Ezekiel 7:7

7:7 Doom is coming upon you who live in the land! The time is coming, the day ¹  is near. There are sounds of tumult, not shouts of joy, on the mountains. ² 

Ezekiel 23:42

23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, ³  including all kinds of men; ⁴  even Sabeans ⁵  were brought from the desert. The sisters ⁶  put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.

Ezekiel 43:2

43:2 I saw ⁷  the glory of the God of Israel ⁸  coming from the east; ⁹  the sound was like that of rushing water; ¹⁰  and the earth radiated ¹¹  his glory.

¹ 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.

² 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.”

³ tn Heb “(was) in her.”

⁴ tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”

⁵ tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.

⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

⁶ sn This same title appears in 8:4; 9:3; 10:19; and 11:22.

⁷ sn Earlier Ezekiel had observed God leaving the temple to the east (11:23).

⁸ sn See Ezek 1:24; Rev 1:15; 14:2; 19:6.

⁹ tn Heb “shone from.”