Yehezkiel 11:3

11:3 They say, ¹  ‘The time is not near to build houses; ²  the city ³  is a cooking pot ⁴  and we are the meat in it.’

Yehezkiel 22:12

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ⁵  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ⁶  declares the sovereign Lord. ⁷ 

Yehezkiel 22:25

22:25 Her princes ⁸  within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows ⁹  within it.

Yehezkiel 24:17

24:17 Groan in silence for the dead, ¹⁰  but do not perform mourning rites. ¹¹  Bind on your turban ¹²  and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip ¹³  and do not eat food brought by others.” ¹⁴ 

Yehezkiel 38:14

38:14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice ¹⁵ 

[11:3]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.

[11:3]  ² sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).

[11:3]  ³ tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.

[11:3]  ⁴ sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.

[22:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ⁶ sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ⁷ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

[22:25]  ⁸ tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.

[22:25]  ⁹ tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

[24:17]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Groan silently. As to the dead….” Cf. M. Greenberg’s suggestion that דֹּם מֵתִים (dom metim) be taken together and דֹּם be derived from ָדּמַם (damam, “to moan, murmur”). See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:508.

[24:17]  ¹¹ 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.

[24:17]  ¹² sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).

[24:17]  ¹³ sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.

[24:17]  ¹⁴ 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).

[38:14]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew text is framed as a rhetorical question: “will you not take notice?”