Yehezkiel 8:16

8:16 Then he brought me to the inner court of the Lord’s house. Right there ¹  at the entrance to the Lord’s temple, between the porch and the altar, ²  were about twenty-five ³  men with their backs to the Lord’s temple, ⁴  facing east – they were worshiping the sun ⁵  toward the east!

Yehezkiel 9:2

9:2 Next, I noticed ⁶  six men ⁷  coming from the direction of the upper gate ⁸  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁹  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Yehezkiel 28:25

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 ¹⁰  over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob.

Yehezkiel 29:5

29:5 I will leave you in the wilderness,

you and all the fish of your waterways;

you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected. ¹¹ 

I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.

Yehezkiel 34:25

34:25 “‘I will make a covenant of peace with them and will rid the land of wild beasts, so that they can live securely ¹²  in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. ¹³ 

Yehezkiel 37:25

37:25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, in which your fathers lived; they will live in it – they and their children and their grandchildren forever. David my servant will be prince over them forever.

[8:16]  ¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something.

[8:16]  ² sn The priests prayed to God between the porch and the altar on fast days (Joel 2:17). This is the location where Zechariah was murdered (Matt 23:35).

[8:16]  ³ tc The LXX reads “twenty” instead of twenty-five, perhaps because of the association of the number twenty with the Mesopotamian sun god Shamash.

[8:16]  tn Or “exactly twenty-five.”

[8:16]  ⁴ sn The temple faced east.

[8:16]  ⁵ tn Or “the sun god.”

[8:16]  sn The worship of astral entities may have begun during the reign of Manasseh (2 Kgs 21:5).

[9:2]  ⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[9:2]  ⁷ sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

[9:2]  ⁸ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

[9:2]  ⁹ tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.

[28:25]  ¹⁰ tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.

[29:5]  ¹¹ tc Some Hebrew mss, the Targum, and the LXX read “buried.”

[34:25]  ¹² tn The phrase “live securely” occurs in Ezek 28:26; 38:8, 11, 14; 39:26 as an expression of freedom from fear. It is a promised blessing resulting from obedience (see Lev 26:5-6).

[34:25]  ¹³ sn The woods were typically considered to be places of danger (Ps 104:20-21; Jer 5:6).