Yehezkiel 20:6-8

20:6 On that day I swore ¹  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ²  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ³  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, ⁴  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, ⁵  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ⁶  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

¹ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

² 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.”

³ 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).

⁴ 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.

⁵ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

⁶ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”