Yehezkiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ¹  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ²  at the Kebar River, ³  the heavens opened ⁴  and I saw a divine vision. ⁵ 

Yehezkiel 3:15

3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, ⁶  who lived by the Kebar River. ⁷  I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. ⁸ 

Yehezkiel 12:4

12:4 Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile.

Yehezkiel 20:3

20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ⁹  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Yehezkiel 27:3

27:3 Say to Tyre, who sits at the entrance ¹⁰  of the sea, ¹¹  merchant to the peoples on many coasts, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘O Tyre, you have said, “I am perfectly beautiful.”

Yehezkiel 30:12

30:12 I will dry up the waterways

and hand the land over to ¹²  evil men.

I will make the land and everything in it desolate by the hand of foreigners.

I, the Lord, have spoken!

Yehezkiel 32:10

32:10 I will shock many peoples with you,

and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.

When I brandish my sword before them,

every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.

Yehezkiel 33:30

33:30 “But as for you, son of man, your people ¹³  (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, ¹⁴  ‘Come hear the word that comes ¹⁵  from the Lord.’

Yehezkiel 38:13

38:13 Sheba and Dedan and the traders of Tarshish with all its young warriors ¹⁶  will say to you, “Have you come to loot? Have you assembled your armies to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to haul away a great amount of spoils?”’

[1:1]  ¹ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ² sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ³ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ⁴ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2

[3:15]  ⁶ sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.

[3:15]  ⁷ tn Or “canal.”

[3:15]  ⁸ sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.

[20:3]  ⁹ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[27:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “entrances.” The plural noun may reflect the fact that Tyre had two main harbors.

[27:3]  ¹¹ sn Rome, another economic power, is described in a similar way in Rev 17:1.

[30:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and I will sell the land into the hand of.”

[33:30]  ¹³ tn Heb “sons of your people.”

[33:30]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one to one, a man to his brother.”

[33:30]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “comes out.”

[38:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “young lions.”