Yehezkiel 4:1--12:28
Konteks4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick 1 and set it in front of you. Inscribe 2 a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp 3 against it! Post soldiers outside it 4 and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then for your part take an iron frying pan 5 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 6 for the house of Israel.
4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity 7 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 8 for you – 390 days. 9 So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. 10
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 11 – 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. 12
4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, 13 put them in a single container, and make food 14 from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days 15 – you will eat it. 4:10 The food you eat will be eight ounces 16 a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed 17 times. 4:11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; 18 you must drink it at fixed times. 4:12 And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.” 19 4:13 And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations 20 where I will banish them.”
4:14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat 21 has never entered my mouth.”
4:15 So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”
4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply 22 in Jerusalem. 23 They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror 4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity. 24
5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. 25 Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. 26 Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. 5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:3 But take a few strands of hair 27 from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. 28 5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, 29 and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
5:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem; I placed her in the center of the nations with countries all around her. 5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations 30 and the countries around her. 31 Indeed, they 32 have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.
5:7 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you are more arrogant 33 than the nations around you, 34 you have not followed my statutes and have not carried out my regulations. You have not even 35 carried out the regulations of the nations around you!
5:8 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, 36 and I will execute judgment 37 among you while the nations watch. 38 5:9 I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again because of all your abominable practices. 39 5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, 40 and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors 41 to the winds. 42
5:11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare 43 you. 5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. 44 A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, 45 and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:13 Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased. 46 Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy 47 when I have fully vented my rage against them.
5:14 “I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by. 5:15 You will be 48 an object of scorn and taunting, 49 a prime example of destruction 50 among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. 51 I, the Lord, have spoken! 5:16 I will shoot against them deadly, 52 destructive 53 arrows of famine, 54 which I will shoot to destroy you. 55 I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply. 56 5:17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. 57 Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, 58 and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
6:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 6:2 “Son of man, turn toward 59 the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them: 6:3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, 60 Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! 61 This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing 62 a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 63 6:4 Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 64 6:5 I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, 65 and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6:6 In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. 66 6:7 The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord. 67
6:8 “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. 68 6:9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize 69 how I was crushed by their unfaithful 70 heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves 71 because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. 6:10 They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’ 72
6:11 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. 73 6:12 The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these 74 will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them. 6:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord – when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, 75 the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 6:14 I will stretch out my hand against them 76 and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, 77 in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
7:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 7:2 “You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! 78 7:3 The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge 79 you according to your behavior, 80 I will hold you accountable for 81 all your abominable practices. 7:4 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare 82 you. 83 For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, 84 and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. 85 Then you will know that I am the Lord!
7:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster 86 – a one-of-a-kind 87 disaster – is coming! 7:6 An end comes 88 – the end comes! 89 It has awakened against you 90 – the end is upon you! Look, it is coming! 91 7:7 Doom is coming upon you who live in the land! The time is coming, the day 92 is near. There are sounds of tumult, not shouts of joy, on the mountains. 93 7:8 Soon now I will pour out my rage 94 on you; I will fully vent my anger against you. I will judge you according to your behavior. I will hold you accountable for all your abominable practices. 7:9 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare 95 you. For your behavior I will hold you accountable, 96 and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking you. 97
7:10 “Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed! 7:11 Violence 98 has grown into a staff that supports wickedness. Not one of them will be left 99 – not from their crowd, not from their wealth, not from their prominence. 100 7:12 The time has come; the day has struck! The customer should not rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for divine wrath 101 comes against their whole crowd. 7:13 The customer will no longer pay the seller 102 while both parties are alive, for the vision against their whole crowd 103 will not be revoked. Each person, for his iniquity, 104 will fail to preserve his life.
7:14 “They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd. 105 7:15 The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city. 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. 7:17 All of their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine. 106 7:18 They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all of their heads will be shaved bald. 107 7:19 They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth. 108 Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s fury. 109 They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth 110 was the obstacle leading to their iniquity. 111 7:20 They rendered the beauty of his ornaments into pride, 112 and with it they made their abominable images – their detestable idols. Therefore I will render it filthy to them. 7:21 I will give it to foreigners as loot, to the world’s wicked ones as plunder, and they will desecrate it. 7:22 I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. 113 Vandals will enter it and desecrate it. 114 7:23 (Make the chain, 115 because the land is full of murder 116 and the city is full of violence.) 7:24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries 117 will be desecrated. 7:25 Terror 118 is coming! They will seek peace, but find none. 7:26 Disaster after disaster will come, and one rumor after another. They will seek a vision from a prophet; priestly instruction will disappear, along with counsel from the elders. 7:27 The king will mourn and the prince will be clothed with shuddering; the hands of the people of the land will tremble. Based on their behavior I will deal with them, and by their standard of justice 119 I will judge them. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, 120 as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand 121 of the sovereign Lord seized me. 122 8:2 As I watched, I noticed 123 a form that appeared to be a man. 124 From his waist downward was something like fire, 125 and from his waist upward something like a brightness, 126 like an amber glow. 127 8:3 He stretched out the form 128 of a hand and grabbed me by a lock of hair on my head. Then a wind 129 lifted me up between the earth and sky and brought me to Jerusalem 130 by means of divine visions, to the door of the inner gate which faces north where the statue 131 which provokes to jealousy was located. 8:4 Then I perceived that the glory of the God of Israel was there, as in the vision I had seen earlier in the valley.
8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward 132 the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.
8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people 133 of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
8:7 He brought me to the entrance of the court, and as I watched, I noticed a hole in the wall. 8:8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall.” So I dug into the wall and discovered a doorway.
8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are practicing here.” 8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure 134 of creeping thing and beast – detestable images 135 – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 136 8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel 137 (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant 138 vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.
8:12 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? 139 For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’” 8:13 He said to me, “You will see them practicing even greater abominations!”
8:14 Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the Lord’s house. I noticed 140 women sitting there weeping for Tammuz. 141 8:15 He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? You will see even greater abominations than these!”
8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there 142 at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, 143 were about twenty-five 144 men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, 145 facing east – they were worshiping the sun 146 toward the east!
8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! 147 8:18 Therefore I will act with fury! My eye will not pity them nor will I spare 148 them. When they have shouted in my ears, I will not listen to them.”
9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, 149 you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!” 9:2 Next, I noticed 150 six men 151 coming from the direction of the upper gate 152 which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit 153 at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.
9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. 154 He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side. 9:4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem 155 and put a mark 156 on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”
9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, 157 “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare 158 anyone! 9:6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.
9:7 He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went out and struck people down throughout the city. 9:8 While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, “Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?”
9:9 He said to me, “The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, 159 for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ 160 9:10 But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare 161 them; I hereby repay them for what they have done.” 162
9:11 Next I noticed the man dressed in linen with the writing kit at his side bringing back word: “I have done just as you commanded me.”
10:1 As I watched, I saw 163 on the platform 164 above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them. 10:2 The Lord 165 said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork 166 underneath the cherubim. 167 Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.
10:3 (The cherubim were standing on the south side 168 of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) 10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God 169 when he speaks.
10:6 When the Lord 170 commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man 171 went in and stood by one of the wheels. 172 10:7 Then one of the cherubim 173 stretched out his hand 174 toward the fire which was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and left. 10:8 (The cherubim appeared to have the form 175 of human hands under their wings.)
10:9 As I watched, I noticed 176 four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; 177 the wheels gleamed like jasper. 178 10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. 179 10:11 When they 180 moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow 181 without turning as they moved, 10:12 along with their entire bodies, 182 their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. 10:13 As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork” 183 as I listened. 10:14 Each of the cherubim 184 had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, 185 the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.
10:15 The cherubim rose up; these were the living beings 186 I saw at the Kebar River. 10:16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim spread 187 their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side. 10:17 When the cherubim 188 stood still, the wheels 189 stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels 190 rose up with them, for the spirit 191 of the living beings 192 was in the wheels. 193
10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 10:19 The cherubim spread 194 their wings, and they rose up from the earth 195 while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.
10:20 These were the living creatures 196 which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim. 10:21 Each had four faces; each had four wings and the form of human hands under the wings. 10:22 As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.
11:1 A wind 197 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 198 11:2 The Lord 199 said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 11:3 They say, 200 ‘The time is not near to build houses; 201 the city 202 is a cooking pot 203 and we are the meat in it.’ 11:4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came 204 upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, 205 O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. 206 11:6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 11:7 Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped 207 in the midst of the city 208 are the meat, and this city 209 is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. 210 11:8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the sovereign Lord. 11:9 ‘But I will take you out of the city. 211 And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 11:10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not 212 be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 11:12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”
11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!” 213
11:14 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 11:15 “Son of man, your brothers, 214 your relatives, 215 and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem 216 have said, ‘They have gone 217 far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
11:16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little 218 sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
11:18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; 219 I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies 220 and I will give them tender hearts, 221 11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 222 11:21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, 223 says the sovereign Lord.”
11:22 Then the cherubim spread 224 their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 11:23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped 225 over the mountain east of it. 11:24 Then a wind 226 lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, 227 in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 11:25 So I told the exiles everything 228 the Lord had shown me.
12:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:2 “Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. 229 They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, 230 because they are a rebellious house.
12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, 231 although they are a rebellious house. 12:4 Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile. 12:5 While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. 12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. 232 You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground 233 because I have made you an object lesson 234 to the house of Israel.”
12:7 So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage 235 on my shoulder while they watched.
12:8 The word of the Lord came to me in the morning: 12:9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 12:10 Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, 236 and all the house of Israel within it.’ 237 12:11 Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’
12:12 “The prince 238 who is among them will raise his belongings 239 onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He 240 will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. 12:13 But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans 241 (but he will not see it), 242 and there he will die. 243 12:14 All his retinue – his attendants and his troops – I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.
12:15 “Then they will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among foreign countries. 12:16 But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
12:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:18 “Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, 244 and drink your water with anxious shaking. 12:19 Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it. 12:20 The inhabited towns will be left in ruins and the land will be devastated. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
12:21 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, ‘The days pass slowly, and every vision fails’? 12:23 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I hereby end this proverb; they will not recite it in Israel any longer.’ But say to them, ‘The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled. 245 12:24 For there will no longer be any false visions or flattering omens amidst the house of Israel. 12:25 For I, the Lord, will speak. Whatever word I speak will be accomplished. It will not be delayed any longer. Indeed in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and accomplish it, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
12:26 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:27 “Take note, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for distant days; he is prophesying about the far future.’ 12:28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer! The word I speak will come to pass, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
[4:1] 1 sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.
[4:2] 4 tn Heb “set camps against it.”
[4:3] 5 tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.
[4:3] 6 tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.
[4:4] 7 tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).
[4:5] 8 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] 9 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
[4:5] 10 tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.
[4:6] 11 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] 12 sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.
[4:9] 13 sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.
[4:9] 15 tc The LXX reads “190 days.”
[4:10] 16 sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).
[4:10] 17 tn Heb “from time to time.”
[4:11] 18 sn A pint and a half [Heb “one-sixth of a hin”]. One-sixth of a hin was a quantity of liquid equal to about 1.3 pints or 0.6 liters.
[4:12] 19 sn Human waste was to remain outside the camp of the Israelites according to Deut 23:15.
[4:13] 20 sn Unclean food among the nations. Lands outside of Israel were considered unclean (Josh 22:19; Amos 7:17).
[4:14] 21 tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).
[4:16] 22 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.
[4:16] 23 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[4:17] 24 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.”
[5:1] 25 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[5:1] 26 tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”
[5:3] 27 tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.
[5:3] 28 sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).
[5:4] 29 tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.
[5:6] 30 sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.
[5:6] 31 tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”
[5:6] 32 sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.
[5:7] 33 tn Traditionally this difficult form has been derived from a hypothetical root הָמוֹן (hamon), supposedly meaning “be in tumult/uproar,” but such a verb occurs nowhere else. It is more likely that it is to be derived from a root מָנוֹן (manon), meaning “disdain” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:52). A derivative from this root is used in Prov 29:21 of a rebellious servant. See HALOT 600 s.v. מָנוֹן.
[5:7] 34 sn You are more arrogant than the nations around you. Israel is accused of being worse than the nations in Ezek 16:27; 2 Kgs 21:11; Jer 2:11.
[5:7] 35 tc Some Hebrew
[5:8] 36 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
[5:8] 37 tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”
[5:8] 38 tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”
[5:8] sn This is one of the ironies of the passage. The Lord set Israel among the nations for honor and praise as they would be holy and obey God’s law as told in Ezek 5:5 and Deut 26:16-19. The practice of these laws and statutes would make the peoples consider Israel wise. (See Deut 4:5-8, where the words for laws and statutes are the same as those used here). Since Israel did not obey, they are made a different kind of object lesson to the nations, not by their obedience but in their punishment as told in Ezek 5:8 and Deut 29:24-29. Yet Deut 30 goes on to say that when they remember the cursings and blessings of the covenant and repent, God will restore them from the nations to which they have been scattered.
[5:9] 39 tn Or “abominable idols.”
[5:10] 40 tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”
[5:10] sn This cannibalism would occur as a result of starvation due to the city being besieged. It is one of the judgments threatened for a covenant law violation (Lev 26:29; see also Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Zech 11:9).
[5:10] 41 tn Heb “all of your survivors.”
[5:10] 42 tn Heb “to every wind.”
[5:11] 43 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[5:12] 44 sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.
[5:12] 45 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.
[5:13] 46 tn Or “calm myself.”
[5:13] 47 tn The Hebrew noun translated “jealousy” is used in the human realm to describe suspicion of adultery (Num 5:14ff.; Prov 6:34). Since Israel’s relationship with God was often compared to a marriage this term is appropriate here. The term occurs elsewhere in Ezekiel in 8:3, 5; 16:38, 42; 23:25.
[5:15] 48 tc This reading is supported by the versions and by the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QEzek). Most Masoretic Hebrew
[5:15] 49 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT. A related verb means “revile, taunt” (see Ps 44:16).
[5:15] 50 tn Heb “discipline and devastation.” These words are omitted in the Old Greek. The first term pictures Jerusalem as a recipient or example of divine discipline; the second depicts her as a desolate ruin (see Ezek 6:14).
[5:15] 51 tn Heb “in anger and in fury and in rebukes of fury.” The heaping up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of God’s anger.
[5:16] 52 tn The Hebrew word carries the basic idea of “bad, displeasing, injurious,” but when used of weapons has the nuance “deadly” (see Ps 144:10).
[5:16] 53 tn Heb “which are/were to destroy.”
[5:16] 54 tn The language of this verse may have been influenced by Deut 32:23.
[5:16] 55 tn Or “which were to destroy those whom I will send to destroy you” (cf. NASB).
[5:16] 56 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support. See 4:16, as well as the covenant curse in Lev 26:26.
[5:17] 57 tn Heb “will bereave you.”
[5:17] 58 tn Heb “will pass through you.” This threat recalls the warning of Lev 26:22, 25 and Deut 32:24-25.
[6:2] 59 tn Heb “set your face against.” The expression occurs at the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophetic oracles in Ezek 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.
[6:2] sn Based on comparison to a similar expression in Ugaritic, the phrase may imply that Ezekiel was to actually go to these locations to deliver his message.
[6:3] 60 tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.
[6:3] sn The mountainous terrain of Israel would contrast with the exiles’ habitat in the river valley of Babylonia.
[6:3] 61 tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the sovereign
[6:3] 62 tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.
[6:3] 63 tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.
[6:4] 64 tn Thirty-nine of the forty-eight biblical occurrences of this Hebrew word are found in the book of Ezekiel.
[6:4] sn This verse is probably based on Lev 26:30 in which God forecasts that he will destroy their high places, cut off their incense altars, and set their corpses by the corpses of their idols.
[6:5] 65 tc This first sentence, which explains the meaning of the last sentence of the previous verse, does not appear in the LXX and may be an instance of a marginal explanatory note making its way into the text.
[6:6] 66 tn The Hebrew verb translated “wiped out” is used to describe the judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23).
[6:7] 67 sn The phrase you will know that I am the
[6:8] 68 tn Heb “when you have fugitives from the sword among the nations, when you are scattered among the lands.”
[6:9] 69 tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”
[6:9] 70 tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling, but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.
[6:9] 71 tn Heb adds “in their faces.”
[6:10] 72 tn Heb “not in vain did I speak to do to them this catastrophe.” The wording of the last half of v. 10 parallels God’s declaration after the sin of the golden calf (Exod 32:14).
[6:11] 73 sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18).
[6:12] 74 tn Heb “the one who is left, the one who is spared.”
[6:13] 75 sn By referring to every high hill…all the mountaintops…under every green tree and every leafy oak Ezekiel may be expanding on the phraseology of Deut 12:2 (see 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 16:4; 17:10; Jer 2:20; 3:6, 13; 2 Chr 28:4).
[6:14] 76 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
[6:14] 77 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
[7:2] 78 tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).
[7:3] 79 tn Or “punish” (cf. BDB 1047 s.v. שָׁפַט 3.c).
[7:3] 81 tn Heb “I will place on you.”
[7:4] 82 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[7:4] 83 tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
[7:4] 84 tn “I will set your behavior on your head.”
[7:4] 85 tn Heb “and your abominable practices will be among you.”
[7:5] 86 tn The Hebrew term often refers to moral evil (see Ezek 6:10; 14:22), but in many contexts it refers to calamity or disaster, sometimes as punishment for evil behavior.
[7:5] 87 tc So most Hebrew
[7:6] 90 tc With different vowels the verb rendered “it has awakened” would be the noun “the end,” as in “the end is upon you.” The verb would represent a phonetic wordplay. The noun by virtue of repetition would continue to reinforce the idea of the end. Whether verb or noun, this is the only instance to occur with this preposition.
[7:6] 91 tc For this entire verse, the LXX has only “the end is come.”
[7:6] tn In each of the three cases of the verb translated with forms of “to come,” the form may either be a participle (“comes/is coming”) or a perfect (“has come”). Either form would indicate that the end is soon to arrive. This last form appears also to be feminine, although “end” is masculine. This shift may be looking ahead to the next verse, whose first noun (“Doom”) is feminine.
[7:7] 92 sn The day refers to the day of the Lord, a concept which, beginning in Amos 5:18-20, became a common theme in the OT prophetic books. It refers to a time when the Lord intervenes in human affairs as warrior and judge.
[7:7] 93 tc The LXX reads “neither tumult nor birth pains.” The LXX varies at many points from the MT in this chapter. The context suggests that one or both of these would be present on a day of judgment, thus favoring the MT. Perhaps more significant is the absence of “the mountains” in the LXX. If the ר (resh) in הָרִים (harim, “the mountains” not “on the mountains”) were a ד (dalet), which is a common letter confusion, then it could be from the same root as the previous word, הֵד (hed), meaning “the day is near – with destruction, not joyful shouting.”
[7:8] 94 tn The expression “to pour out rage” also occurs in Ezek 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:31; 30:15; 36:18.
[7:9] 95 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[7:9] 96 tn Heb “According to your behavior I will place on you.”
[7:9] 97 tn The MT lacks “you.” It has been added for clarification.
[7:11] 98 tn Heb “the violence.”
[7:11] 99 tc The LXX reads “he will crush the wicked rod without confusion or haste.”
[7:11] tn The verb has been supplied for the Hebrew text to clarify the sense.
[7:11] 100 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[7:12] 101 tn Heb “wrath.” Context clarifies that God’s wrath is in view.
[7:13] 102 tc The translation follows the LXX for the first line of the verse, although the LXX has lost the second line due to homoioteleuton (similar endings of the clauses). The MT reads “The seller will not return to the sale.” This Hebrew reading has been construed as a reference to land redemption, the temporary sale of the use of property, with property rights returned to the seller in the year of Jubilee. But the context has no other indicator that land redemption is in view. If correct, the LXX evidence suggests that one of the cases of “the customer” has been replaced by “the seller” in the MT, perhaps due to hoimoioarcton (similar beginnings of the words).
[7:13] 103 tn The Hebrew word refers to the din or noise made by a crowd, and by extension may refer to the crowd itself.
[7:13] 104 tn Or “in their punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in v. 16; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 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.”
[7:14] 105 tn The Hebrew word refers to the din or noise made by a crowd, and by extension may refer to the crowd itself.
[7:17] 106 tn Heb “their knees will run with water.” The expression probably refers to urination caused by fright, which is how the LXX renders the phrase. More colloquial English would simply be “they will wet their pants,” but as D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:261, n. 98) notes, the men likely wore skirts which were short enough to expose urine on the knees.
[7:18] 107 tn Heb “baldness will be on their heads.”
[7:19] 108 tn The Hebrew term can refer to menstrual impurity. The term also occurs at the end of v. 20.
[7:19] 109 sn Compare Zeph 1:18.
[7:19] 110 tn Heb “it.” Apparently the subject is the silver and gold mentioned earlier (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:102).
[7:19] 111 tn The “stumbling block of their iniquity” is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30; 44:12).
[7:20] 112 tc The MT reads “he set up the beauty of his ornament as pride.” The verb may be repointed as plural without changing the consonantal text. The Syriac reads “their ornaments” (plural), implying עֶדְיָם (’edyam) rather than עֶדְיוֹ (’edyo) and meaning “they were proud of their beautiful ornaments.” This understands “ornaments” in the common sense of women’s jewelry, which then were used to make idols. The singular suffix “his ornaments” would refer to using items from the temple treasury to make idols. D. I. Block points out the foreshadowing of Ezek 16:17 which, with Rashi and the Targum, supports the understanding that this is a reference to temple items. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:265.
[7:22] 113 sn My treasured place probably refers to the temple (however, cf. NLT “my treasured land”).
[7:22] 114 sn Since the pronouns “it” are both feminine, they do not refer to the masculine “my treasured place”; instead they probably refer to Jerusalem or the land, both of which are feminine in Hebrew.
[7:23] 115 tc The Hebrew word “the chain” occurs only here in the OT. The reading of the LXX (“and they will make carnage”) seems to imply a Hebrew text of ַהבַּתּוֹק (habbattoq, “disorder, slaughter”) instead of הָרַתּוֹק (haratoq, “the chain”). The LXX is also translating the verb as a third person plural future and taking this as the end of the preceding verse. As M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:154) notes, this may refer to a chain for a train of exiles but “the context does not speak of exile but of the city’s fall. The versions guess desperately and we can do little better.”
[7:23] 116 tn Heb “judgment for blood,” i.e., indictment or accountability for bloodshed. The word for “judgment” does not appear in the similar phrase in 9:9.
[7:24] 117 sn Or “their holy places” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).
[7:25] 118 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT. It is interpreted based on a Syriac cognate meaning “to bristle or stiffen (in terror).”
[7:27] 119 tn Heb “and by their judgments.”
[8:1] 120 tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”
[8:1] sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592
[8:1] sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
[8:1] 122 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
[8:2] 123 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
[8:2] 124 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
[8:2] 125 tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.
[8:2] 126 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
[8:3] 128 tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).
[8:3] 129 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
[8:3] 130 map For the location of Jerusalem see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[8:5] 132 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
[8:10] 135 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
[8:10] 136 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
[8:11] 137 sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).
[8:11] 138 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[8:12] 139 tn Heb “the room of his images.” The adjective “idolatrous” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
[8:12] sn This type of image is explicitly prohibited in the Mosaic law (Lev 26:1).
[8:14] 140 tn Given the context this could be understood as a shock, e.g., idiomatically “Good grief! I saw….”
[8:14] 141 sn The worship of Tammuz included the observation of the annual death and descent into the netherworld of the god Dumuzi. The practice was observed by women in the ancient Near East over a period of centuries.
[8:16] 142 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.
[8:16] 143 sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).
[8:16] 144 tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.
[8:16] tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”
[8:16] 145 sn The temple faced east.
[8:16] 146 tn Or “the sun god.”
[8:16] sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).
[8:17] 147 tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”
[8:18] 148 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[9:1] 149 tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.
[9:2] 150 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[9:2] 151 sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.
[9:2] 152 sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).
[9:2] 153 tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.
[9:4] 155 tn Heb “through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem.”
[9:4] map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[9:4] 156 tn The word translated “mark” is in Hebrew the letter ת (tav). Outside this context the only other occurrence of the word is in Job 31:35. In ancient Hebrew script this letter was written like the letter X.
[9:4] sn For a similar concept in the Bible, see Rev 7:2-4; 13:16; 14:9, 11; 20:4; 22:4.
[9:5] 157 tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”
[9:5] 158 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[9:9] 159 tn Or “lawlessness” (NAB); “perversity” (NRSV). The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT, and its meaning is uncertain. The similar phrase in 7:23 has a common word for “violence.”
[9:9] 160 sn The saying is virtually identical to that of the elders in Ezek 8:12.
[9:10] 161 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
[9:10] 162 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.” The same expression occurs in 1 Kgs 8:32; Ezek 11:21; 16:43; 22:31.
[10:1] 163 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[10:1] 164 tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.
[10:2] 165 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[10:2] 166 tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).
[10:2] 167 tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum
[10:3] 168 tn Heb “right side.”
[10:5] 169 tn The name (“El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.
[10:6] 170 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[10:6] 171 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man dressed in linen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:6] 172 tn Heb “the wheel.”
[10:7] 173 tn Heb “the cherub.”
[10:7] 174 tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”
[10:8] 175 tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the plan or pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).
[10:9] 176 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[10:9] 177 tn The MT repeats this phrase, a clear case of dittography.
[10:9] 178 tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB), “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV), and “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).
[10:10] 179 tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). See also 1:16.
[10:11] 180 sn That is, the cherubim.
[10:11] 181 tn Many interpreters assume that the human face of each cherub was the one that looked forward.
[10:12] 182 tc The phrase “along with their entire bodies” is absent from the LXX and may be a gloss explaining the following words.
[10:13] 183 tn Or “the whirling wheels.”
[10:14] 184 tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:14] 185 sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.
[10:15] 186 tn Heb “it was the living creature.”
[10:17] 188 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 189 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 190 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 192 tn Heb “living creature.”
[10:17] 193 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:19] 195 tn Or “the ground” (NIV, NCV).
[10:20] 196 tn Heb “That was the living creature.”
[11:1] 197 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
[11:1] 198 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
[11:2] 199 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[11:3] 200 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] 201 sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).
[11:3] 202 tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.
[11:3] 203 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.
[11:5] 205 tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).
[11:5] 206 tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”
[11:7] 208 tn Heb “in its midst.”
[11:7] 209 tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.
[11:7] 210 tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
[11:9] 211 tn Heb “its midst.”
[11:11] 212 tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.
[11:13] 213 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
[11:15] 214 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for empahsis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
[11:15] 215 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (gÿ’ullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (aleph) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
[11:15] 216 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[11:15] 217 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
[11:16] 218 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
[11:19] 219 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
[11:19] 220 tn Heb “their flesh.”
[11:19] 221 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
[11:20] 222 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
[11:21] 223 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
[11:24] 226 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
[11:24] 227 tn Heb “to Chaldea.”
[11:25] 228 tn Heb “all the words of.”
[12:2] 229 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
[12:2] 230 sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.
[12:3] 231 tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.
[12:6] 232 tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.
[12:6] 233 tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
[12:6] 234 sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.
[12:7] 235 tn The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.
[12:10] 236 tc The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The Targum, which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The LXX reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”).
[12:10] sn The prince in Jerusalem refers to King Zedekiah.
[12:10] map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[12:10] 237 tc The MT reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.
[12:12] 238 sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.
[12:12] 239 tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.
[12:12] 240 tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”
[12:13] 241 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
[12:13] sn The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah, while Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, uses both terms.
[12:13] 242 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
[12:13] 243 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
[12:18] 244 tn The Hebrew term normally refers to an earthquake (see 1 Kgs 19:11; Amos 1:1).
[12:23] 245 tn Heb “the days draw near and the word of every vision (draws near).”
