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“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the resident foreigner[a] who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword[b] and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word—I, the Lord, have made a fool of[c] that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 They will bear their punishment;[d] the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it[e] 11 so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God,[f] declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 14:7 sn The ger (גֵּר) “resident foreigner” had a different status in different countries. In Israel the foreigners going by this term are (or are supposed to be) fully integrated into Israel’s social fabric and worshipers of Yahweh. Such an attachment to the Lord is a prior condition to the possibility of separating from the Lord. See also the notes at Exod 12:19 and Deut 29:11.
  2. Ezekiel 14:8 tn Heb “proverbs.”
  3. Ezekiel 14:9 tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1-11 - ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166-69; and ThWAT 4:829-31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated as “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439-41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23-25.
  4. Ezekiel 14:10 tn Or “They will bear responsibility for their iniquity.” The Hebrew term “iniquity” (three times in this verse) often refers by metonymy to the consequence of sin (see Gen 4:13).
  5. Ezekiel 14:10 tn Or “As is the guilt of the inquirer, so is the guilt of the prophet.”
  6. Ezekiel 14:11 sn I will be their God. See Exod 6:7; Lev 26:12; Jer 7:23; 11:4.

“So say to the ·people [L house] of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: ·Change your hearts and lives [Repent], and ·stop worshiping [L turn from your] idols. ·Stop doing [L Turn your faces from] all ·the things I hate [your abominations/detestable practices]. Any of the Israelites or foreigners in Israel can separate themselves from me by ·wanting to worship idols [L setting up idols in their hearts] or by putting ·up things that cause people to sin [L before their face a wicked stumbling block/obstacle]. Then if they come to the prophet to ·ask me questions [consult me], I, the Lord, will answer them myself. I will ·reject [L set my face against] them. I will make them a sign and an ·example [proverb; byword], and I will ·separate them [L cut them off] from my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“‘But if the prophet is ·tricked [deceived; or enticed] into giving a prophecy, it is because I, the Lord, have ·tricked [deceived; or enticed] that prophet to speak. Then I will ·use my power [L stretch out my hand] against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 10 The prophet will be ·as guilty [or punished the same] as the one who asks him for help; both will ·be responsible [or bear the punishment] for their guilt. 11 Then the ·nation [L house] of Israel will ·not leave me anymore [no longer go astray] or ·make themselves unclean [defile themselves; C ritually] anymore with all their sins. They will be my people, and I will be their God, says the Lord God.’”

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