Yehezkiel 20:46

20:46 “Son of man, turn toward ¹  the south, ²  and speak out against the south. ³  Prophesy against the open scrub ⁴  land of the Negev,

Mikha 2:6

2:6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ⁵ 

‘These prophets should not preach of such things;

we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ⁶ 

[20:46]  ¹ tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2; 13:17.

[20:46]  ² tn Or “the way toward the south,” or “the way toward Teman.” Teman is in the south and may be a location or the direction.

[20:46]  ³ tn Or “toward Darom.” Darom may mean the south or a region just north of southern city of Beer Sheba. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:417-18.

[20:46]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew term can also mean “forest,” but a meaning of uncultivated wasteland fits the Negev region far better. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:418.

[2:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “‘Do not foam at the mouth,’ they foam at the mouth.” The verb נָטַף (nataf) means “to drip.” When used of speech it probably has the nuance “to drivel, to foam at the mouth” (HALOT 694 s.v. נטף). The sinful people tell the Lord’s prophets not to “foam at the mouth,” which probably refers in a derogatory way to their impassioned style of delivery. But the Lord (who is probably still speaking here, see v. 3) sarcastically refers to their impassioned exhortation as “foaming at the mouth.”

[2:6]  ⁶ tc If one follows the MT as it stands, it would appear that the Lord here condemns the people for their “foaming at the mouth” and then announces that judgment is inevitable. The present translation assumes that this is a continuation of the quotation of what the people say. In this case the subject of “foam at the mouth” is the Lord’s prophets. In the second line יִסַּג (yissag, a Niphal imperfect from סוּג, sug, “to remove”) is emended to יַסִּגֵנוּ (yassigenu; a Hiphil imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג, nasag/nasag, “to reach; to overtake”).

[2:6]  tn Heb “they should not foam at the mouth concerning these things, humiliation will not be removed.”