Yehezkiel 8:11

8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

Yehezkiel 11:3

11:3 They say, ³  ‘The time is not near to build houses; ⁴  the city ⁵  is a cooking pot ⁶  and we are the meat in it.’

[8:11]  ¹ sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).

[8:11]  ² tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[11:3]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.

[11:3]  ⁴ sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).

[11:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.

[11:3]  ⁶ sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.