Yehezkiel 16:30

16:30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute.

Yehezkiel 19:5

19:5 “‘When she realized that she waited in vain, her hope was lost.

She took another of her cubs ¹  and made him a young lion.

Yehezkiel 19:7

19:7 He broke down ²  their strongholds ³  and devastated their cities.

The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.

Yehezkiel 21:13

21:13 “‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? ⁴  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Yehezkiel 23:44

23:44 They had sex with her ⁵  as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women.

Yehezkiel 24:26

24:26 On that day a fugitive will come to you to report the news. ⁶ 

[19:5]  ¹ sn The identity of this second lion is unclear; the referent is probably Jehoiakim or Zedekiah. If the lioness is Hamutal, then Zedekiah is the lion described here.

[19:7]  ² tc The Hebrew text reads “knew,” but is apparently the result of a ר-ד (dalet-resh) confusion. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. However, Allen retains the reading “widows” as the object of the verb, which he understands in the sense of “do harm to,” and translates the line: “He did harm to women by making them widows” (p. 282). The line also appears to be lacking a beat for the meter of the poem.

[19:7]  ³ tc The Hebrew text reads “widows” instead of “strongholds,” apparently due to a confusion of ר (resh) and ל (lamed). L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284) favors the traditional text, understanding “widows” in the sense of “women made widows.” D. I. Block, (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:602) also defends the Hebrew text, arguing that the image is that of a dominant male lion who takes over the pride and by copulating with the females lays claim to his predecessor’s “widows.”

[21:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “For testing (will come) and what if also a scepter, it despises, will not be?” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned in the previous verses. The text is very difficult and any rendering is uncertain.

[23:44]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they came to her.”

[24:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “to make the ears hear.”