Yehezkiel 28:16-26

28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ¹  and you sinned;

so I defiled you and banished you ²  from the mountain of God –

the guardian cherub expelled you ³  from the midst of the stones of fire.

28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.

I threw you down to the ground;

I placed you before kings, that they might see you.

28:18 By the multitude of your iniquities, through the sinfulness of your trade,

you desecrated your sanctuaries.

So I drew fire out from within you;

it consumed you,

and I turned you to ashes on the earth

before the eyes of all who saw you.

28:19 All who know you among the peoples are shocked at you;

you have become terrified and will be no more.’”

A Prophecy Against Sidon

28:20 The word of the Lord came to me: 28:21 “Son of man, turn toward ⁴  Sidon ⁵  and prophesy against it. 28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, ⁶  Sidon,

and I will magnify myself in your midst.

Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I execute judgments on her

and reveal my sovereign power ⁷  in her.

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ⁸  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁹  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ¹⁰  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ¹¹  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

28:25 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power ¹²  over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ¹³  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

[28:16]  ¹ tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”

[28:16]  ² tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:16]  ³ tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “set your face against.”

[28:21]  ⁵ sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.

[28:21]  map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[28:22]  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.

[28:22]  ⁷ tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.

[28:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “by a sword against it.”

[28:24]  ¹⁰ sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.

[28:24]  ¹¹ 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.”

[28:25]  ¹² tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.

[28:26]  ¹³ sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.