Footnotes

1. Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).
2. Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “lifted up.” sn See Prov 16:5.
3. Ezekiel 28:2 tn Or “I am divine.”
4. Ezekiel 28:2 tn Heb “and you made your heart/mind (לֵב, lev) like the heart/mind of gods.”
5. 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.
6. Ezekiel 28:3 sn The tone here is sarcastic, reflecting the ruler’s view of himself.
7. Ezekiel 28:5 tn Or “wisdom.”
8. Ezekiel 28:6 tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”
9. Ezekiel 28:7 sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.
10. Ezekiel 28:7 tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”
11. Ezekiel 28:8 tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”
12. 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.
13. Ezekiel 28:12 tn Heb “lift up.”
14. Ezekiel 28:12 tn For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. Ezekiel 28:14 tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.
18. 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.
19. 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.
20. Ezekiel 28:15 tn Heb “ways.”
21. Ezekiel 28:16 tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. Ezekiel 28:21 tn Heb “set your face against.”
25. Ezekiel 28:21 sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29. Ezekiel 28:23 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
30. Ezekiel 28:24 sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55 and Josh 23:13.
31. 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.”
32. Ezekiel 28:25 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
33. Ezekiel 28:26 sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.