5:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem; I placed her in the center of the nations with countries all around her.
9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, 3 “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare 4 anyone!
11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!” 5
14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them 14 as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,
18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer 19 for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.
19:11 Its boughs were strong, fit 20 for rulers’ scepters; it reached up into the clouds.
It stood out because of its height and its many branches. 21
19:12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.
The east wind 22 dried up its fruit;
its strong branches broke off and withered –
a fire consumed them.
19:14 A fire has gone out from its branch; it has consumed its shoot and its fruit. 23
No strong branch was left in it, nor a scepter to rule.’
This is a lament song, and has become a lament song.”
21:27 A total ruin I will make it! 38
It will come to an end
when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ 39
28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers 52 or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. 53 Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.
29:6 Then all those living in Egypt will know that I am the Lord
because they were a reed staff 54 for the house of Israel;
32:4 I will leave you on the ground,
I will fling you on the open field,
I will allow 57 all the birds of the sky to settle 58 on you,
and I will permit 59 all the wild animals 60 to gorge themselves on you.
32:13 I will destroy all its cattle beside the plentiful waters;
and no human foot will disturb 61 the waters 62 again,
nor will the hooves of cattle disturb them.
32:16 This is a lament; they will chant it.
The daughters of the nations will chant it.
They will chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes,
declares the sovereign Lord.”
34:23 I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them – namely, my servant David. 64 He will feed them and will be their shepherd.
36:6 “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I have spoken in my zeal and in my anger, because you have endured the insults of the nations.
36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: 70 I will multiply their people like sheep. 71
40:24 Then he led me toward the south. I saw 74 a gate on the south. He measured its jambs and its porches; they had the same dimensions as the others.
43:25 “For seven days you will provide every day a goat for a sin offering; a young bull and a ram from the flock, both without blemish, will be provided.
45:21 “‘In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will celebrate the Passover, and for seven days bread made without yeast will be eaten.
48:30 “These are the exits of the city: On the north side, one and one-half miles 79 by measure,
1 tn The expression “to pour out rage” also occurs in Ezek 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:31; 30:15; 36:18.
2 tn Heb “wrath.” Context clarifies that God’s wrath is in view.
3 tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”
4 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
5 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
6 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
7 tn Heb “their flesh.”
8 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
9 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
10 tc The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The Targum, which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The LXX reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”).
11 tc The MT reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.
12 tn Or “within it,” referring to the city of Jerusalem.
13 tn Heb “from your hand(s).” This refers to their power over the people.
14 sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.
15 tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”
16 tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”
17 tn Heb “be put to death.” The translation follows an alternative reading that appears in several ancient textual witnesses.
18 tn Heb “his blood will be upon him.”
19 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
20 tn The word “fit” does not occur in the Hebrew text.
21 tn Heb “and it was seen by its height and by the abundance of its branches.”
22 sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.
23 tn The verse describes the similar situation recorded in Judg 9:20.
24 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”
25 tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”
26 sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).
27 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.
28 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
29 sn Though the Pentateuch does not seem to know of this episode, Ps 106:26-27 may speak of God’s oath to exile the people before they had entered Canaan.
30 tn Or “gifts.”
31 sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).
32 sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.
33 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
34 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
35 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.
36 sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
37 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.
38 tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.
39 tn Heb “Also this, he was not, until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it.” The Hebrew text, as it stands, is grammatically difficult. The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“was not”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS). In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king’s turban/crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. The preposition translated “when” normally means “until,” but here it seems to refer to the period during which the preceding situation is realized, rather than its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. The second part of the statement, though awkward, probably refers to the arrival of the Babylonian king, to whom the Lord had assigned the task of judgment (see 23:24). Or the verse may read “A total ruin I will make, even this. It will not be until the one comes to whom is (the task of) judgment and I have assigned it.”
40 tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).
41 tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refers to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.
42 tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29) some prefer to emend the text and read “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.
43 tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.
44 tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.
45 sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.
46 tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.
47 tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.
48 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
49 tn The Hebrew term means “labor,” but by extension it can also refer to that for which one works.
50 tn Heb “The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, and your obscene conduct and your harlotry.”
51 tn Heb “with acts of punishment of anger.”
52 sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.
53 tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”
54 sn Compare Isa 36:6.
55 tn Heb “I will cause a horn to sprout for the house of Israel.” The horn is used as a figure for military power in the OT (Ps 92:10). A similar expression is made about the Davidic dynasty in Ps 132:17.
56 tn Heb “I will grant you an open mouth.”
57 tn Or “cause.”
58 tn Heb “live.”
59 tn Or “cause.”
60 tn Heb “the beasts of the field,” referring to wild as opposed to domesticated animals.
61 tn Heb “muddy.”
62 tn Heb “them,” that is, the waters mentioned in the previous line. The translation clarifies the referent.
63 sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.
64 sn The messianic king is here called “David” (see Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5, as well as Isa 11:1 and Mic 5:2) because he will fulfill the Davidic royal ideal depicted in the prophets and royal psalms (see Ps 2, 89).
65 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
66 sn A promise given to Abraham (Gen 15:7) and his descendants (Gen 15:8; Exod 6:7).
67 sn The blessings described in vv. 25-30 are those promised for obedience in Lev 26:4-13.
68 sn The Lord here uses a metaphor from the realm of ritual purification. For the use of water in ritual cleansing, see Exod 30:19-20; Lev 14:51; Num 19:18; Heb 10:22.
69 tn Heb “Let it be known.”
70 tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
71 sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
72 tn Heb “go up.”
73 tn Heb “name.”
74 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
75 tn Heb “fifty cubits” (i.e., 26.25 meters).
76 tn Heb “twenty-five cubits” (i.e., 13.125 meters).
77 tc Heb “I.” The reading is due to the confusion of yod (י, indicating a first person pronoun) and vav (ו, indicating a third person pronoun). A few medieval Hebrew
78 tc Instead of an energic nun (ן), the text may have read a third masculine plural suffix ם (mem), “them,” which was confused with ן (nun) in the old script. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:621.
79 tn Heb “four thousand five hundred cubits” (i.e., 2.36 kilometers); the phrase occurs again in vv. 32-34.