”
22 Then the cherubim spread[aa] their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped[ab] over the mountain east of it. 24 Then a wind[ac] lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia,[ad] in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 25 So I told the exiles everything[ae] the Lord had shown me.
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 11:1 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 11:1 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
- Ezekiel 11:2 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Ezekiel 11:3 tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.
- Ezekiel 11:3 sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).
- Ezekiel 11:3 tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 11:3 sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.
- Ezekiel 11:5 tn Heb “fell.”
- Ezekiel 11:5 tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).
- Ezekiel 11:5 tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”
- Ezekiel 11:7 tn Heb “placed.”
- Ezekiel 11:7 tn Heb “in its midst.”
- Ezekiel 11:7 tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.
- Ezekiel 11:7 tc Many of the versions have “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
- Ezekiel 11:9 tn Heb “its midst.”
- Ezekiel 11:11 tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.
- Ezekiel 11:13 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense, and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
- Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for emphasis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
- Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (geʾullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (alef) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
- Ezekiel 11:15 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
- Ezekiel 11:16 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
- Ezekiel 11:19 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”
- Ezekiel 11:19 tn Heb “their flesh.”
- Ezekiel 11:19 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
- Ezekiel 11:20 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
- Ezekiel 11:21 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
- Ezekiel 11:22 tn Heb “lifted.”
- Ezekiel 11:23 tn Heb “stood.”
- Ezekiel 11:24 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
- Ezekiel 11:24 tn Heb “to Chaldea.”
- Ezekiel 11:25 tn Heb “all the words of.”
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