Yehezkiel 4:4-6

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. 4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ²  for you – 390 days. ³  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁴ 

4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days ⁵  – I have assigned one day for each year.

Yehezkiel 4:17

4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity. ⁶ 

Yehezkiel 7:16

7:16 Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys; all of them will moan – each one for his iniquity.

Yehezkiel 14:10

14:10 They will bear their punishment; ⁷  the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 18:19-20

18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer ⁹  for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live. 18:20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer ¹⁰  for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer ¹¹  for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness. ¹² 

Yehezkiel 21:30

21:30 Return it to its sheath! ¹³ 

In the place where you were created, ¹⁴ 

in your native land, I will judge you.

Yehezkiel 34:1-31

A Prophecy Against False Shepherds

34:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds ¹⁵  of Israel; prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness ¹⁶  you have ruled over them. 34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. ¹⁷  34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

34:7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep, 34:9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ¹⁸  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

34:11 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ¹⁹  34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush ²⁰  pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 34:15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. 34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!

34:17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? 34:19 As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

34:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 34:21 Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad, ²¹  34:22 I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.

34:23 I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David. ²²  He will feed them and will be their shepherd. 34:24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince ²³  among them; I, the Lord, have spoken!

34:25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely ²⁴  in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. ²⁵  34:26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. ²⁶  34:27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 34:28 They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid. 34:29 I will prepare for them a healthy ²⁷  planting. They will no longer be victims ²⁸  of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations. 34:30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, ²⁹  and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. ³⁰  34:31 And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, ³¹  and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Yehezkiel 24:23

24:23 Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you will not mourn or weep, but you will rot ³²  for your iniquities ³³  and groan among yourselves.

Yehezkiel 32:27

32:27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, ³⁴  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ³⁵  when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

Yehezkiel 35:5

35:5 “‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword ³⁶  at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.

Yehezkiel 39:23

39:23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile due to their iniquity, ³⁷  for they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and handed them over to their enemies; all of them died by the sword.

Yehezkiel 44:10

44:10 “‘But the Levites who went far from me, straying off from me after their idols when Israel went astray, will be responsible for ³⁸  their sin.

Yehezkiel 44:12

44:12 Because they used to minister to them before their idols, and became a sinful obstacle ³⁹  to the house of Israel, consequently I have made a vow ⁴⁰  concerning them, declares the sovereign Lord, that they will be responsible ⁴¹  for their sin.

[4:4]  ¹ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[4:5]  ² tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

[4:5]  ³ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:5]  sn The significance of the number 390 is not clear. The best explanation is that “days” are used figuratively for years and the number refers to the years of the sinfulness of Israel during the period of the First Temple. Some understand the number to refer to the length of the division of the northern and southern kingdoms down to the fall of Jerusalem (931-586 b.c.), but this adds up to only 345 years.

[4:5]  ⁴ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

[4:6]  ⁵ sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”

[4:17]  ⁶ tn Or “in their punishment.” Ezek 4:16-17 alludes to Lev 26:26, 39. The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here, 3:18, 19; 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.”

[14:10]  ⁷ 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).

[14:10]  ⁸ tn Or “As is the guilt of the inquirer so is the guilt of the prophet.”

[18:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

[18:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

[18:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lift up, bear.”

[18:20]  ¹² tn Heb “the righteousness of the righteous one will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked one will be upon him.”

[21:30]  ¹³ sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands it to halt and announces that Babylon itself will also experience his judgment. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:28.

[21:30]  ¹⁴ tn In the Hebrew text of vv. 30-32 the second person verbal and pronominal forms are feminine singular. This may indicate that the personified Babylonian sword is being addressed. The Hebrew word for “sword” (see v. 28) is feminine. However, it may refer to the Ammonites.

[34:2]  ¹⁵ tn The term shepherd is applied to kings in the ancient Near East. In the OT the Lord is often addressed as shepherd of Israel (Gen 49:24; Ps 8:1). The imagery of shepherds as Israel’s leaders is also employed (Jer 23:1-2).

[34:4]  ¹⁶ tn The term translated “harshness” is used to describe the oppression the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:13).

[34:5]  ¹⁷ tn As a case of dittography, the MT repeats “and they were scattered” at the end of the verse.

[34:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will cause them to cease from feeding sheep.”

[34:12]  ¹⁹ sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.

[34:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “good.”

[34:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “outside.”

[34:23]  ²² sn The messianic king is here called “David” (see Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5, as well as Isa 11:1 and Mic 5:2) because he will fulfill the Davidic royal ideal depicted in the prophets and royal psalms (see Ps 2, 89).

[34:24]  ²³ sn The messianic king (“David”) is called both “king” and “prince” in 37:24-25. The use of the term “prince” for this king facilitates the contrast between this ideal ruler and the Davidic “princes” denounced in earlier prophecies (see 7:27; 12:10, 12; 19:1; 21:25; 22:6, 25).

[34:25]  ²⁴ tn The phrase “live securely” occurs in Ezek 28:26; 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26 as an expression of freedom from fear. It is a promised blessing resulting from obedience (see Lev 26:5-6).

[34:25]  ²⁵ sn The woods were typically considered to be places of danger (Ps 104:20-21; Jer 5:6).

[34:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).

[34:29]  ²⁷ tc The MT reads לְשֵׁם (lÿshem, “for a name”), meaning perhaps a renowned planting (place). The translation takes this to be a metathesis of שָׁלֹם (shalom) as was read by the LXX.

[34:29]  ²⁸ tn Heb “those gathered” for famine.

[34:30]  ²⁹ sn A promise given to Abraham (Gen 15:7) and his descendants (Gen 15:8; Exod 6:7).

[34:30]  ³⁰ sn The blessings described in vv. 25-30 are those promised for obedience in Lev 26:4-13.

[34:31]  ³¹ tn Heb, “the sheep of my pasture, you are human.” See 36:37-38 for a similar expression. The possessive pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation to balance “I am your God” in the next clause.

[24:23]  ³² tn The same verb appears in 4:17 and 33:10.

[24:23]  ³³ 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.

[32:27]  ³⁴ tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech-Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.

[32:27]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear; in light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend “their iniquities” to “their swords.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.

[35:5]  ³⁶ tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.

[39:23]  ³⁷ tn Or “in their 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; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.

[44:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “will bear.”

[44:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “a stumbling block of iniquity.” This is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (cf. also Ezek 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30).

[44:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[44:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “will bear.”