Yehezkiel 4:4

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ¹  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity.

Yehezkiel 5:8

5:8 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, ²  and I will execute judgment ³  among you while the nations watch. ⁴ 

Yehezkiel 5:10

5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, ⁵  and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors ⁶  to the winds. ⁷ 

Yehezkiel 11:11

11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not ⁸  be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

Yehezkiel 16:41

16:41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. ⁹ 

[4:4]  ¹ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[5:8]  ² 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. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.

[5:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”

[5:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”

[5:8]  sn This is one of the ironies of the passage. The Lord set Israel among the nations for honor and praise as they would be holy and obey God’s law as told in Ezek 5:5 and Deut 26:16-19. The practice of these laws and statutes would make the peoples consider Israel wise. (See Deut 4:5-8, where the words for laws and statutes are the same as those used here). Since Israel did not obey, they are made a different kind of object lesson to the nations, not by their obedience but in their punishment as told in Ezek 5:8 and Deut 29:24-29. Yet Deut 30 goes on to say that when they remember the cursings and blessings of the covenant and repent, God will restore them from the nations to which they have been scattered.

[5:10]  ⁵ tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”

[5:10]  sn This cannibalism would occur as a result of starvation due to the city being besieged. It is one of the judgments threatened for a covenant law violation (Lev 26:29; see also Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Zech 11:9).

[5:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “all of your survivors.”

[5:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “to every wind.”

[11:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.

[16:41]  ⁹ tn The words “to your clients” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.