4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days 1 – I have assigned one day for each year.
18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s conduct 12 is unjust!’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?
20:30 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves like your fathers 13 and engage in prostitution with detestable idols?
21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man,
for it is wielded against my people;
against all the princes of Israel.
They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.
Therefore, strike your thigh. 14
21:15 So hearts melt with fear and many stumble.
At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter.
Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!
25:15 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The Philistines 20 have exacted merciless revenge, 21 showing intense scorn 22 in their effort to destroy Judah 23 with unrelenting hostility. 24 25:16 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill 25 the Cherethites 26 and destroy those who remain on the seacoast.
32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. 29 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.
33:10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, 30 and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’
39:25 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore 34 the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name.
43:10 “As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they will be ashamed of their sins and measure the pattern.
47:13 This is what the sovereign Lord says: “Here 36 are the borders 37 you will observe as you allot the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.) 38
1 sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”
2 sn The day refers to the day of the Lord, a concept which, beginning in Amos 5:18-20, became a common theme in the OT prophetic books. It refers to a time when the Lord intervenes in human affairs as warrior and judge.
3 tc The LXX reads “neither tumult nor birth pains.” The LXX varies at many points from the MT in this chapter. The context suggests that one or both of these would be present on a day of judgment, thus favoring the MT. Perhaps more significant is the absence of “the mountains” in the LXX. If the ר (resh) in הָרִים (harim, “the mountains” not “on the mountains”) were a ד (dalet), which is a common letter confusion, then it could be from the same root as the previous word, הֵד (hed), meaning “the day is near – with destruction, not joyful shouting.”
4 tn Or “pattern.”
5 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
6 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
7 tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.
8 tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
9 sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.
10 tc The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The Targum, which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The LXX reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”).
11 tc The MT reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.
12 tn Heb “way.”
13 tn Heb “in the way of your fathers.”
14 sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.
15 tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).
16 tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.
17 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.
18 tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.
19 tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”
20 sn The Philistines inhabited the coastal plain by the Mediterranean Sea, west of Judah.
21 tn Heb “have acted with vengeance and taken vengeance with vengeance.” The repetition emphasizes the degree of vengeance which they exhibited, presumably toward Judah.
22 tn Heb “with scorn in (the) soul.”
23 tn The object is not specified in the Hebrew text, but has been clarified as “Judah” in the translation.
24 tn Heb “to destroy (with) perpetual hostility.” Joel 3:4-8 also speaks of the Philistines taking advantage of the fall of Judah.
25 tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Cherethites,” and draws attention to the statement.
26 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
27 tn Or “debris.”
28 tc Thus the Masoretic Text. The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew read “cause to inhabit.”
29 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
30 tn Heb “(are) upon us.”
31 sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.
32 tn Heb “way.”
33 tn Heb “Let it be known.”
34 tn Heb “cause to return.”
35 tn Heb “from the offspring of the house of Israel.”
36 tc This translation follows the reading זֶה (zeh) instead of גֵּה (geh), a nonexistent word, as supported by the LXX.
37 tn Or “territory”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:715.
38 tc The grammar is awkward, though the presence of these words is supported by the versions. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 2:274) suggests that it is an explanatory gloss.