Yehezkiel 33:1--35:15
Konteks33:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, 1 and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, 2 and warns the people, 3 33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. 4 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. 5 If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, 6 but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’ 7
33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 8 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ 9 and you do not warn 10 the wicked about his behavior, 11 the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 12 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, 13 and he refuses to change, 14 he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.
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, 15 and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior 16 and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! 17 Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, 18 ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. 19 As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. 20 The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness 21 if he sins.’ 22 33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 33:15 He 23 returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, 24 committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted 25 against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.
33:17 “Yet your people 26 say, ‘The behavior 27 of the Lord is not right,’ 28 when it is their behavior that is not right. 33:18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 33:20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.” 29
33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, 30 a refugee came to me from Jerusalem 31 saying, “The city has been defeated!” 32 33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me 33 the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord 34 opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived 35 in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak. 36 33:23 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:24 “Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ 37 33:25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, 38 pray to 39 your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess 40 the land? 33:26 You rely 41 on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’
33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die 42 by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease. 33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ 43
33:30 “But as for you, son of man, your people 44 (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, 45 ‘Come hear the word that comes 46 from the Lord.’ 33:31 They come to you in crowds, 47 and they sit in front of you as 48 my people. They hear your words, but do not obey 49 them. For they talk lustfully, 50 and their heart is set on 51 their own advantage. 52 33:32 Realize 53 that to them you are like a sensual song, a beautiful voice and skilled musician. 54 They hear your words, but they do not obey them. 55 33:33 When all this comes true – and it certainly will 56 – then they will know that a prophet was among them.”
34:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds 57 of Israel; prophesy, and say to them – to the shepherds: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock? 34:3 You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness 58 you have ruled over them. 34:5 They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. 59 34:6 My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
34:7 “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:8 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep, 34:9 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; 60 the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.
34:11 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. 61 34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush 62 pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 34:15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. 34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!
34:17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. 34:18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? 34:19 As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!
34:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 34:21 Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad, 63 34:22 I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.
34:23 I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David. 64 He will feed them and will be their shepherd. 34:24 I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince 65 among them; I, the Lord, have spoken!
34:25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely 66 in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. 67 34:26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. 68 34:27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit and the earth will yield its crops. They will live securely on their land; they will know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 34:28 They will no longer be prey for the nations and the wild beasts will not devour them. They will live securely and no one will make them afraid. 34:29 I will prepare for them a healthy 69 planting. They will no longer be victims 70 of famine in the land and will no longer bear the insults of the nations. 34:30 Then they will know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, 71 and that they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. 72 34:31 And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, 73 and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
35:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 35:2 “Son of man, turn toward 74 Mount Seir, 75 and prophesy against it. 35:3 Say to it, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you, Mount Seir;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and turn you into a desolate ruin.
35:4 I will lay waste your cities;
and you will become desolate.
Then you will know that I am the Lord!
35:5 “‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword 76 at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment. 35:6 Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you. 35:7 I will turn Mount Seir into a desolate ruin; 77 I will cut off 78 from it the one who passes through or returns. 35:8 I will fill its mountains with its dead; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines, those killed by the sword will fall. 35:9 I will turn you into a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
35:10 “‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands 79 will be mine, and we will possess them,” 80 – although the Lord was there – 35:11 therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will deal with you according to your anger, and according to your envy, by which you acted spitefully against them. I will reveal myself to them when I judge you. 35:12 Then you will know that I, the Lord, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate, they have been given to us for food.” 35:13 You exalted yourselves against me with your speech 81 and hurled many insults against me 82 – I have heard them all! 35:14 This is what the sovereign Lord says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will turn you into a desolation. 35:15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so will I deal with you – you will be desolate, Mount Seir, and all of Edom – all of it! Then they will know that I am the Lord.’”
[33:2] 1 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
[33:3] 2 tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).
[33:3] 3 tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).
[33:4] 4 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
[33:5] 5 tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”
[33:6] 6 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
[33:6] 7 tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”
[33:7] 8 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
[33:8] 9 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
[33:8] 10 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
[33:8] 12 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
[33:9] 13 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
[33:9] 14 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
[33:10] 15 tn Heb “(are) upon us.”
[33:11] 16 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
[33:11] 17 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
[33:12] 18 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
[33:12] 19 tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.
[33:12] 20 tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”
[33:12] 22 tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”
[33:15] 23 tn Heb “the wicked one.”
[33:15] 24 tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”
[33:16] 25 tn Heb “remembered.”
[33:17] 26 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
[33:17] 28 tn The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.
[33:21] 30 tn January 19, 585
[33:21] 31 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[33:22] 33 tn The other occurrences of the phrase “the hand of the
[33:22] 34 tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[33:22] 35 tn Heb “by the time of the arrival to me.” For clarity the translation specifies the refugee as the one who arrived.
[33:22] 36 sn Ezekiel’s God-imposed muteness was lifted (see 3:26).
[33:24] 37 sn Outside of its seven occurrences in Ezekiel the term translated “possession” appears only in Exod 6:8 and Deut 33:4.
[33:25] 38 sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).
[33:25] 39 tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”
[33:25] 40 tn Heb “Will you possess?”
[33:29] 43 sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.
[33:30] 44 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
[33:30] 45 tn Heb “one to one, a man to his brother.”
[33:30] 46 tn Heb “comes out.”
[33:31] 47 tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.
[33:31] 48 tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.
[33:31] 50 tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”
[33:31] 51 tn Heb “goes after.”
[33:31] 52 tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.
[33:32] 53 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[33:32] 54 tn Heb “one who makes playing music well.”
[33:32] 55 sn Similar responses are found in Isa 29:13; Matt 21:28-32; James 1:22-25.
[33:33] 56 tn Heb “behold it is coming.”
[34:2] 57 tn The term shepherd is applied to kings in the ancient Near East. In the OT the
[34:4] 58 tn The term translated “harshness” is used to describe the oppression the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:13).
[34:5] 59 tn As a case of dittography, the MT repeats “and they were scattered” at the end of the verse.
[34:10] 60 tn Heb “I will cause them to cease from feeding sheep.”
[34:12] 61 sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6
[34:23] 64 sn The messianic king is here called “David” (see Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5, as well as Isa 11:1 and Mic 5:2) because he will fulfill the Davidic royal ideal depicted in the prophets and royal psalms (see Ps 2, 89).
[34:24] 65 sn The messianic king (“David”) is called both “king” and “prince” in 37:24-25. The use of the term “prince” for this king facilitates the contrast between this ideal ruler and the Davidic “princes” denounced in earlier prophecies (see 7:27; 12:10, 12; 19:1; 21:25; 22:6, 25).
[34:25] 66 tn The phrase “live securely” occurs in Ezek 28:26; 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26 as an expression of freedom from fear. It is a promised blessing resulting from obedience (see Lev 26:5-6).
[34:25] 67 sn The woods were typically considered to be places of danger (Ps 104:20-21; Jer 5:6).
[34:26] 68 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
[34:29] 69 tc The MT reads לְשֵׁם (lÿshem, “for a name”), meaning perhaps a renowned planting (place). The translation takes this to be a metathesis of שָׁלֹם (shalom) as was read by the LXX.
[34:29] 70 tn Heb “those gathered” for famine.
[34:30] 71 sn A promise given to Abraham (Gen 15:7) and his descendants (Gen 15:8; Exod 6:7).
[34:30] 72 sn The blessings described in vv. 25-30 are those promised for obedience in Lev 26:4-13.
[34:31] 73 tn Heb, “the sheep of my pasture, you are human.” See 36:37-38 for a similar expression. The possessive pronoun “my” is supplied in the translation to balance “I am your God” in the next clause.
[35:2] 74 tn Heb “set your face against.”
[35:2] 75 sn Mount Seir is to be identified with Edom (Ezek 35:15), home of Esau’s descendants (Gen 25:21-30).
[35:5] 76 tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.
[35:7] 77 tc The translation reads with some manuscripts לְשִׁמְמָה וּמְשַׁמָּה (lÿshimmah umÿshammah, “desolate ruin”) as in verse 3 and often in Ezekiel. The majority reading reverses the first mem (מ) with the shin (שׁ) resulting in the repetition of the word desolate: לְשִׁמְמָה וּשְׁמָמָה (lÿshimmah ushÿmamah).
[35:10] 79 sn The reference is to Israel and Judah.
[35:13] 81 tn Heb “your mouth.”
[35:13] 82 tn Heb “and you multiplied against me your words.” The Hebrew verb occurs only here and in Prov 27:6, where it refers to the “excessive” kisses of an enemy. The basic idea of the verb appears to be “to be abundant.” Here it occurs in the causative (Hiphil) stem.
