Chronological

Footnotes

1. Ezekiel 24:1 tn The date of this oracle was January 15, 588 b.c.
2. Ezekiel 24:2 tn Heb “lean on, put pressure on.”
3. 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).
4. Ezekiel 24:3 sn See Ezek 11:3-12.
5. Ezekiel 24:6 tn Or “rust.”
6. Ezekiel 24:6 tn Heb “has not gone out.”
7. Ezekiel 24:6 tn Here “lot” may refer to the decision made by casting lots; it is not chosen at all.
8. Ezekiel 24:11 tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”
9. Ezekiel 24:11 tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).
10. 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.
11. Ezekiel 24:12 tn Heb “does not go out.”
12. 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.
13. Ezekiel 24:13 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
14. 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.
15. Ezekiel 24:13 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
16. Ezekiel 24:14 tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17. Ezekiel 24:14 tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”
18. 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.”
19. Ezekiel 24:14 tn Heb “ways.”
20. Ezekiel 24:16 tn Heb “a strike.”
21. 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.
22. 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.
23. Ezekiel 24:17 sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).
24. Ezekiel 24:17 sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.
25. 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).
26. 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.
27. Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “the pride of your strength” means “your strong pride.”
28. 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.
29. 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.”
30. Ezekiel 24:21 tn Heb “fall.”
31. Ezekiel 24:22 tn See v. 17.
32. Ezekiel 24:23 tn The same verb appears in 4:17 and 33:10.
33. 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.
34. Ezekiel 24:25 tn Heb “(Will) it not (be) in the day I take?”
35. 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.
36. 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.
37. Ezekiel 24:26 tn Heb “to make the ears hear.”
38. Ezekiel 24:27 tn Heb “your mouth will open.”
39. Ezekiel 25:2 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
40. Ezekiel 25:2 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.” Ammon was located to the east of Israel.
41. 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).
42. Ezekiel 25:4 tn Heb “Look, I am about to give you for a possession to.”
43. Ezekiel 25:4 tn Heb “sons.”
44. Ezekiel 25:5 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.”
45. Ezekiel 25:6 tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”
46. 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.
47. Ezekiel 25:8 sn Moab was located immediately south of Ammon.
48. Ezekiel 25:9 tn Heb “shoulder.”
49. 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).
50. Ezekiel 25:9 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
51. Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “I will give it for a possession.”
52. Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon” (twice in this verse).
53. Ezekiel 25:10 tn Heb “the sons.”
54. Ezekiel 25:12 sn Edom was located south of Moab.
55. 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.
56. Ezekiel 25:12 tn Heb “and they have taken vengeance.”
57. 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).
58. Ezekiel 25:13 tn Heb “and I will cut off from her man and beast.”
59. Ezekiel 25:13 tn Heb “fall.”
60. Ezekiel 25:14 tn Heb “know.”
61. Ezekiel 25:15 sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.
62. 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.
63. Ezekiel 25:15 tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”
64. Ezekiel 25:15 tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.
65. 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.
66. 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.
67. Ezekiel 25:16 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
68. Ezekiel 25:17 tn Heb “with acts of punishment of anger.”
69. 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.
70. Ezekiel 26:2 sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.
71. Ezekiel 26:2 tn Heb “I will be filled.”
72. Ezekiel 26:2 sn That is, Jerusalem.
73. Ezekiel 26:3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
74. 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.
75. Ezekiel 26:4 tn Or “debris.”
76. Ezekiel 26:6 sn That is, the towns located inland that were under Tyre’s rule.
77. Ezekiel 26:7 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.
78. 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.”
79. Ezekiel 26:9 tn Heb “swords.”
80. Ezekiel 26:10 tn Heb “From the abundance of his horses he will cover you (with) their dust.”
81. Ezekiel 26:10 tn Heb “like those who enter a breached city.”
82. Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “desirable.”
83. Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “set.”
84. Ezekiel 26:12 tn Heb “into the midst of the water.”
85. Ezekiel 26:13 tn Heb “cause to end.”
86. Ezekiel 26:14 sn This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great in 332 b.c.
87. Ezekiel 26:16 tn Heb “descend from.”
88. Ezekiel 26:16 tn Heb “and they will be astonished over you.”
89. Ezekiel 26:17 tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”
90. 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.
91. 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).”
92. Ezekiel 26:18 tn Heb “from your going out.”
93. Ezekiel 26:19 tn Heb “many.”
94. Ezekiel 26:20 tn Heb “to the people of antiquity.”
95. Ezekiel 26:20 tn Heb “like.” The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition כ (kaf, “like”) to ב (bet, “in, among”).
96. 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.”
97. Ezekiel 27:2 tn Heb “lift up over Tyre a lament.”
98. Ezekiel 27:3 tn Heb “entrances.” The plural noun may reflect the fact that Tyre had two main harbors.
99. Ezekiel 27:3 sn Rome, another economic power, is described in a similar way in Rev 17:1.
100. Ezekiel 27:4 tn The city of Tyre is described in the following account as a merchant ship.
101. Ezekiel 27:5 tn Heb “built.”
102. Ezekiel 27:5 tn Perhaps the hull or deck. The term is dual, so perhaps it refers to a double-decked ship.
103. Ezekiel 27:6 tn Or “hull.”
104. 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.”
105. 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.
106. Ezekiel 27:7 sn This is probably a reference to Cyprus.
107. 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.
108. Ezekiel 27:8 sn Sidon and Arvad, like Tyre, were Phoenician coastal cities.
109. Ezekiel 27:8 tn Or “wise.”
110. Ezekiel 27:9 sn Another Phoenician coastal city located between Sidon and Arvad.
111. 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.
112. 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.
113. Ezekiel 27:10 sn See Gen 10:22.
114. Ezekiel 27:11 tn Heb “sons of Arvad.”
115. Ezekiel 27:11 sn The identity of the Gammadites is uncertain.
116. 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.
117. 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.
118. 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.”
119. Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “sons of Dedan.”
120. Ezekiel 27:15 tn Heb “they returned as your gift.”
121. 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).
122. Ezekiel 27:17 sn The location is mentioned in Judg 11:33.
123. 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.
124. 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.
125. 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.
126. Ezekiel 27:27 tn Heb “your repairers of damage.” See v. 9.
127. Ezekiel 27:28 tn Compare this phrase to Isa 57:20 and Amos 8:8. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:561.
128. Ezekiel 27:30 tn Heb “make heard over you with their voice.”
129. Ezekiel 27:30 tn Note a similar expression to “roll in the ashes” in Mic 1:10.
130. Ezekiel 27:31 tn Heb “and they will weep concerning you with bitterness of soul, (with) bitter mourning.”
131. 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.
132. Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “fallen.”
133. Ezekiel 27:34 tn Heb “in the midst of you.”