Yehezkiel 28:2

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ¹  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ²  and you said, “I am a god; ³ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ⁴ 

Yehezkiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against ⁵  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster ⁶  lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ⁷ 

Yehezkiel 38:11

38:11 You will say, “I will invade ⁸  a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against ⁹  those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates –

[28:2]  ¹ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ² tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  sn See Prov 16:5.

[28:2]  ³ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”

[29:3]  ⁵ 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.

[29:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).

[29:3]  ⁷ sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.

[38:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “go up against.”

[38:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “come (to).”