Yehezkiel 2:4

2:4 The people ¹  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ²  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ³ 

Yehezkiel 22:7

22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ⁴  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ⁵  within you.

[2:4]  ¹ tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

[2:4]  ² tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

[2:4]  ³ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

[22:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ⁵ tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.