Yehezkiel 3:23--4:8

3:23 So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, ¹  and I threw myself face down.

3:24 Then a wind ²  came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord ³  spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house. 3:25 As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them. 3:26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove ⁴  them, for they are a rebellious house. 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue ⁵  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, ⁶  for they are a rebellious house.

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ⁷  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ⁸  a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp ⁹  against it! Post soldiers outside it ¹⁰  and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then for your part take an iron frying pan ¹¹  and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign ¹²  for the house of Israel.

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹³  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 ¹⁴  for you – 390 days. ¹⁵  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ¹⁶ 

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 ¹⁷  – I have assigned one day for each year. 4:7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 4:8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege. ¹⁸ 

[3:23]  ¹ tn Or “canal.”

[3:24]  ² tn See the note on “wind” in 2:2.

[3:24]  ³ tn Heb “he.”

[3:26]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will not be to them a reprover.” In Isa 29:21 and Amos 5:10 “a reprover” issued rebuke at the city gate.

[3:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “open your mouth.”

[3:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “the listener will listen, the refuser will refuse.” Because the word for listening can also mean obeying, the nuance may be that the obedient will listen, or that the one who listens will obey. Also, although the verbs are not jussive as pointed in the MT, some translate them with a volitive sense: “the one who listens – let that one listen, the one who refuses – let that one refuse.”

[4:1]  ⁷ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “draw.”

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Or “a barricade.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “set camps against it.”

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.

[4:3]  ¹² tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.

[4:4]  ¹³ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[4:5]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

[4:6]  ¹⁷ 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.”

[4:8]  ¹⁸ sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.