Yehezkiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ¹  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ²  at the Kebar River, ³  the heavens opened ⁴  and I saw a divine vision. ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 1:16

1:16 The appearance of the wheels and their construction ⁶  was like gleaming jasper, ⁷  and all four wheels looked alike. Their structure was like a wheel within a wheel. ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 3:24

3:24 Then a wind ⁹  came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord ¹⁰  spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house.

Yehezkiel 18:18

18:18 As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

Yehezkiel 21:32

21:32 You will become fuel for the fire –

your blood will stain the middle of the land; ¹¹ 

you will no longer be remembered,

for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”

Yehezkiel 22:18

22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ¹²  they are the worthless slag of silver.

Yehezkiel 22:22

22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

Yehezkiel 23:39

23:39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

Yehezkiel 26:5

26:5 She will be a place where fishing nets are spread, surrounded by the sea. For I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord. She will become plunder for the nations,

Yehezkiel 26:12

26:12 They will steal your wealth and loot your merchandise. They will tear down your walls and destroy your luxurious ¹³  homes. Your stones, your trees, and your soil he will throw ¹⁴  into the water. ¹⁵ 

Yehezkiel 28:14

28:14 I placed you there with an anointed ¹⁶  guardian ¹⁷  cherub; ¹⁸ 

you were on the holy mountain of God;

you walked about amidst fiery stones.

Yehezkiel 31:17

31:17 Those who lived in its shade, its allies ¹⁹  among the nations, also went down with it to Sheol, to those killed by the sword.

Yehezkiel 37:1

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand ²⁰  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed ²¹  me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.

Yehezkiel 48:22

48:22 The property of the Levites and of the city will be in the middle of that which belongs to the prince. The portion between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin will be for the prince.

[1:1]  ¹ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ² sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ³ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ⁴ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2

[1:16]  ⁶ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning of this term is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB); “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV); or “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).

[1:16]  ⁸ tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). The description given in v. 17 favors the latter idea.

[3:24]  ⁹ tn See the note on “wind” in 2:2.

[3:24]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he.”

[21:32]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your blood will be in the middle of the land.”

[22:18]  ¹² tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.

[26:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “desirable.”

[26:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “set.”

[26:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “into the midst of the water.”

[28:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:14]  ¹⁷ 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.

[28:14]  ¹⁸ 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.

[31:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “its arm.”

[37:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “power.”

[37:1]  sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).

[37:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “caused me to rest.”