Kejadian 14:1-24

The Blessing of Victory for God’s People

14:1 At that time ¹  Amraphel king of Shinar, ²  Arioch king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations ³  14:2 went to war ⁴  against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar). ⁵  14:3 These last five kings ⁶  joined forces ⁷  in the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). ⁸  14:4 For twelve years ⁹  they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year ¹⁰  they rebelled. ¹¹  14:5 In the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were his allies came and defeated ¹²  the Rephaites in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim, 14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert. ¹³  14:7 Then they attacked En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh) again, ¹⁴  and they conquered all the territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who were living in Hazazon Tamar.

14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and prepared for battle. In the Valley of Siddim they met ¹⁵  14:9 Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, ¹⁶  Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar. Four kings fought against ¹⁷  five. 14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. ¹⁸  When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into them, ¹⁹  but some survivors ²⁰  fled to the hills. ²¹  14:11 The four victorious kings ²²  took all the possessions and food of Sodom and Gomorrah and left. 14:12 They also took Abram’s nephew ²³  Lot and his possessions when ²⁴  they left, for Lot ²⁵  was living in Sodom. ²⁶ 

14:13 A fugitive ²⁷  came and told Abram the Hebrew. ²⁸  Now Abram was living by the oaks ²⁹  of Mamre the Amorite, the brother ³⁰  of Eshcol and Aner. (All these were allied by treaty ³¹  with Abram.) ³²  14:14 When Abram heard that his nephew ³³  had been taken captive, he mobilized ³⁴  his 318 trained men who had been born in his household, and he pursued the invaders ³⁵  as far as Dan. ³⁶  14:15 Then, during the night, ³⁷  Abram ³⁸  divided his forces ³⁹  against them and defeated them. He chased them as far as Hobah, which is north ⁴⁰  of Damascus. 14:16 He retrieved all the stolen property. ⁴¹  He also brought back his nephew Lot and his possessions, as well as the women and the rest of ⁴²  the people.

14:17 After Abram ⁴³  returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet Abram ⁴⁴  in the Valley of Shaveh (known as the King’s Valley). ⁴⁵  14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem ⁴⁶  brought out bread and wine. (Now he was the priest of the Most High God.) ⁴⁷  14:19 He blessed Abram, saying,

“Blessed be Abram by ⁴⁸  the Most High God,

Creator ⁴⁹  of heaven and earth. ⁵⁰ 

14:20 Worthy of praise is ⁵¹  the Most High God,

who delivered ⁵²  your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave Melchizedek ⁵³  a tenth of everything.

14:21 Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the possessions for yourself.” 14:22 But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I raise my hand ⁵⁴  to the Lord, the Most High God, Creator of heaven and earth, and vow ⁵⁵  14:23 that I will take nothing ⁵⁶  belonging to you, not even a thread or the strap of a sandal. That way you can never say, ‘It is I ⁵⁷  who made Abram rich.’ 14:24 I will take nothing ⁵⁸  except compensation for what the young men have eaten. ⁵⁹  As for the share of the men who went with me – Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre – let them take their share.”

Kejadian 2:19

2:19 The Lord God formed ⁶⁰  out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would ⁶¹  name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

Kejadian 2:1

2:1 The heavens and the earth ⁶²  were completed with everything that was in them. ⁶³ 

Kejadian 5:6-9

5:6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father ⁶⁴  of Enosh. 5:7 Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had ⁶⁵  other ⁶⁶  sons and daughters. 5:8 The entire lifetime of Seth was 912 years, and then he died.

5:9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he became the father of Kenan.

Kejadian 5:25-31

5:25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. 5:26 Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he had other ⁶⁷  sons and daughters. 5:27 The entire lifetime of Methuselah was 969 years, and then he died.

5:28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he had a son. 5:29 He named him Noah, ⁶⁸  saying, “This one will bring us comfort ⁶⁹  from our labor and from the painful toil of our hands because of the ground that the Lord has cursed.” 5:30 Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he had other ⁷⁰  sons and daughters. 5:31 The entire lifetime of Lamech was 777 years, and then he died.

Kejadian 6:6-7

6:6 The Lord regretted ⁷¹  that he had made humankind on the earth, and he was highly offended. ⁷²  6:7 So the Lord said, “I will wipe humankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth – everything from humankind to animals, ⁷³  including creatures that move on the ground and birds of the air, for I regret that I have made them.”

Kejadian 6:13

6:13 So God said ⁷⁴  to Noah, “I have decided that all living creatures must die, ⁷⁵  for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Now I am about to destroy ⁷⁶  them and the earth.

Kejadian 7:8-11

7:8 Pairs ⁷⁷  of clean animals, of unclean animals, of birds, and of everything that creeps along the ground, 7:9 male and female, came into the ark to Noah, ⁷⁸  just as God had commanded him. ⁷⁹  7:10 And after seven days the floodwaters engulfed the earth. ⁸⁰ 

7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month – on that day all the fountains of the great deep ⁸¹  burst open and the floodgates of the heavens ⁸²  were opened.

Kejadian 9:1-9

God’s Covenant with Humankind through Noah

9:1 Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 9:2 Every living creature of the earth and every bird of the sky will be terrified of you. ⁸³  Everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea are under your authority. ⁸⁴  9:3 You may eat any moving thing that lives. ⁸⁵  As I gave you ⁸⁶  the green plants, I now give ⁸⁷  you everything.

9:4 But ⁸⁸  you must not eat meat ⁸⁹  with its life (that is, ⁹⁰  its blood) in it. ⁹¹  9:5 For your lifeblood ⁹²  I will surely exact punishment, ⁹³  from ⁹⁴  every living creature I will exact punishment. From each person ⁹⁵  I will exact punishment for the life of the individual ⁹⁶  since the man was his relative. ⁹⁷ 

9:6 “Whoever sheds human blood, ⁹⁸ 

by other humans ⁹⁹ 

must his blood be shed;

for in God’s image ¹⁰⁰ 

God ¹⁰¹  has made humankind.”

9:7 But as for you, ¹⁰²  be fruitful and multiply; increase abundantly on the earth and multiply on it.”

9:8 God said to Noah and his sons, ¹⁰³  9:9 “Look! I now confirm ¹⁰⁴  my covenant with you and your descendants after you ¹⁰⁵ 

Kejadian 11:13

11:13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other ¹⁰⁶  sons and daughters. ¹⁰⁷ 

Yeremia 32:30-35

32:30 This will happen because the people of Israel and Judah have repeatedly done what displeases me ¹⁰⁸  from their earliest history until now ¹⁰⁹  and because they ¹¹⁰  have repeatedly made me angry by the things they have done. ¹¹¹  I, the Lord, affirm it! ¹¹²  32:31 This will happen because ¹¹³  the people of this city have aroused my anger and my wrath since the time they built it until now. ¹¹⁴  They have made me so angry that I am determined to remove ¹¹⁵  it from my sight. 32:32 I am determined to do so because the people of Israel and Judah have made me angry with all their wickedness – they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, and especially the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem ¹¹⁶  have done this wickedness. ¹¹⁷  32:33 They have turned away from me instead of turning to me. ¹¹⁸  I tried over and over again ¹¹⁹  to instruct them, but they did not listen and respond to correction. ¹²⁰  32:34 They set up their disgusting idols in the temple which I have claimed for my own ¹²¹  and defiled it. 32:35 They built places of worship for the god Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom so that they could sacrifice their sons and daughters to the god Molech. ¹²²  Such a disgusting practice was not something I commanded them to do! It never even entered my mind to command them to do such a thing! So Judah is certainly liable for punishment.’ ¹²³ 

Yeremia 32:2

32:2 Now at that time, ¹²⁴  the armies of the king of Babylon were besieging Jerusalem. ¹²⁵  The prophet Jeremiah was confined in the courtyard of the guardhouse ¹²⁶  attached to the royal palace of Judah.

Yeremia 36:14-17

36:14 All the officials sent Jehudi, who was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Cushi, to Baruch. They ordered him to tell Baruch, “Come here and bring with you ¹²⁷  the scroll you read in the hearing of the people.” ¹²⁸  So Baruch son of Neriah went to them, carrying the scroll in his hand. ¹²⁹  36:15 They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch sat down and read it to them. ¹³⁰  36:16 When they had heard it all, ¹³¹  they expressed their alarm to one another. ¹³²  Then they said to Baruch, “We must certainly give the king a report about everything you have read!” ¹³³  36:17 Then they asked Baruch, “How did you come to write all these words? Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” ¹³⁴ 

Ezra 9:6-7

9:6 I prayed, ¹³⁵ 

“O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face to you, my God! For our iniquities have climbed higher than our heads, and our guilt extends to the heavens. 9:7 From the days of our fathers until this very day our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities we, along with our kings and ¹³⁶  priests, have been delivered over by the local kings ¹³⁷  to sword, captivity, plunder, and embarrassment – right up to the present time.

Ezra 9:13

9:13 “Everything that has happened to us has come about because of our wicked actions and our great guilt. Even so, our God, you have exercised restraint ¹³⁸  toward our iniquities and have given us a remnant such as this.

Nehemia 9:26-36

9:26 “Nonetheless they grew disobedient and rebelled against you; they disregarded your law. ¹³⁹  They killed your prophets who had solemnly admonished them in order to cause them to return to you. They committed atrocious blasphemies. 9:27 Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who oppressed them. But in the time of their distress they called to you, and you heard from heaven. In your abundant compassion you provided them with deliverers to rescue them from ¹⁴⁰  their adversaries.

9:28 “Then, when they were at rest again, they went back to doing evil before you. Then you abandoned them to ¹⁴¹  their enemies, and they gained dominion over them. When they again cried out to you, in your compassion you heard from heaven and rescued them time and again. 9:29 And you solemnly admonished them in order to return them to your law, but they behaved presumptuously and did not obey your commandments. They sinned against your ordinances – those by which an individual, if he obeys them, ¹⁴²  will live. They boldly turned from you; ¹⁴³  they rebelled ¹⁴⁴  and did not obey. 9:30 You prolonged your kindness ¹⁴⁵  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ¹⁴⁶  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ¹⁴⁷  9:31 However, due to your abundant mercy you did not do away with them altogether; you did not abandon them. For you are a merciful and compassionate God.

9:32 “So now, our God – the great, powerful, and awesome God, who keeps covenant fidelity ¹⁴⁸  – do not regard as inconsequential ¹⁴⁹  all the hardship that has befallen us – our kings, our leaders, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people – from the days of the kings of Assyria until this very day! 9:33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully. ¹⁵⁰  It is we who have been in the wrong! 9:34 Our kings, our leaders, our priests, and our ancestors have not kept your law. They have not paid attention to your commandments or your testimonies by which you have solemnly admonished them. 9:35 Even when they were in their kingdom and benefiting from your incredible ¹⁵¹  goodness that you had lavished ¹⁵²  on them in the spacious and fertile land you had set ¹⁵³  before them, they did not serve you, nor did they turn from their evil practices.

9:36 “So today we are slaves! In the very land you gave to our ancestors to eat its fruit and to enjoy ¹⁵⁴  its good things – we are slaves!

Yesaya 1:4-5

1:4 ¹⁵⁵ The sinful nation is as good as dead, ¹⁵⁶ 

the people weighed down by evil deeds.

They are offspring who do wrong,

children ¹⁵⁷  who do wicked things.

They have abandoned the Lord,

and rejected the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁵⁸ 

They are alienated from him. ¹⁵⁹ 

1:5 ¹⁶⁰ Why do you insist on being battered?

Why do you continue to rebel? ¹⁶¹ 

Your head has a massive wound, ¹⁶² 

your whole body is weak. ¹⁶³ 

Yesaya 1:21-24

Purifying Judgment

1:21 How tragic that the once-faithful city

has become a prostitute! ¹⁶⁴ 

She was once a center of ¹⁶⁵  justice,

fairness resided in her,

but now only murderers. ¹⁶⁶ 

1:22 Your ¹⁶⁷  silver has become scum, ¹⁶⁸ 

your beer is diluted with water. ¹⁶⁹ 

1:23 Your officials are rebels, ¹⁷⁰ 

they associate with ¹⁷¹  thieves.

All of them love bribery,

and look for ¹⁷²  payoffs. ¹⁷³ 

They do not take up the cause of the orphan, ¹⁷⁴ 

or defend the rights of the widow. ¹⁷⁵ 

1:24 Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, ¹⁷⁶ 

the powerful ruler of Israel, ¹⁷⁷  says this:

“Ah, I will seek vengeance ¹⁷⁸  against my adversaries,

I will take revenge against my enemies. ¹⁷⁹ 

Yesaya 5:2

5:2 He built a hedge around it, ¹⁸⁰  removed its stones,

and planted a vine.

He built a tower in the middle of it,

and constructed a winepress.

He waited for it to produce edible grapes,

but it produced sour ones instead. ¹⁸¹ 

Yesaya 59:1-4

Injustice Brings Alienation from God

59:1 Look, the Lord’s hand is not too weak ¹⁸²  to deliver you;

his ear is not too deaf to hear you. ¹⁸³ 

59:2 But your sinful acts have alienated you from your God;

your sins have caused him to reject you and not listen to your prayers. ¹⁸⁴ 

59:3 For your hands are stained with blood

and your fingers with sin;

your lips speak lies,

your tongue utters malicious words.

59:4 No one is concerned about justice; ¹⁸⁵ 

no one sets forth his case truthfully.

They depend on false words ¹⁸⁶  and tell lies;

they conceive of oppression ¹⁸⁷ 

and give birth to sin.

Yesaya 59:12-15

59:12 For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, ¹⁸⁸ 

and our sins testify against us;

indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds;

we know our sins all too well. ¹⁸⁹ 

59:13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the Lord;

we turned back from following our God.

We stir up ¹⁹⁰  oppression and rebellion;

we tell lies we concocted in our minds. ¹⁹¹ 

59:14 Justice is driven back;

godliness ¹⁹²  stands far off.

Indeed, ¹⁹³  honesty stumbles in the city square

and morality is not even able to enter.

59:15 Honesty has disappeared;

the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed.

The Lord watches and is displeased, ¹⁹⁴ 

for there is no justice.

Ratapan 1:5

ה (He)

1:5 Her foes subjugated her; ¹⁹⁵ 

her enemies are at ease. ¹⁹⁶ 

For the Lord afflicted her

because of her many acts of rebellion. ¹⁹⁷ 

Her children went away

captive ¹⁹⁸  before the enemy.

Ratapan 4:13

מ (Mem)

4:13 But it happened ¹⁹⁹  due to the sins of her prophets ²⁰⁰ 

and the iniquities of her priests,

who poured out in her midst

the blood of the righteous.

Ratapan 5:16-17

5:16 The crown has fallen from our head;

woe to us, for we have sinned!

5:17 Because of this, our hearts are sick; ²⁰¹ 

because of these things, we can hardly see ²⁰²  through our tears. ²⁰³ 

Yehezkiel 16:1-63

God’s Unfaithful Bride

16:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 16:2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem ²⁰⁴  with her abominable practices 16:3 and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; ²⁰⁵  you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. ²⁰⁶  16:5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; ²⁰⁷  you were thrown out into the open field ²⁰⁸  because you were detested on the day you were born.

16:6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ²⁰⁹  16:7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ²¹⁰  that you had reached the age for love. ²¹¹  I spread my cloak ²¹²  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame ²¹³  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ²¹⁴ 

16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ²¹⁵  became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. ²¹⁶  16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution ²¹⁷  with them. 16:18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.

16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them ²¹⁸  as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. ²¹⁹  16:22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.

16:23 “‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord – 16:24 you built yourself a chamber ²²⁰  and put up a pavilion ²²¹  in every public square. 16:25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced ²²²  your beauty when you spread ²²³  your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 16:26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, ²²⁴  multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 16:27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene conduct. 16:28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your sexual desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 16:29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, ²²⁵  but you were not satisfied there either.

16:30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute. 16:31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. ²²⁶ 

16:32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband! 16:33 All prostitutes receive payment, ²²⁷  but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors! 16:34 You were different from other prostitutes ²²⁸  because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite!

16:35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 16:36 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust ²²⁹  was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them, 16:37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. ²³⁰  16:38 I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. ²³¹  I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. ²³²  16:39 I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare. 16:40 They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords. 16:41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. ²³³  16:42 I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.

16:43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, ²³⁴  declares the sovereign Lord. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices?

16:44 “‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 16:46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north ²³⁵  of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south ²³⁶  of you, was Sodom ²³⁷  with her daughters. 16:47 Have you not copied their behavior ²³⁸  and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time ²³⁹  you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.

16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity ²⁴⁰  of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help ²⁴¹  the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 16:51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. ²⁴²  You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. ²⁴³  Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

16:53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters (along with your fortunes among them), 16:54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in consoling them. 16:55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. 16:56 In your days of majesty, ²⁴⁴  was not Sodom your sister a byword in your mouth, 16:57 before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram ²⁴⁵  and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines – those all around you who despise you. 16:58 You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the Lord.

16:59 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant. 16:60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting ²⁴⁶  covenant with you. 16:61 Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 16:62 I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the Lord. 16:63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent ²⁴⁷  when I make atonement for all you have done, ²⁴⁸  declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Yehezkiel 20:1-49

Israel’s Rebellion

20:1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, ²⁴⁹  some of the elders ²⁵⁰  of Israel came to seek ²⁵¹  the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 20:2 The word of the Lord came to me: 20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ²⁵²  declares the sovereign Lord.’ 20:4 “Are you willing to pronounce judgment? ²⁵³  Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers, 20:5 and say to them:

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore ²⁵⁴  to the descendants ²⁵⁵  of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore ²⁵⁶  to them, “I am the Lord your God.” 20:6 On that day I swore ²⁵⁷  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ²⁵⁸  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ²⁵⁹  the most beautiful of all lands. 20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, ²⁶⁰  and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ²⁶¹  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ²⁶²  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 20:9 I acted for the sake of my reputation, ²⁶³  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ²⁶⁴  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ²⁶⁵ 

20:10 “‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them to the wilderness. 20:11 I gave them my statutes ²⁶⁶  and revealed my regulations to them. The one ²⁶⁷  who carries ²⁶⁸  them out will live by them! ²⁶⁹  20:12 I also gave them my Sabbaths ²⁷⁰  as a reminder of our relationship, ²⁷¹  so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them. ²⁷²  20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out ²⁷³  my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them. ²⁷⁴  20:14 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 20:15 I also swore ²⁷⁵  to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them to the land I had given them – a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands. 20:16 I did this ²⁷⁶  because they rejected my regulations, did not follow my statutes, and desecrated my Sabbaths; for their hearts followed their idols. ²⁷⁷  20:17 Yet I had pity on ²⁷⁸  them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

20:18 “‘But I said to their children ²⁷⁹  in the wilderness, “Do not follow the practices of your fathers; do not observe their regulations, ²⁸⁰  nor defile yourselves with their idols. 20:19 I am the Lord your God; follow my statutes, observe my regulations, and carry them out. 20:20 Treat my Sabbaths as holy ²⁸¹  and they will be a reminder of our relationship, ²⁸²  and then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” 20:21 “‘But the children ²⁸³  rebelled against me, did not follow my statutes, did not observe my regulations by carrying them out (the one who obeys ²⁸⁴  them will live by them), and desecrated my Sabbaths. I decided to pour out ²⁸⁵  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the wilderness. 20:22 But I refrained from doing so, ²⁸⁶  and acted instead for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 20:23 I also swore ²⁸⁷  to them in the wilderness that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. ²⁸⁸  20:24 I did this ²⁸⁹  because they did not observe my regulations, they rejected my statutes, they desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on ²⁹⁰  their fathers’ idols. 20:25 I also gave ²⁹¹  them decrees ²⁹²  which were not good and regulations by which they could not live. 20:26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ²⁹³  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²⁹⁴  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ²⁹⁵ 

20:27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me. 20:28 I brought them to the land which I swore ²⁹⁶  to give them, but whenever they saw any high hill or leafy tree, they offered their sacrifices there and presented the offerings that provoke me to anger. They offered their soothing aroma there and poured out their drink offerings. 20:29 So I said to them, What is this high place you go to?’” (So it is called “High Place” ²⁹⁷  to this day.)

20:30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers ²⁹⁸  and engage in prostitution with detestable idols? 20:31 When you present your sacrifices ²⁹⁹  – when you make your sons pass through the fire – you defile yourselves with all your idols to this very day. Will I allow you to seek me, ³⁰⁰  O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will not allow you to seek me! ³⁰¹ 

20:32 “‘What you plan ³⁰²  will never happen. You say, “We will be ³⁰³  like the nations, like the clans of the lands, who serve gods of wood and stone.” ³⁰⁴  20:33 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm, ³⁰⁵  and with an outpouring of rage, I will be king over you. 20:34 I will bring you out from the nations, and will gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm and with an outpouring of rage! 20:35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 20:36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the sovereign Lord. 20:37 I will make you pass under ³⁰⁶  the shepherd’s staff, ³⁰⁷  and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 20:38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt ³⁰⁸  against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

20:39 “‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, ³⁰⁹  if you will not listen to me. ³¹⁰  But my holy name will not be profaned ³¹¹  again by your sacrifices ³¹²  and your idols. 20:40 For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them ³¹³  in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things. 20:41 When I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, I will accept you along with your soothing aroma. I will display my holiness among you in the sight of the nations. 20:42 Then you will know that I am the Lord when I bring you to the land of Israel, to the land I swore ³¹⁴  to give to your fathers. 20:43 And there you will remember your conduct ³¹⁵  and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves. You will despise yourselves ³¹⁶  because of all the evil deeds you have done. 20:44 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Prophecy Against the South

20:45 (21:1) ³¹⁷  The word of the Lord came to me: 20:46 “Son of man, turn toward ³¹⁸  the south, ³¹⁹  and speak out against the south. ³²⁰  Prophesy against the open scrub ³²¹  land of the Negev, 20:47 and say to the scrub land of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ³²²  I am about to start a fire in you, ³²³  and it will devour every green tree and every dry tree in you. The flaming fire will not be extinguished, and the whole surface of the ground from the Negev to the north will be scorched by it. 20:48 And everyone ³²⁴  will see that I, the Lord, have burned it; it will not be extinguished.’”

20:49 Then I said, “O sovereign Lord! They are saying of me, ‘Does he not simply speak in eloquent figures of speech?’”

Yehezkiel 22:1--23:49

The Sins of Jerusalem

22:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, ³²⁵  are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? ³²⁶  Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 22:3 Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ³²⁷  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity), 22:4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; ³²⁸  the end of your years has come. ³²⁹  Therefore I will make ³³⁰  you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 22:5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, ³³¹  full of turmoil.

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ³³²  22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ³³³  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ³³⁴  within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. ³³⁵  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ³³⁶  they commit obscene acts among you. ³³⁷  22:10 They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ³³⁸  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ³³⁹  22:11 One ³⁴⁰  commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates ³⁴¹  his sister – his father’s daughter ³⁴²  – within you. 22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ³⁴³  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ³⁴⁴  declares the sovereign Lord. ³⁴⁵ 

22:13 “‘See, I strike my hands together ³⁴⁶  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ³⁴⁷  they have done among you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, ³⁴⁸  or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? ³⁴⁹  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. ³⁵⁰  22:16 You will be profaned within yourself ³⁵¹  in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

22:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; ³⁵²  they are the worthless slag of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you ³⁵³  have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. ³⁵⁴  22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there ³⁵⁵  and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”

22:23 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain ³⁵⁶  or showers in the day of my anger.’ ³⁵⁷  22:25 Her princes ³⁵⁸  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 ³⁵⁹  within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, ³⁶⁰  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore ³⁶¹  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. ³⁶²  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ³⁶³ 

22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. ³⁶⁴  22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, ³⁶⁵  declares the sovereign Lord.”

Two Sisters

23:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 23:2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 23:3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers ³⁶⁶  fondled their virgin nipples there. 23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah ³⁶⁷  the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. ³⁶⁸  Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. ³⁶⁹  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians ³⁷⁰  – warriors ³⁷¹  23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired ³⁷²  – with all their idols. 23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. ³⁷³  23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians ³⁷⁴  for whom she lusted. 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious ³⁷⁵  among women, and they executed judgments against her.

23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, ³⁷⁶  but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, ³⁷⁷  23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians ³⁷⁸  whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, ³⁷⁹  she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ³⁸⁰  23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. ³⁸¹  They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she ³⁸²  became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, ³⁸³  I ³⁸⁴  was disgusted with her, just as I ³⁸⁵  had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, ³⁸⁶  and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed ³⁸⁷  the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled ³⁸⁸  your nipples and squeezed ³⁸⁹  your young breasts.

23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ³⁹⁰  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, ³⁹¹  Shoa, ³⁹²  and Koa, ³⁹³  and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 23:24 They will attack ³⁹⁴  you with weapons, ³⁹⁵  chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; ³⁹⁶  they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; ³⁹⁷  they will punish you according to their laws. 23:25 I will direct ³⁹⁸  my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, ³⁹⁹  and your survivors will die ⁴⁰⁰  by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 23:26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 23:27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. ⁴⁰¹  You will not seek their help ⁴⁰²  or remember Egypt anymore.

23:28 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ⁴⁰³  I am about to deliver you over to ⁴⁰⁴  those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 23:29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, ⁴⁰⁵  and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. ⁴⁰⁶  23:30 I will do these things to you ⁴⁰⁷  because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 23:31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment ⁴⁰⁸  in your hand. 23:32 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup; ⁴⁰⁹  you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 23:33 You will be overcome by ⁴¹⁰  drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 23:34 You will drain it dry, ⁴¹¹  gnaw its pieces, ⁴¹²  and tear out your breasts, ⁴¹³  for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.

23:35 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, ⁴¹⁴  you must bear now the punishment ⁴¹⁵  for your obscene conduct and prostitution.”

23:36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment ⁴¹⁶  on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 23:37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, ⁴¹⁷  they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. ⁴¹⁸  23:38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day ⁴¹⁹  they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 23:39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.

23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ⁴²⁰  For them you bathed, ⁴²¹  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 23:41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, ⁴²²  including all kinds of men; ⁴²³  even Sabeans ⁴²⁴  were brought from the desert. The sisters ⁴²⁵  put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 23:44 They had sex with her ⁴²⁶  as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 23:45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, ⁴²⁷  because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

23:46 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Bring up an army ⁴²⁸  against them and subject them ⁴²⁹  to terror and plunder. 23:47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. ⁴³⁰  23:48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 23:49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. ⁴³¹  Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.”

Zefanya 3:1-5

Jerusalem is Corrupt

3:1 The filthy, ⁴³²  stained city is as good as dead;

the city filled with oppressors is finished! ⁴³³ 

3:2 She is disobedient; ⁴³⁴ 

she refuses correction. ⁴³⁵ 

She does not trust the Lord;

she does not seek the advice of ⁴³⁶  her God.

3:3 Her princes ⁴³⁷  are as fierce as roaring lions; ⁴³⁸ 

her rulers ⁴³⁹  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ⁴⁴⁰ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ⁴⁴¹ 

3:4 Her prophets are proud; ⁴⁴² 

they are deceitful men.

Her priests defile what is holy; ⁴⁴³ 

they break God’s laws. ⁴⁴⁴ 

3:5 The just Lord resides ⁴⁴⁵  within her;

he commits no unjust acts. ⁴⁴⁶ 

Every morning he reveals ⁴⁴⁷  his justice.

At dawn he appears without fail. ⁴⁴⁸ 

Yet the unjust know no shame.

[14:1]  ¹ tn The sentence begins with the temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) followed by “in the days of.”

[14:1]  ² sn Shinar (also in v. 9) is the region of Babylonia.

[14:1]  ³ tn Or “king of Goyim.” The Hebrew term גּוֹיִם (goyim) means “nations,” but a number of modern translations merely transliterate the Hebrew (cf. NEB “Goyim”; NIV, NRSV “Goiim”).

[14:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “made war.”

[14:2]  sn Went to war. The conflict here reflects international warfare in the Early and Middle Bronze periods. The countries operated with overlords and vassals. Kings ruled over city states, or sometimes a number of city states (i.e., nations). Due to their treaties, when one went to war, those confederate with him joined him in battle. It appears here that it is Kedorlaomer’s war, because the western city states have rebelled against him (meaning they did not send products as tribute to keep him from invading them).

[14:2]  ⁵ sn On the geographical background of vv. 1-2 see J. P. Harland, “Sodom and Gomorrah,” The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, 1:41-75; and D. N. Freedman, “The Real Story of the Ebla Tablets, Ebla and the Cities of the Plain,” BA 41 (1978): 143-64.

[14:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “all these,” referring only to the last five kings named. The referent has been specified as “these last five kings” in the translation for clarity.

[14:3]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb used here means “to join together; to unite; to be allied.” It stresses close associations, especially of friendships, marriages, or treaties.

[14:3]  ⁸ sn The Salt Sea is the older name for the Dead Sea.

[14:4]  ⁹ tn The sentence simply begins with “twelve years”; it serves as an adverbial accusative giving the duration of their bondage.

[14:4]  ¹⁰ tn This is another adverbial accusative of time.

[14:4]  ¹¹ sn The story serves as a foreshadowing of the plight of the kingdom of Israel later. Eastern powers came and forced the western kingdoms into submission. Each year, then, they would send tribute east – to keep them away. Here, in the thirteenth year, they refused to send the tribute (just as later Hezekiah rebelled against Assyria). And so in the fourteenth year the eastern powers came to put them down again. This account from Abram’s life taught future generations that God can give victory over such threats – that people did not have to live in servitude to tyrants from the east.

[14:5]  ¹² tn The Hebrew verb נָכָה (nakhah) means “to attack, to strike, to smite.” In this context it appears that the strike was successful, and so a translation of “defeated” is preferable.

[14:6]  ¹³ sn The line of attack ran down the eastern side of the Jordan Valley into the desert, and then turned and came up the valley to the cities of the plain.

[14:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they returned and came to En Mishpat (that is, Kadesh).” The two verbs together form a verbal hendiadys, the first serving as the adverb: “they returned and came” means “they came again.” Most English translations do not treat this as a hendiadys, but translate “they turned back” or something similar. Since in the context, however, “came again to” does not simply refer to travel but an assault against the place, the present translation expresses this as “attacked…again.”

[14:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “against.”

[14:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Goyim.” See the note on the word “nations” in 14:1.

[14:9]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text has simply “against.” The word “fought” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Now the Valley of Siddim [was] pits, pits of tar.” This parenthetical disjunctive clause emphasizes the abundance of tar pits in the area through repetition of the noun “pits.”

[14:10]  sn The word for “tar” (or “bitumen”) occurs earlier in the story of the building of the tower in Babylon (see Gen 11:3).

[14:10]  ¹⁹ tn Or “they were defeated there.” After a verb of motion the Hebrew particle שָׁם (sham) with the directional heh (שָׁמָּה, shammah) can mean “into it, therein” (BDB 1027 s.v. שָׁם).

[14:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the rest.”

[14:10]  ²¹ sn The reference to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah must mean the kings along with their armies. Most of them were defeated in the valley, but some of them escaped to the hills.

[14:11]  ²² tn Heb “they”; the referent (the four victorious kings, see v. 9) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ²³ tn Heb “Lot the son of his brother.”

[14:12]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and.”

[14:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Lot) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:12]  ²⁶ tn This disjunctive clause is circumstantial/causal, explaining that Lot was captured because he was living in Sodom at the time.

[14:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the fugitive.” The article carries a generic force or indicates that this fugitive is definite in the mind of the speaker.

[14:13]  ²⁸ sn E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103) suggests that part of this chapter came from an outside source since it refers to Abram the Hebrew. That is not impossible, given that the narrator likely utilized traditions and genealogies that had been collected and transmitted over the years. The meaning of the word “Hebrew” has proved elusive. It may be related to the verb “to cross over,” perhaps meaning “immigrant.” Or it might be derived from the name of Abram’s ancestor Eber (see Gen 11:14-16).

[14:13]  ²⁹ tn Or “terebinths.”

[14:13]  ³⁰ tn Or “a brother”; or “a relative”; or perhaps “an ally.”

[14:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “possessors of a treaty with.” Since it is likely that the qualifying statement refers to all three (Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner) the words “all these” have been supplied in the translation to make this clear.

[14:13]  ³² tn This parenthetical disjunctive clause explains how Abram came to be living in their territory, but it also explains why they must go to war with Abram.

[14:14]  ³³ tn Heb “his brother,” by extension, “relative.” Here and in v. 16 the more specific term “nephew” has been used in the translation for clarity. Lot was the son of Haran, Abram’s brother (Gen 11:27).

[14:14]  ³⁴ tn The verb וַיָּרֶק (vayyareq) is a rare form, probably related to the word רֵיק (req, “to be empty”). If so, it would be a very figurative use: “he emptied out” (or perhaps “unsheathed”) his men. The LXX has “mustered” (cf. NEB). E. A. Speiser (Genesis [AB], 103-4) suggests reading with the Samaritan Pentateuch a verb diq, cognate with Akkadian deku, “to mobilize” troops. If this view is accepted, one must assume that a confusion of the Hebrew letters ד (dalet) and ר (resh) led to the error in the traditional Hebrew text. These two letters are easily confused in all phases of ancient Hebrew script development. The present translation is based on this view.

[14:14]  ³⁵ tn The words “the invaders” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:14]  ³⁶ sn The use of the name Dan reflects a later perspective. The Danites did not migrate to this northern territory until centuries later (see Judg 18:29). Furthermore Dan was not even born until much later. By inserting this name a scribe has clarified the location of the region.

[14:15]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew text simply has “night” as an adverbial accusative.

[14:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he divided himself…he and his servants.”

[14:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “left.” Directions in ancient Israel were given in relation to the east rather than the north.

[14:16]  ⁴¹ tn The word “stolen” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:16]  ⁴² tn The phrase “the rest of “ has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Abram) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:17]  ⁴⁵ sn The King’s Valley is possibly a reference to what came to be known later as the Kidron Valley.

[14:18]  ⁴⁶ sn Salem is traditionally identified as the Jebusite stronghold of old Jerusalem. Accordingly, there has been much speculation about its king. Though some have identified him with the preincarnate Christ or with Noah’s son Shem, it is far more likely that Melchizedek was a Canaanite royal priest whom God used to renew the promise of the blessing to Abram, perhaps because Abram considered Melchizedek his spiritual superior. But Melchizedek remains an enigma. In a book filled with genealogical records he appears on the scene without a genealogy and then disappears from the narrative. In Psalm 110 the Lord declares that the Davidic king is a royal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.

[14:18]  ⁴⁷ tn The parenthetical disjunctive clause significantly identifies Melchizedek as a priest as well as a king.

[14:18]  sn It is his royal priestly status that makes Melchizedek a type of Christ: He was identified with Jerusalem, superior to the ancestor of Israel, and both a king and a priest. Unlike the normal Canaanites, this man served “God Most High” (אֵל עֶלְיוֹן, ’el ’elyon) – one sovereign God, who was the creator of all the universe. Abram had in him a spiritual brother.

[14:19]  ⁴⁸ tn The preposition לְ (lamed) introduces the agent after the passive participle.

[14:19]  ⁴⁹ tn Some translate “possessor of heaven and earth” (cf. NASB). But cognate evidence from Ugaritic indicates that there were two homonymic roots ָקנָה (qanah), one meaning “to create” (as in Gen 4:1) and the other “to obtain, to acquire, to possess.” While “possessor” would fit here, “creator” is the more likely due to the collocation with “heaven and earth.”

[14:19]  ⁵⁰ tn The terms translated “heaven” and “earth” are both objective genitives after the participle in construct.

[14:20]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.

[14:20]  ⁵² sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.

[14:20]  ⁵³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[14:22]  ⁵⁴ tn Abram takes an oath, raising his hand as a solemn gesture. The translation understands the perfect tense as having an instantaneous nuance: “Here and now I raise my hand.”

[14:22]  ⁵⁵ tn The words “and vow” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:23]  ⁵⁶ tn The oath formula is elliptical, reading simply: “…if I take.” It is as if Abram says, “[May the Lord deal with me] if I take,” meaning, “I will surely not take.” The positive oath would add the negative adverb and be the reverse: “[God will deal with me] if I do not take,” meaning, “I certainly will.”

[14:23]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds the independent pronoun (“I”) to the verb form for emphasis.

[14:24]  ⁵⁸ tn The words “I will take nothing” have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[14:24]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “except only what the young men have eaten.”

[2:19]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “fashioned.” To harmonize the order of events with the chronology of chapter one, some translate the prefixed verb form with vav (ו) consecutive as a past perfect (“had formed,” cf. NIV) here. (In chapter one the creation of the animals preceded the creation of man; here the animals are created after the man.) However, it is unlikely that the Hebrew construction can be translated in this way in the middle of this pericope, for the criteria for unmarked temporal overlay are not present here. See S. R. Driver, A Treatise on the Use of the Tenses in Hebrew, 84-88, and especially R. Buth, “Methodological Collision between Source Criticism and Discourse Analysis,” Biblical Hebrew and Discourse Linguistics, 138-54. For a contrary viewpoint see IBHS 552-53 §33.2.3 and C. J. Collins, “The Wayyiqtol as ‘Pluperfect’: When and Why,” TynBul 46 (1995): 117-40.

[2:19]  ⁶¹ tn The imperfect verb form is future from the perspective of the past time narrative.

[2:1]  ⁶² tn See the note on the phrase “the heavens and the earth” in 1:1.

[2:1]  ⁶³ tn Heb “and all the host of them.” Here the “host” refers to all the entities and creatures that God created to populate the world.

[5:6]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “he fathered.”

[5:7]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “he fathered.”

[5:7]  ⁶⁶ tn Here and in vv. 10, 13, 16, 19 the word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:26]  ⁶⁷ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[5:29]  ⁶⁸ sn The name Noah appears to be related to the Hebrew word נוּחַ (nuakh, “to rest”). There are several wordplays on the name “Noah” in the story of the flood.

[5:29]  ⁶⁹ tn The Hebrew verb יְנַחֲמֵנוּ (yÿnakhamenu) is from the root נָחָם (nakham), which means “to comfort” in the Piel verbal stem. The letters נ (nun) and ח (heth) pick up the sounds in the name “Noah,” forming a paronomasia on the name. They are not from the same verbal root, and so the connection is only by sound. Lamech’s sentiment reflects the oppression of living under the curse on the ground, but also expresses the hope for relief in some way through the birth of Noah. His words proved to be ironic but prophetic. The relief would come with a new beginning after the flood. See E. G. Kraeling, “The Interpretations of the Name Noah in Genesis 5:29,” JBL 48 (1929): 138-43.

[5:30]  ⁷⁰ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[6:6]  ⁷¹ tn Or “was grieved”; “was sorry.” In the Niphal stem the verb נָחָם (nakham) can carry one of four semantic meanings, depending on the context: (1) “to experience emotional pain or weakness,” “to feel regret,” often concerning a past action (see Exod 13:17; Judg 21:6, 15; 1 Sam 15:11, 35; Job 42:6; Jer 31:19). In several of these texts כִּי (ki, “because”) introduces the cause of the emotional sorrow. (2) Another meaning is “to be comforted” or “to comfort oneself” (sometimes by taking vengeance). See Gen 24:67; 38:12; 2 Sam 13:39; Ps 77:3; Isa 1:24; Jer 31:15; Ezek 14:22; 31:16; 32:31. (This second category represents a polarization of category one.) (3) The meaning “to relent from” or “to repudiate” a course of action which is already underway is also possible (see Judg 2:18; 2 Sam 24:16 = 1 Chr 21:15; Pss 90:13; 106:45; Jer 8:6; 20:16; 42:10). (4) Finally, “to retract” (a statement) or “to relent or change one’s mind concerning,” “to deviate from” (a stated course of action) is possible (see Exod 32:12, 14; 1 Sam 15:29; Ps 110:4; Isa 57:6; Jer 4:28; 15:6; 18:8, 10; 26:3, 13, 19; Ezek 24:14; Joel 2:13-14; Am 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:9-10; 4:2; Zech 8:14). See R. B. Chisholm, “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?” BSac 152 (1995): 388. The first category applies here because the context speaks of God’s grief and emotional pain (see the following statement in v. 6) as a result of a past action (his making humankind). For a thorough study of the word נָחָם, see H. Van Dyke Parunak, “A Semantic Survey of NHM,” Bib 56 (1975): 512-32.

[6:6]  ⁷² tn Heb “and he was grieved to his heart.” The verb עָצָב (’atsav) can carry one of three semantic senses, depending on the context: (1) “to be injured” (Ps 56:5; Eccl 10:9; 1 Chr 4:10); (2) “to experience emotional pain”; “to be depressed emotionally”; “to be worried” (2 Sam 19:2; Isa 54:6; Neh 8:10-11); (3) “to be embarrassed”; “to be offended” (to the point of anger at another or oneself); “to be insulted” (Gen 34:7; 45:5; 1 Sam 20:3, 34; 1 Kgs 1:6; Isa 63:10; Ps 78:40). This third category develops from the second by metonymy. In certain contexts emotional pain leads to embarrassment and/or anger. In this last use the subject sometimes directs his anger against the source of grief (see especially Gen 34:7). The third category fits best in Gen 6:6 because humankind’s sin does not merely wound God emotionally. On the contrary, it prompts him to strike out in judgment against the source of his distress (see v. 7). The verb וַיִּתְעַצֵּב (vayyit’atsev), a Hitpael from עָצָב, alludes to the judgment oracles in Gen 3:16-19. Because Adam and Eve sinned, their life would be filled with pain; but sin in the human race also brought pain to God. The wording of v. 6 is ironic when compared to Gen 5:29. Lamech anticipated relief (נָחָם, nakham) from their work (מַעֲשֶׂה, ma’aseh) and their painful toil (עִצְּבֹן, ’itsÿvon), but now we read that God was sorry (נָחָם, nakham) that he had made (עָשָׂה, ’asah) humankind for it brought him great pain (עָצָב, ’atsav).

[6:7]  ⁷³ tn The text simply has “from man to beast, to creatures, and to birds of the air.” The use of the prepositions עַד…מִן (min...’ad) stresses the extent of the judgment in creation.

[6:13]  ⁷⁴ sn On the divine style utilized here, see R. Lapointe, “The Divine Monologue as a Channel of Revelation,” CBQ 32 (1970): 161-81.

[6:13]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “the end of all flesh is coming [or “has come”] before me.” (The verb form is either a perfect or a participle.) The phrase “end of all flesh” occurs only here. The term “end” refers here to the end of “life,” as v. 3 and the following context (which describes how God destroys all flesh) make clear. The statement “the end has come” occurs in Ezek 7:2, 6, where it is used of divine judgment. The phrase “come before” occurs in Exod 28:30, 35; 34:34; Lev 15:14; Num 27:17; 1 Sam 18:13, 16; 2 Sam 19:8; 20:8; 1 Kgs 1:23, 28, 32; Ezek 46:9; Pss 79:11 (groans come before God); 88:3 (a prayer comes before God); 100:2; 119:170 (prayer comes before God); Lam 1:22 (evil doing comes before God); Esth 1:19; 8:1; 9:25; 1 Chr 16:29. The expression often means “have an audience with” or “appear before.” But when used metaphorically, it can mean “get the attention of” or “prompt a response.” This is probably the sense in Gen 6:13. The necessity of ending the life of all flesh on earth is an issue that has gotten the attention of God. The term “end” may even be a metonymy for that which has prompted it – violence (see the following clause).

[6:13]  ⁷⁶ tn The participle, especially after הִנֵּה (hinneh) has an imminent future nuance. The Hiphil of שָׁחָת (shakhat) here has the sense “to destroy” (in judgment). Note the wordplay involving this verb in vv. 11-13: The earth is “ruined” because all flesh has acted in a morally “corrupt” manner. Consequently, God will “destroy” all flesh (the referent of the suffix “them”) along with the ruined earth. They had ruined themselves and the earth with violence, and now God would ruin them with judgment. For other cases where “earth” occurs as the object of the Hiphil of שָׁחָת, see 1 Sam 6:5; 1 Chr 20:1; Jer 36:29; 51:25.

[7:8]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “two two” meaning “in twos.”

[7:9]  ⁷⁸ tn The Hebrew text of vv. 8-9a reads, “From the clean animal[s] and from the animal[s] which are not clean and from the bird[s] and everything that creeps on the ground, two two they came to Noah to the ark, male and female.”

[7:9]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “Noah”; the pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “came upon.”

[7:11]  ⁸¹ tn The Hebrew term תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “deep”) refers to the watery deep, the salty ocean – especially the primeval ocean that surrounds and underlies the earth (see Gen 1:2).

[7:11]  sn The watery deep. The same Hebrew term used to describe the watery deep in Gen 1:2 (תְּהוֹם, tihom) appears here. The text seems to picture here subterranean waters coming from under the earth and contributing to the rapid rise of water. The significance seems to be, among other things, that in this judgment God was returning the world to its earlier condition of being enveloped with water – a judgment involving the reversal of creation. On Gen 7:11 see G. F. Hasel, “The Fountains of the Great Deep,” Origins 1 (1974): 67-72; idem, “The Biblical View of the Extent of the Flood,” Origins 2 (1975): 77-95.

[7:11]  ⁸² sn On the prescientific view of the sky reflected here, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World (AnBib), 46.

[9:2]  ⁸³ tn Heb “and fear of you and dread of you will be upon every living creature of the earth and upon every bird of the sky.” The suffixes on the nouns “fear” and “dread” are objective genitives. The animals will fear humans from this time forward.

[9:2]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “into your hand are given.” The “hand” signifies power. To say the animals have been given into the hands of humans means humans have been given authority over them.

[9:3]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “every moving thing that lives for you will be for food.”

[9:3]  ⁸⁶ tn The words “I gave you” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:3]  ⁸⁷ tn The perfect verb form describes the action that accompanies the declaration.

[9:4]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “only.”

[9:4]  ⁸⁹ tn Or “flesh.”

[9:4]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “its life, its blood.” The second word is in apposition to the first, explaining what is meant by “its life.” Since the blood is equated with life, meat that had the blood in it was not to be eaten.

[9:4]  ⁹¹ tn The words “in it” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:4]  sn You must not eat meat with its life…in it. Because of the carnage produced by the flood, people might conclude that life is cheap and therefore treat it lightly. But God will not permit them to kill or even to eat anything with the lifeblood still in it, serving as a reminder of the sanctity of life.

[9:5]  ⁹² tn Again the text uses apposition to clarify what kind of blood is being discussed: “your blood, [that is] for your life.” See C. L. Dewar, “The Biblical Use of the Term ‘Blood,’” JTS 4 (1953): 204-8.

[9:5]  ⁹³ tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarification. The verb דָּרָשׁ (darash) means “to require, to seek, to ask for, to exact.” Here it means that God will exact punishment for the taking of a life. See R. Mawdsley, “Capital Punishment in Gen. 9:6,” CentBib 18 (1975): 20-25.

[9:5]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “from the hand of,” which means “out of the hand of” or “out of the power of” and is nearly identical in sense to the preposition מִן (min) alone.

[9:5]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “and from the hand of the man.” The article has a generic function, indicating the class, i.e., humankind.

[9:5]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “of the man.”

[9:5]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “from the hand of a man, his brother.” The point is that God will require the blood of someone who kills, since the person killed is a relative (“brother”) of the killer. The language reflects Noah’s situation (after the flood everyone would be part of Noah’s extended family), but also supports the concept of the brotherhood of humankind. According to the Genesis account the entire human race descended from Noah.

[9:6]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “the blood of man.”

[9:6]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “by man,” a generic term here for other human beings.

[9:6]  ¹⁰⁰ sn See the notes on the words “humankind” and “likeness” in Gen 1:26, as well as J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis – A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26.

[9:6]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:7]  ¹⁰² sn The disjunctive clause (conjunction + pronominal subject + verb) here indicates a strong contrast to what has preceded. Against the backdrop of the warnings about taking life, God now instructs the people to produce life, using terms reminiscent of the mandate given to Adam (Gen 1:28).

[9:8]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “to Noah and to his sons with him, saying.”

[9:9]  ¹⁰⁴ tn Heb “I, look, I confirm.” The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) used with the participle מֵקִים (meqim) gives the sense of immediacy or imminence, as if to say, “Look! I am now confirming.”

[9:9]  ¹⁰⁵ tn The three pronominal suffixes (translated “you,” “your,” and “you”) are masculine plural. As v. 8 indicates, Noah and his sons are addressed.

[11:13]  ¹⁰⁶ tn The word “other” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied for stylistic reasons.

[11:13]  ¹⁰⁷ tc The reading of the MT is followed in vv. 11-12; the LXX reads, “And [= when] Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Cainan, Arphaxad lived four hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died. And [= when] Cainan had lived one hundred and thirty years, [and] he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah]. And after he fathered [= became the father of] Sala [= Shelah], Cainan lived three hundred and thirty years and fathered [= had] [other] sons and daughters, and [then] he died.” See also the note on “Shelah” in Gen 10:24; the LXX reading also appears to lie behind Luke 3:35-36.

[32:30]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.” For this idiom see BDB 744 s.v. עַיִן 3.c and compare usage in 18:10.

[32:30]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “from their youth.”

[32:30]  sn Compare Jer 3:24-25; 11:21. The nation is being personified and reference is made to her history from the time she left Egypt onward (cf. 2:2).

[32:30]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “the people of Israel.” However, since “people of Israel” has been used in the preceding line for the northern kingdom as opposed to the kingdom of Judah, it might lead to confusion to translate literally. Moreover, the pronoun “they” accomplishes the same purpose.

[32:30]  ¹¹¹ tn Heb “by the work of their hands.” See the translator’s note on 25:6 and the parallelism in 25:14 for this rendering rather than referring it to the making of idols as in 1:16; 10:3.

[32:30]  ¹¹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[32:31]  ¹¹³ tn The statements in vv. 28-29 regarding the certain destruction of the city are motivated by three parallel causal clauses in vv. 30a, b, 31, the last of which extends through subordinate and coordinate clauses until the end of v. 35. An attempt has been made to bring out this structure by repeating the idea “This/it will happen” in front of each of these causal clauses in the English translation.

[32:31]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “from the day they built it until this day.”

[32:31]  sn The Israelites did not in fact “build” Jerusalem. They captured it from the Jebusites in the time of David. This refers perhaps to the enlarging and fortifying of the city after it came into the hands of the Israelites (2 Sam 5:6-10).

[32:31]  ¹¹⁵ tn Heb “For this city has been to me for a source of my anger and my wrath from the day they built it until this day so as remove it.” The preposition ְל (lamed) with the infinitive (Heb “so as to remove it”; לַהֲסִירָהּ, lahasirah) expresses degree (cf. R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 37, §199, and compare usage in 2 Sam 13:2).

[32:32]  ¹¹⁶ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[32:32]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “remove it from my sight 32:33 because of all the wickedness of the children of Israel and the children of Judah which they have done to make me angry, they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” The sentence has been broken up in conformity with contemporary English style and an attempt has been made to preserve the causal connections.

[32:33]  ¹¹⁸ tn Heb “they have turned [their] backs to me, not [their] faces.” Compare the same idiom in 2:27.

[32:33]  ¹¹⁹ tn For the idiom involved here see the translator’s note on 7:13. The verb that introduces this clause is a Piel infinitive absolute which is functioning in place of the finite verb (see, e.g., GKC 346 §113.ff and compare usage in Jer 8:15; 14:19. This grammatical point means that the versions cited in BHS fn a may not be reading a different text after all, but may merely be interpreting the form as syntactically equivalent to a finite verb as the present translation has done.).

[32:33]  sn This refers to God teaching them through the prophets whom he has sent as indicated by the repeated use of this idiom elsewhere in 7:13, 25; 11:7; 25:3, 4; 26:5, 19.

[32:33]  ¹²⁰ tn Heb “But they were not listening so as to accept correction.”

[32:34]  ¹²¹ tn Heb “the house which is called by my name.” Cf. 7:10, 11, 14 and see the translator’s note on 7:10 for the explanation for this rendering.

[32:35]  ¹²² sn Compare Jer 7:30-31; 19:5 and the study notes on 7:30. The god Molech is especially associated with the practice of child sacrifice (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; 2 Kgs 23:10). In 1 Kgs 11:7 this god is identified as the god of the Ammonites who is also called Milcom in 1 Kgs 11:5; 2 Kgs 23:13. Child sacrifice, however, was not confined to this god; it was also made to the god Baal (Jer 19:5) and to other idols that the Israelites had set up (Ezek 16:20-21). This practice was, however, strictly prohibited in Israel (Lev 18:21; 20:2-5; Deut 12:31; 18:10). It was this practice as well as other pagan rites that Manasseh had instituted in Judah that ultimately led to Judah’s demise (2 Kgs 24:3-4). Though Josiah tried to root these pagan practices (2 Kgs 23:4-14) out of Judah he could not do so. The people had only made a pretense of following his reforms; their hearts were still far from God (Jer 3:10; 12:2).

[32:35]  ¹²³ tn Heb “They built high places to Baal which are in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to cause their sons and daughters to pass through [the fire] to Molech [a thing] which I did not command them and [which] did not go up into my heart [= “mind” in modern psychology] to do this abomination so as to make Judah liable for punishment.” For the use of the Hiphil of חָטָא (khata’) to refer to the liability for punishment see BDB s.v. חָטָא Hiph.3 and compare the usage in Deut 24:8. Coming at the end as this does, this nuance is much more likely than “cause Judah to sin” which is the normal translation assigned to the verb here. The particle לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) that precedes it is here once again introducing a result and not a purpose (compare other clear examples in 27:10, 15). The sentence has been broken down in conformity to contemporary English style and an attempt has been made to make clear that what is detestable and not commanded is not merely child sacrifice to Molech but child sacrifice in general.

[32:2]  ¹²⁴ sn Jer 32:2-5 are parenthetical, giving the background for the actual report of what the Lord said in v. 7. The background is significant because it shows that Jeremiah was predicting the fall of the city and the kingdom and was being held prisoner for doing so. Despite this pessimistic outlook, the Lord wanted Jeremiah to demonstrate his assurance of the future restoration (which has been the topic of the two preceding chapters) by buying a field as a symbolic act that the Israelites would again one day regain possession of their houses, fields, and vineyards (vv. 15, 44). (For other symbolic acts with prophetic import see Jer 13, 19.)

[32:2]  ¹²⁵ sn According to Jer 39:1 the siege began in Zedekiah’s ninth year (i.e., in 589/88 b.c.). It had been interrupted while the Babylonian army was occupied with fighting against an Egyptian force that had invaded Judah. During this period of relaxed siege Jeremiah had attempted to go to his home town in Anathoth to settle some property matters, had been accused of treason, and been thrown into a dungeon (37:11-15). After appealing to Zedekiah he had been moved from the dungeon to the courtyard of the guardhouse connected to the palace (37:21) where he remained confined until Jerusalem was captured in 587/86 b.c. (38:28).

[32:2]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[32:2]  ¹²⁶ tn Heb “the courtyard of the guarding” or “place of guarding.” This expression occurs only in the book of Jeremiah (32:2, 8, 12; 33:1; 37:21; 38:6, 12, 28; 39:14, 15) and in Neh 3:25. It is not the same as an enclosed prison which is where Jeremiah was initially confined (37:15-16; literally a “house of imprisoning” [בֵּית הָאֵסוּר, bet ha’esur] or “house of confining” [בֵּית הַכֶּלֶא, bet hakkele’]). It is said to have been in the palace compound (32:2) near the citadel or upper palace (Neh 3:25). Though it was a place of confinement (32:2; 33:1; 39:15) Jeremiah was able to receive visitors, e.g., his cousin Hanamel (32:8) and the scribe Baruch (32:12), and conduct business there (32:12). According to 32:12 other Judeans were also housed there. A cistern of one of the royal princes, Malkijah, was located in this courtyard, so this is probably not a “prison compound” as NJPS interpret but a courtyard adjacent to a guardhouse or guard post (so G. L. Keown, P. J. Scalise, T. G. Smothers, Jeremiah 26-52 [WBC], 151, and compare Neh 12:39 where reference is made to a Gate of the Guard/Guardhouse) used here for housing political prisoners who did not deserve death or solitary confinement as some of the officials though Jeremiah did.

[36:14]  ¹²⁷ tn Heb “in your hand.”

[36:14]  ¹²⁸ tn The original has another example of a prepositioned object (called casus pendens in the grammars; cf. GKC 458 §143.b) which is intended to focus attention on “the scroll.” The Hebrew sentence reads: “The scroll which you read from it in the ears of the people take it and come.” Any attempt to carry over this emphasis into the English translation would be awkward. Likewise, the order of the two imperatives has been reversed as more natural in English.

[36:14]  ¹²⁹ tn Heb “So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.” The clause order has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[36:15]  ¹³⁰ tn Or “‘to us personally’…to them personally”; Heb “‘in our ears’…in their ears.” Elsewhere this has been rendered “in the hearing of” or “where they could hear.” All three of those idioms sound unnatural in this context. The mere personal pronoun seems adequate.

[36:16]  ¹³¹ tn Heb “all the words.”

[36:16]  ¹³² tn According to BDB 808 s.v. פָּחַד Qal.1 and 40 s.v. אֶל 3.a, this is an example of the “pregnant” use of a preposition where an implied verb has to be supplied in the translation to conform the normal range of the preposition with the verb that is governing it. The Hebrew text reads: “they feared unto one another.” BDB translates “they turned in dread to each other.” The translation adopted seems more appropriate in this context.

[36:16]  ¹³³ tn Heb “We must certainly report to the king all these things.” Here the word דְּבָרִים (dÿvarim) must mean “things” (cf. BDB 183 s.v. דָּבָר IV.3) rather than “words” because a verbatim report of all the words in the scroll is scarcely meant. The present translation has chosen to use a form that suggests a summary report of all the matters spoken about in the scroll rather than the indefinite “things.”

[36:17]  ¹³⁴ tn Or “Did Jeremiah dictate them to you?” The words “Do they actually come from Jeremiah’s mouth?” assume that the last phrase (מִפִּיו, mippiv) is a question, either without the formal he (הֲ) interrogative (see GKC 473 §150.a and compare usage in 1 Sam 16:4; Prov 5:16) or with a letter supplied from the end of the preceding word (single writing of a letter following the same letter [haplography]; so the majority of modern commentaries). The word is missing in the Greek version. The presence of this same word at the beginning of the answer in the next verse suggests that this was a question (probably without the he [הֲ] interrogative to make it more emphatic) since the common way to answer affirmatively is to repeat the emphatic word in the question (cf. GKC 476 §150.n and compare usage in Gen 24:58). The intent of the question is to make sure that these were actually Jeremiah’s words not Baruch’s own creation (cf. Jer 42:2-3 for a similar suspicion).

[9:6]  ¹³⁵ tn Heb “I said.”

[9:7]  ¹³⁶ tc The MT lacks “and” here, but see the LXX and Vulgate.

[9:7]  ¹³⁷ tn Heb “the kings of the lands.”

[9:13]  ¹³⁸ tn Heb “held back downwards from”; KJV “hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve” (NIV, NRSV, NLT all similar).

[9:26]  ¹³⁹ tn Heb “they cast your law behind their backs.”

[9:27]  ¹⁴⁰ tn Heb “from the hand of” (so NASB, NIV); NAB “from the power of.”

[9:28]  ¹⁴¹ tn Heb “in the hand of” (so KJV, ASV); NAB “to the power of.”

[9:29]  ¹⁴² tn Heb “if a man keep.” See note on the word “obey” in Neh 1:5.

[9:29]  ¹⁴³ tn Heb “they gave a stubborn shoulder.”

[9:29]  ¹⁴⁴ tn Heb “they stiffened their neck.”

[9:30]  ¹⁴⁵ tn The Hebrew expression here is elliptical. The words “your kindness” are not included in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[9:30]  ¹⁴⁶ tn Heb “did not give ear to.”

[9:30]  ¹⁴⁷ tn Heb “the peoples of the lands.”

[9:32]  ¹⁴⁸ tn Heb “the covenant and loyal love.” The expression is a hendiadys. The second noun retains its full nominal sense, while the first functions adjectivally: “the covenant and loyalty” = covenant fidelity.

[9:32]  ¹⁴⁹ tn Heb “do not let it seem small in your sight.”

[9:33]  ¹⁵⁰ tn Heb “you have done truth.”

[9:35]  ¹⁵¹ tn Heb “great.”

[9:35]  ¹⁵² tn Heb “given them.”

[9:35]  ¹⁵³ tn Heb “given.”

[9:36]  ¹⁵⁴ tn The expression “to enjoy” is not included in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[1:4]  ¹⁵⁵ sn Having summoned the witnesses and announced the Lord’s accusation against Israel, Isaiah mourns the nation’s impending doom. The third person references to the Lord in the second half of the verse suggest that the quotation from the Lord (cf. vv. 2-3) has concluded.

[1:4]  ¹⁵⁶ tn Heb “Woe [to the] sinful nation.” The Hebrew term הוֹי, (hoy, “woe, ah”) was used in funeral laments (see 1 Kgs 13:30; Jer 22:18; 34:5) and carries the connotation of death. In highly dramatic fashion the prophet acts out Israel’s funeral in advance, emphasizing that their demise is inevitable if they do not repent soon.

[1:4]  ¹⁵⁷ tn Or “sons” (NASB). The prophet contrasts four terms of privilege – nation, people, offspring, children – with four terms that depict Israel’s sinful condition in Isaiah’s day – sinful, evil, wrong, wicked (see J. A. Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 43).

[1:4]  ¹⁵⁸ sn Holy One of Israel is one of Isaiah’s favorite divine titles for God. It pictures the Lord as the sovereign king who rules over his covenant people and exercises moral authority over them.

[1:4]  ¹⁵⁹ tn Heb “they are estranged backward.” The LXX omits this statement, which presents syntactical problems and seems to be outside the synonymous parallelistic structure of the verse.

[1:5]  ¹⁶⁰ sn In vv. 5-9 Isaiah addresses the battered nation (5-8) and speaks as their representative (9).

[1:5]  ¹⁶¹ tn Heb “Why are you still beaten? [Why] do you continue rebellion?” The rhetorical questions express the prophet’s disbelief over Israel’s apparent masochism and obsession with sin. The interrogative construction in the first line does double duty in the parallelism. H. Wildberger (Isaiah, 1:18) offers another alternative by translating the two statements with one question: “Why do you still wish to be struck that you persist in revolt?”

[1:5]  ¹⁶² tn Heb “all the head is ill”; NRSV “the whole head is sick”; CEV “Your head is badly bruised.”

[1:5]  ¹⁶³ tn Heb “and all the heart is faint.” The “heart” here stands for bodily strength and energy, as suggested by the context and usage elsewhere (see Jer 8:18; Lam 1:22).

[1:21]  ¹⁶⁴ tn Heb “How she has become a prostitute, the faithful city!” The exclamatory אֵיכָה (’ekhah, “how!”) is used several times as the beginning of a lament (see Lam 1:1; 2;1; 4:1-2). Unlike a number of other OT passages that link references to Israel’s harlotry to idolatry, Isaiah here makes the connection with social and moral violations.

[1:21]  ¹⁶⁵ tn Heb “filled with.”

[1:21]  ¹⁶⁶ tn Or “assassins.” This refers to the oppressive rich and/or their henchmen. R. Ortlund (Whoredom, 78) posits that it serves as a synecdoche for all varieties of criminals, the worst being mentioned to imply all lesser ones. Since Isaiah often addressed his strongest rebuke to the rulers and leaders of Israel, he may have in mind the officials who bore the responsibility to uphold justice and righteousness.

[1:22]  ¹⁶⁷ tn The pronoun is feminine singular; personified Jerusalem (see v. 21) is addressed.

[1:22]  ¹⁶⁸ tn Or “dross.” The word refers to the scum or impurites floating on the top of melted metal.

[1:22]  ¹⁶⁹ sn The metaphors of silver becoming impure and beer being watered down picture the moral and ethical degeneration that had occurred in Jerusalem.

[1:23]  ¹⁷⁰ tn Or “stubborn”; CEV “have rejected me.”

[1:23]  ¹⁷¹ tn Heb “and companions of” (so KJV, NASB); CEV “friends of crooks.”

[1:23]  ¹⁷² tn Heb “pursue”; NIV “chase after gifts.”

[1:23]  ¹⁷³ sn Isaiah may have chosen the word for gifts (שַׁלְמוֹנִים, shalmonim; a hapax legomena here), as a sarcastic pun on what these rulers should have been doing. Instead of attending to peace and wholeness (שָׁלוֹם, shalom), they sought after payoffs (שַׁלְמוֹנִים).

[1:23]  ¹⁷⁴ sn See the note at v. 17.

[1:23]  ¹⁷⁵ sn The rich oppressors referred to in Isaiah and the other eighth century prophets were not rich capitalists in the modern sense of the word. They were members of the royal military and judicial bureaucracies in Israel and Judah. As these bureaucracies grew, they acquired more and more land and gradually commandeered the economy and legal system. At various administrative levels bribery and graft become commonplace. The common people outside the urban administrative centers were vulnerable to exploitation in such a system, especially those, like widows and orphans, who had lost their family provider through death. Through confiscatory taxation, conscription, excessive interest rates, and other oppressive governmental measures and policies, they were gradually disenfranchised and lost their landed property, and with it, their rights as citizens. The socio-economic equilibrium envisioned in the law of Moses was radically disturbed.

[1:24]  ¹⁷⁶ tn Heb “the master, the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts].” On the title “the Lord who commands armies,” see the note at v. 9.

[1:24]  ¹⁷⁷ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Israel.”

[1:24]  ¹⁷⁸ tn Heb “console myself” (i.e., by getting revenge); NRSV “pour out my wrath on.”

[1:24]  ¹⁷⁹ sn The Lord here identifies with the oppressed and comes as their defender and vindicator.

[5:2]  ¹⁸⁰ tn Or, “dug it up” (so NIV); KJV “fenced it.’ See HALOT 810 s.v. עזק.

[5:2]  ¹⁸¹ tn Heb “wild grapes,” i.e., sour ones (also in v. 4).

[5:2]  sn At this point the love song turns sour as the Lord himself breaks in and completes the story (see vv. 3-6). In the final line of v. 2 the love song presented to the Lord becomes a judgment speech by the Lord.

[59:1]  ¹⁸² tn Heb “short” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[59:1]  ¹⁸³ tn Heb “or his ear too heavy [i.e., “dull”] to hear.”

[59:2]  ¹⁸⁴ tn Heb “and your sins have caused [his] face to be hidden from you so as not to hear.”

[59:4]  ¹⁸⁵ tn Heb “no one pleads with justice.”

[59:4]  ¹⁸⁶ tn Heb “nothing”; NAB “emptiness.”

[59:4]  ¹⁸⁷ tn Or “trouble” (NIV), or “harm.”

[59:12]  ¹⁸⁸ tn Heb “for many are our rebellious deeds before you.”

[59:12]  ¹⁸⁹ tn Heb “indeed [or “for”] our rebellious deeds (are) with us, and our sins, we know them.”

[59:13]  ¹⁹⁰ tn Heb “speaking.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[59:13]  ¹⁹¹ tn Heb “conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.”

[59:14]  ¹⁹² tn Or “righteousness” (ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV, NAB “justice.”

[59:14]  ¹⁹³ tn Or “for” (KJV, NRSV).

[59:15]  ¹⁹⁴ tn Heb “and it is displeasing in his eyes.”

[1:5]  ¹⁹⁵ tn Heb “her foes became [her] head” (הָיוּ צָרֶיהָ לְרֹאשׁ, hayu tsareha lÿro’sh) or more idiomatically “have come out on top.” This is a Semitic idiom for domination or subjugation, with “head” as a metaphor for leader.

[1:5]  ¹⁹⁶ tn The nuance expressed in the LXX is that her enemies prosper (cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:5]  ¹⁹⁷ tn Heb “because of her many rebellions.” The plural פְּשָׁעֶיהָ (pÿsha’eha, “her rebellions”) is an example of the plural of repeated action or characteristic behavior (see IBHS 121 §7.4.2c). The 3rd person feminine singular suffix (“her”) probably functions as a subjective genitive: “her rebellions” = “she has rebelled.”

[1:5]  ¹⁹⁸ tn The singular noun שְׁבִי (shÿvi) is a collective singular, meaning “captives, prisoners.” It functions as an adverbial accusative of state: “[they] went away as captives.”

[4:13]  ¹⁹⁹ tn These words do not appear in the Hebrew, but are supplied to make sense of the line. The introductory causal preposition מִן (min) (“because”) indicates that this phrase – or something like it – is implied through elision.

[4:13]  ²⁰⁰ tn There is no main verb in the verse; it is an extended prepositional phrase. One must either assume a verbal idea such as “But it happened due to…” or connect it to the following verses, which themselves are quite difficult. The former option was employed in the present translation.

[5:17]  ²⁰¹ tn Heb “are faint” or “are sick.” The adjective דַּוָּי (davvay, “faint”) is used in reference to emotional sorrow (e.g., Isa 1:5; Lam 1:22; Jer 8:18). The related adjective דָּוֶה (daveh) means “(physically) sick” and “(emotionally) sad,” while the related verb דָּוָה (davah) means “to be sad.” The cognate Aramaic term means “sorrow,” and the cognate Syriac term refers to “misery.”

[5:17]  ²⁰² tn Heb “our eyes are dim.” The physical description of losing sight is metaphorical, perhaps for being blinded by tears or more abstractly for being unable to see (= envision) any hope. The collocation “darkened eyes” is too rare to clarify the nuance.

[5:17]  ²⁰³ tn The phrase “through our tears” is added in the translation for the sake of clarification.

[16:2]  ²⁰⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[16:4]  ²⁰⁵ tn Heb “in water you were not washed for cleansing” or “with water you were not washed smooth” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:473, n. 57, for a discussion of possible meanings of this hapax legomenon).

[16:4]  ²⁰⁶ sn Arab midwives still cut the umbilical cords of infants and then proceed to apply salt and oil to their bodies.

[16:5]  ²⁰⁷ sn These verbs, “pity” and “spare,” echo the judgment oracles in 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 10.

[16:5]  ²⁰⁸ sn A similar concept is found in Deut 32:10.

[16:6]  ²⁰⁹ tc The translation reflects the Hebrew text, which repeats the statement, perhaps for emphasis. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Old Greek, and the Syriac do not include the repetition. The statement could have been accidentally repeated or the second occurrence could have been accidentally omitted. Based on the available evidence it is difficult to know which is more likely.

[16:8]  ²¹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ²¹¹ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ²¹² tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[16:14]  ²¹³ tn Heb “name.”

[16:14]  ²¹⁴ sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.

[16:15]  ²¹⁵ tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:16]  ²¹⁶ tc The text as written in the MT is incomprehensible (“not coming [plural] and he will not”). Driver has suggested a copying error of similar-sounding words, specifically לֹא (lo’) for לוֹ (lo). The feminine participle בָאוֹת (va’ot) has also been read as the feminine perfect בָאת (va’t). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:228, n. 15.b, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:486, n. 137.

[16:17]  ²¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “and worshiped them,” if the word “prostitution” is understood in a figurative rather than a literal sense (cf. CEV, NLT).

[16:20]  ²¹⁸ sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.

[16:21]  ²¹⁹ tn Heb “and you gave them, by passing them through to them.” Some believe this alludes to the pagan practice of making children pass through the fire.

[16:24]  ²²⁰ tn The Hebrew גֶּב (gev) may represent more than one word, each rare in the Old Testament. It may refer to a “mound” or to “rafters.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate interpret this as a brothel.

[16:24]  ²²¹ tn Or “lofty place” (NRSV). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:229, and B. Lang, Frau Weisheit, 137.

[16:25]  ²²² tn Heb “treated as if abominable,” i.e., repudiated.

[16:25]  ²²³ tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew root is found in Prov 13:3 in reference to the talkative person who habitually “opens wide” his lips.

[16:26]  ²²⁴ tn Heb “your neighbors, large of flesh.” The word “flesh” is used here of the genitals. It may simply refer to the size of their genitals in general, or, as the translation suggests, depicts them as sexually aroused.

[16:29]  ²²⁵ tn Heb “Chaldea.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon (“Chaldeans”) and the territory from which they originated (“Chaldea”) is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon.

[16:31]  ²²⁶ tn The Hebrew term, which also occurs in vv. 34 and 41 of this chapter, always refers to the payment of a prostitute (Deut 23:19; Isa 23:17; Hos 9:1; Mic 1:7).

[16:33]  ²²⁷ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[16:34]  ²²⁸ tn Heb “With you it was opposite of women in your prostitution.”

[16:36]  ²²⁹ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[16:37]  ²³⁰ sn Harlots suffered degradation when their nakedness was exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).

[16:38]  ²³¹ tn Heb “and I will judge you (with) the judgments of adulteresses and of those who shed blood.”

[16:38]  ²³² tn Heb “and I will give you the blood of rage and zeal.”

[16:41]  ²³³ tn The words “to your clients” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.

[16:43]  ²³⁴ tn Heb “your way on (your) head I have placed.”

[16:46]  ²³⁵ tn Heb “left.”

[16:46]  ²³⁶ tn Heb “right.”

[16:46]  ²³⁷ sn Sodom was the epitome of evil (Deut 29:23; 32:32; Isa 1:9-10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24; Jude 7).

[16:47]  ²³⁸ tn Heb “walked in their ways.”

[16:47]  ²³⁹ tn The Hebrew expression has a temporal meaning as illustrated by the use of the phrase in 2 Chr 12:7.

[16:49]  ²⁴⁰ tn Or “guilt.”

[16:49]  ²⁴¹ tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”

[16:51]  ²⁴² tn Or “you have multiplied your abominable deeds beyond them.”

[16:52]  ²⁴³ tn Heb “because you have interceded for your sisters with your sins.”

[16:56]  ²⁴⁴ tn Or “pride.”

[16:57]  ²⁴⁵ tc So MT, LXX, and Vulgate; many Hebrew mss and Syriac read “Edom.”

[16:60]  ²⁴⁶ tn Or “eternal.”

[16:63]  ²⁴⁷ tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”

[16:63]  ²⁴⁸ tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”

[20:1]  ²⁴⁹ sn The date would be August 14th, 591 b.c. The seventh year is the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile.

[20:1]  ²⁵⁰ tn Heb “men from the elders.”

[20:1]  ²⁵¹ tn See the note at 14:3.

[20:3]  ²⁵² tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[20:4]  ²⁵³ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment.

[20:5]  ²⁵⁴ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:5]  ²⁵⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

[20:5]  ²⁵⁶ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:6]  ²⁵⁷ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

[20:6]  ²⁵⁸ tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”

[20:6]  ²⁵⁹ sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).

[20:7]  ²⁶⁰ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.

[20:8]  ²⁶¹ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

[20:8]  ²⁶² tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:9]  ²⁶³ tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”

[20:9]  ²⁶⁴ tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”

[20:9]  ²⁶⁵ tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.

[20:11]  ²⁶⁶ sn The laws were given at Mount Sinai.

[20:11]  ²⁶⁷ tn Heb “the man.”

[20:11]  ²⁶⁸ tn Heb “does.”

[20:11]  ²⁶⁹ tn The wording and the concept is contained in Lev 18:5 and Deut 30:15-19.

[20:12]  ²⁷⁰ sn Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah, also stressed the importance of obedience to the Sabbath law (Jer 17).

[20:12]  ²⁷¹ tn Heb “to become a sign between me and them.”

[20:12]  ²⁷² tn Or “set them apart.” The last phrase of verse 12 appears to be a citation of Exod 31:13.

[20:13]  ²⁷³ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:13]  ²⁷⁴ tn Heb “to bring them to an end.”

[20:15]  ²⁷⁵ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:16]  ²⁷⁶ tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 15-16 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.

[20:16]  ²⁷⁷ tn Heb “for after their idols their heart was going.” The use of the active participle (“was going”) in the Hebrew text draws attention to the ongoing nature of their idolatrous behavior.

[20:17]  ²⁷⁸ tn Heb “my eye pitied.”

[20:18]  ²⁷⁹ tn Heb “sons,” reflecting the patriarchal idiom of the culture.

[20:18]  ²⁸⁰ tn Or “standard of justice.” See Ezek 7:27.

[20:20]  ²⁸¹ tn Or “set apart my Sabbaths.”

[20:20]  ²⁸² tn Heb “and they will become a sign between me and you.”

[20:21]  ²⁸³ tn Heb “sons.”

[20:21]  ²⁸⁴ tn Or “carries them out.”

[20:21]  ²⁸⁵ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:22]  ²⁸⁶ tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.

[20:23]  ²⁸⁷ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:23]  ²⁸⁸ sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.

[20:24]  ²⁸⁹ tn The words “I did this” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for stylistic reasons. Verses 23-24 are one long sentence in the Hebrew text. The translation divides this sentence into two for stylistic reasons.

[20:24]  ²⁹⁰ tn Or “they worshiped” (NCV, TEV, CEV); Heb “their eyes were on” or “were after” (cf. v. 16).

[20:25]  ²⁹¹ tn Or “permitted.”

[20:25]  sn The content of the verse is shocking: that God would “give” bad decrees. This probably does not refer to the Mosaic law but to the practices of the Canaanites who were left in the land in order to test Israel. See Judg 2:20-23, the note on “decrees” in v. 25, and the note on “pass through the fire” in v. 26.

[20:25]  ²⁹² tn The Hebrew term חֻקּוֹת (khuqot; translated “statutes” elsewhere in this chapter) is normally feminine. Here Ezekiel changes the form to masculine: חֻקִּים (khuqim). Further, they are not called “my decrees” as vv. 11 and 13 refer to “my statutes.” The change is a signal that Ezekiel is not talking about the same statutes in vv. 11 and 13, which lead to life.

[20:26]  ²⁹³ tn Or “gifts.”

[20:26]  ²⁹⁴ sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).

[20:26]  ²⁹⁵ sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.

[20:28]  ²⁹⁶ tn Heb “which I lifted up my hand.”

[20:29]  ²⁹⁷ tn The Hebrew word (“Bamah”) means “high place.”

[20:30]  ²⁹⁸ tn Heb “in the way of your fathers.”

[20:31]  ²⁹⁹ tn Or “gifts.”

[20:31]  ³⁰⁰ tn Or “Will I reveal myself to you?”

[20:31]  ³⁰¹ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[20:32]  ³⁰² tn Heb “what comes upon your mind.”

[20:32]  ³⁰³ tn The Hebrew could also read: “Let us be.”

[20:32]  ³⁰⁴ tn Heb “serving wood and stone.”

[20:32]  sn This verse echoes the content of 1 Sam 8:20.

[20:33]  ³⁰⁵ sn This phrase occurs frequently in Deuteronomy (Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8).

[20:37]  ³⁰⁶ tn This is the same Hebrew verb used to describe the passing of the children through the fire.

[20:37]  ³⁰⁷ sn The metaphor may be based in Lev 27:32 (see also Jer 33:13; Matt 25:32-33). A shepherd would count his sheep as they passed beneath his staff.

[20:38]  ³⁰⁸ tn See the note at 2:3.

[20:39]  ³⁰⁹ sn Compare the irony here to Amos 4:4 and Jer 44:25.

[20:39]  ³¹⁰ tn Heb “and after, if you will not listen to me.” The translation leaves out “and after” for smoothness. The text is difficult. M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:374) suggests that it may mean “but afterwards, if you will not listen to me…” with an unspoken threat.

[20:39]  ³¹¹ sn A similar concept may be found in Lev 18:21; 20:3.

[20:39]  ³¹² tn Or “gifts.”

[20:40]  ³¹³ tn Heb “all of it.”

[20:42]  ³¹⁴ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:43]  ³¹⁵ tn Heb “ways.”

[20:43]  ³¹⁶ tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”

[20:45]  ³¹⁷ sn Beginning with 20:45, the verse numbers through 21:32 in the English Bible differ by five from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 20:45 ET = 21:1 HT, 20:46 ET = 21:2 HT, 21:1 ET = 21:6 HT etc., through 21:32 ET = 21:37 HT. Beginning with 22:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[20:46]  ³¹⁸ tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2; 13:17.

[20:46]  ³¹⁹ 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]  ³²⁰ 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]  ³²¹ 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.

[20:47]  ³²² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[20:47]  ³²³ tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.

[20:48]  ³²⁴ tn Heb “all flesh.”

[22:2]  ³²⁵ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.

[22:2]  ³²⁶ tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.

[22:3]  ³²⁷ tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).

[22:4]  ³²⁸ tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refers to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.

[22:4]  ³²⁹ tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29) some prefer to emend the text and read “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.

[22:4]  ³³⁰ tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.

[22:5]  ³³¹ tn Heb “unclean of name.”

[22:6]  ³³² tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:7]  ³³³ tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ³³⁴ tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

[22:9]  ³³⁵ tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:9]  ³³⁶ tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

[22:9]  ³³⁷ sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.

[22:10]  ³³⁸ tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).

[22:10]  ³³⁹ tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).

[22:11]  ³⁴⁰ tn Heb “a man.”

[22:11]  ³⁴¹ tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.

[22:11]  ³⁴² sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.

[22:12]  ³⁴³ 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]  ³⁴⁴ 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]  ³⁴⁵ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

[22:13]  ³⁴⁶ sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).

[22:13]  ³⁴⁷ tn Heb “the blood which was in you.”

[22:14]  ³⁴⁸ tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.

[22:14]  ³⁴⁹ tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”

[22:15]  ³⁵⁰ sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.

[22:16]  ³⁵¹ tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58.

[22:16]  tn The phrase “within yourself” is the same as the several previous occurrences of “within you” but adjusted to fit this clause which is the culmination of the series of indictments.

[22:18]  ³⁵² tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.

[22:19]  ³⁵³ tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.

[22:19]  ³⁵⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[22:20]  ³⁵⁵ tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.

[22:24]  ³⁵⁶ tc The MT reads “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context, and a poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).

[22:24]  ³⁵⁷ tn Heb “in a day of anger.”

[22:25]  ³⁵⁸ 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]  ³⁵⁹ tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

[22:26]  ³⁶⁰ tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

[22:26]  ³⁶¹ tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

[22:28]  ³⁶² tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

[22:29]  ³⁶³ tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”

[22:30]  ³⁶⁴ tn Heb “I did not find.”

[22:31]  ³⁶⁵ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”

[23:3]  ³⁶⁶ tn In the Hebrew text the subject is left unstated and must be supplied from the context.

[23:4]  ³⁶⁷ tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”

[23:4]  ³⁶⁸ sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.

[23:5]  ³⁶⁹ tn Heb “while she was under me.” The expression indicates that Oholah is viewed as the Lord’s wife. See Num 5:19-20, 29.

[23:5]  sn Played the harlot refers to alliances with pagan nations in this context. In Ezek 16 harlotry described the sin of idolatry.

[23:5]  ³⁷⁰ tn Heb “Assyria.”

[23:5]  ³⁷¹ tn The term apparently refers to Assyrian military officers; it is better construed with the description that follows. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:738.

[23:7]  ³⁷² tn Heb “lusted after.”

[23:8]  ³⁷³ tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”

[23:9]  ³⁷⁴ tn Heb “I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria.”

[23:10]  ³⁷⁵ tn Heb “name.”

[23:11]  ³⁷⁶ tn The word “this” is not in the original text.

[23:14]  ³⁷⁷ tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.

[23:15]  ³⁷⁸ tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”

[23:16]  ³⁷⁹ tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”

[23:16]  ³⁸⁰ sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).

[23:17]  ³⁸¹ tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”

[23:17]  ³⁸² tn Heb “her soul.”

[23:18]  ³⁸³ tn Heb “She exposed her harlotry and she exposed her nakedness.”

[23:18]  ³⁸⁴ tn Heb “my soul.”

[23:18]  ³⁸⁵ tn Heb “my soul.”

[23:20]  ³⁸⁶ tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?) whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is extremely problematic here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” but this still fails to explain how the pronoun relates to the noun. It is more likely that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of their genitals.

[23:21]  ³⁸⁷ tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.

[23:21]  ³⁸⁸ tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.

[23:21]  ³⁸⁹ tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.

[23:22]  ³⁹⁰ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[23:23]  ³⁹¹ sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.

[23:23]  ³⁹² sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.

[23:23]  ³⁹³ sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).

[23:24]  ³⁹⁴ tn Heb “come against.”

[23:24]  ³⁹⁵ tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.

[23:24]  ³⁹⁶ tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”

[23:24]  ³⁹⁷ tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”

[23:25]  ³⁹⁸ tn Heb “give.”

[23:25]  ³⁹⁹ tn Heb “they will remove.”

[23:25]  sn This method of punishment is attested among ancient Egyptian and Hittite civilizations. See W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:489.

[23:25]  ⁴⁰⁰ tn Heb “fall.”

[23:27]  ⁴⁰¹ tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”

[23:27]  ⁴⁰² tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”

[23:28]  ⁴⁰³ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[23:28]  ⁴⁰⁴ tn Heb “I am giving you into the hand of.”

[23:29]  ⁴⁰⁵ tn The Hebrew term means “labor,” but by extension it can also refer to that for which one works.

[23:29]  ⁴⁰⁶ tn Heb “The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, and your obscene conduct and your harlotry.”

[23:30]  ⁴⁰⁷ tn The infinitive absolute continues the sequence begun in v. 28: “Look here, I am about to deliver you.” See Joüon 2:430 §123.w.

[23:31]  ⁴⁰⁸ tn Heb “her cup.” A cup of intoxicating strong drink is used, here and elsewhere, as a metaphor for judgment because both leave one confused and reeling. (See Jer 25:15, 17, 28; Hab 2:16.) The cup of wrath is a theme also found in the NT (Mark 14:36).

[23:32]  ⁴⁰⁹ sn The image of a deep and wide cup suggests the degree of punishment; it will be extensive and leave the victim helpless.

[23:33]  ⁴¹⁰ tn Heb “filled with.”

[23:34]  ⁴¹¹ tn Heb “You will drink it and drain (it).”

[23:34]  ⁴¹² tn D. I. Block compares this to the idiom of “licking the plate” (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:754, n. 137). The text is difficult as the word translated “gnaw” is rare. The noun is used of the shattered pieces of pottery and so could envision a broken cup. But the Piel verb form is used in only one other place (Num 24:8), where it is a denominative from the noun “bone” and seems to mean to “break (bones).” Why it would be collocated with “sherds” is not clear. For this reason some emend the phrase to read “consume its dregs” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:44) or emend the verb to read “swallow,” as if the intoxicated Oholibah breaks the cup and then eats the very sherds in an effort to get every last drop of the beverage that dampens them.

[23:34]  ⁴¹³ sn The severe action is more extreme than beating the breasts in anguish (Isa 32:12; Nah 2:7). It is also ironic for these are the very breasts she so blatantly offered to her lovers (vv. 3, 21).

[23:35]  ⁴¹⁴ tn Heb “and you cast me behind your back.” The expression pictures her rejection of the Lord (see 1 Kgs 14:9).

[23:35]  ⁴¹⁵ tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text but is demanded by the context.

[23:36]  ⁴¹⁶ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment. See 20:4; 22:2.

[23:37]  ⁴¹⁷ sn The Lord speaks here in the role of the husband of the sisters.

[23:37]  ⁴¹⁸ tn Heb “they have passed to them for food.” The verb is commonly taken to refer to passing children through fire, especially as an offering to the pagan god Molech. See Jer 32:35.

[23:38]  ⁴¹⁹ tn Heb “in that day.”

[23:40]  ⁴²⁰ tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.

[23:40]  ⁴²¹ tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.

[23:42]  ⁴²² tn Heb “(was) in her.”

[23:42]  ⁴²³ tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”

[23:42]  ⁴²⁴ tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.

[23:42]  ⁴²⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[23:44]  ⁴²⁶ tn Heb “and they came to her.”

[23:45]  ⁴²⁷ tn Heb “and upright men will judge them (with) the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood.”

[23:46]  ⁴²⁸ tn Heb “assembly.”

[23:46]  ⁴²⁹ tn Heb “give them to.”

[23:47]  ⁴³⁰ tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”

[23:49]  ⁴³¹ tn Heb “and the sins of your idols you will bear.” By extension it can mean the punishment for the sins.

[3:1]  ⁴³² tn The present translation assumes מֹרְאָה (mor’ah) is derived from רֹאִי (ro’i,“excrement”; see Jastrow 1436 s.v. רֳאִי). The following participle, “stained,” supports this interpretation (cf. NEB “filthy and foul”; NRSV “soiled, defiled”). Another option is to derive the form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”); in this case the term should be translated “rebellious” (cf. NASB, NIV “rebellious and defiled”). This idea is supported by v. 2. For discussion of the two options, see HALOT 630 s.v. I מרא and J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 206.

[3:1]  ⁴³³ tn Heb “Woe, soiled and stained one, oppressive city.” The verb “is finished” is supplied in the second line. On the Hebrew word הוֹי (hoy, “ah, woe”), see the note on the word “dead” in 2:5.

[3:1]  sn The following verses show that Jerusalem, personified as a woman (“she”), is the referent.

[3:2]  ⁴³⁴ tn Heb “she does not hear a voice” Refusing to listen is equated with disobedience.

[3:2]  ⁴³⁵ tn Heb “she does not receive correction.” The Hebrew phrase, when negated, refers elsewhere to rejecting verbal advice (Jer 17:23; 32:33; 35:13) and refusing to learn from experience (Jer 2:30; 5:3).

[3:2]  ⁴³⁶ tn Heb “draw near to.” The present translation assumes that the expression “draw near to” refers to seeking God’s will (see 1 Sam 14:36).

[3:3]  ⁴³⁷ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ⁴³⁸ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁴³⁹ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ⁴⁴⁰ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ⁴⁴¹ tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.

[3:4]  ⁴⁴² sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the Lord (see Jer 23:32).

[3:4]  ⁴⁴³ tn Or “defile the temple.”

[3:4]  sn These priests defile what is holy by not observing the proper distinctions between what is ritually clean and unclean (see Ezek 22:26).

[3:4]  ⁴⁴⁴ tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁴⁵ tn The word “resides” is supplied for clarification.

[3:5]  ⁴⁴⁶ tn Or “he does no injustice.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁴⁷ tn Heb “gives”; or “dispenses.”

[3:5]  ⁴⁴⁸ tn Heb “at the light he is not missing.” Note that NASB (which capitalizes pronouns referring to Deity) has divided the lines differently: “Every morning He brings His justice to light; // He does not fail.”