Yehezkiel 2:6-7

2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ¹  and thorns ²  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ³  for they are a rebellious house! 2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.

Yehezkiel 3:7-11

3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, ⁴  because they are not willing to listen to me, ⁵  for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. ⁶ 

3:8 “I have made your face adamant ⁷  to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! ⁸  Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, ⁹  for they are a rebellious house.”

3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, ¹⁰  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

Yehezkiel 3:18-19

3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ¹¹  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ¹²  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹³  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ¹⁴ 

Yehezkiel 33:7-9

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ¹⁵  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ¹⁶  and you do not warn ¹⁷  the wicked about his behavior, ¹⁸  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ¹⁹  33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, ²⁰  and he refuses to change, ²¹  he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.

[2:6]  ¹ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ² tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  sn Here thorns may be a figure for hostility (Ezek 28:24; Mic 7:4).

[2:6]  ³ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:7]  ⁴ sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.

[3:7]  ⁵ sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.

[3:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”

[3:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “strong, resolute.”

[3:9]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.

[3:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[3:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”

[3:18]  ¹¹ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ¹² tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

[33:7]  ¹⁵ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

[33:8]  ¹⁶ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[33:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”

[33:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”