Yehezkiel 11:5

11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came ¹  upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, ²  O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. ³ 

Yehezkiel 21:3

21:3 and say to them, ⁴  ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, ⁵  I am against you. ⁶  I will draw my sword ⁷  from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 21:9

21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say: ‘This is what the Lord says:

“‘A sword, a sword is sharpened,

and also polished.

Yehezkiel 30:2

30:2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Wail, “Alas, the day is here!” ⁹ 

Yehezkiel 43:18

43:18 Then he said to me: “Son of man, this is what the sovereign Lord says: These are the statutes of the altar: On the day it is built to offer up burnt offerings on it and to sprinkle blood on it, ¹⁰ 

[11:5]  ¹ tn Heb “fell.”

[11:5]  ² tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).

[11:5]  ³ tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”

[21:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “the land of Israel.”

[21:3]  ⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.

[21:3]  ⁶ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[21:3]  ⁷ sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.

[21:3]  ⁸ sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.

[30:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “Alas for the day.”

[43:18]  ¹⁰ sn For the “sprinkling of blood,” see Lev 1:5, 11; 8:19; 9:12.