1:10 Their faces had this appearance: Each of the four had the face of a man, with the face of a lion on the right, the face of an ox on the left and also the face of an eagle. 1
2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house 2 of Israel, to rebellious nations 3 who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted 4 against me to this very day.
3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 5 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply 7 in Jerusalem. 8 They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror
8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward 15 the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.
8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people 16 of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. 17 He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.
16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty 30 became his.
20:27 “Therefore, speak to the house of Israel, son of man, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In this way too your fathers blasphemed me when they were unfaithful to me.
21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man,
for it is wielded against my people;
against all the princes of Israel.
They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.
Therefore, strike your thigh. 31
21:14 “And you, son of man, prophesy,
and clap your hands together.
Let the sword strike twice, even three times!
It is a sword for slaughter,
a sword for the great slaughter surrounding them.
21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; 32 say:
“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,
polished to consume, 33 to flash like lightning –
22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. 37
28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –
though you are a man and not a god –
when you are in the power of those who wound you?
“‘You were the sealer 44 of perfection,
full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 51 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.
33:30 “But as for you, son of man, your people 54 (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, 55 ‘Come hear the word that comes 56 from the Lord.’
37:11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
38:14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice 58
39:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy against Gog, and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal!
40:5 I saw 60 a wall all around the outside of the temple. 61 In the man’s hand was a measuring stick 10½ feet 62 long. He measured the thickness of the wall 63 as 10½ feet, 64 and its height as 10½ feet.
47:3 When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, 65 and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep.
1 tc The MT has an additional word at the beginning of v. 11, וּפְנֵיהֶם (ufÿnehem, “and their faces”), which is missing from the LXX. As the rest of the verse only applies to wings, “their faces” would have to somehow be understood in the previous clause. But this would be very awkward and is doubly problematic since “their faces” are already introduced as the topic at the beginning of v. 10. The Hebrew scribe appears to have copied the phrase “and their faces and their wings” from v. 8, where it introduces the content of 9-11. Only “and (as for) their wings” belongs here.
2 tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).
3 tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.
4 tc This word is omitted from the LXX.
tn The Hebrew term used here is the strongest word available for expressing a covenant violation. The word is used in the diplomatic arena to express a treaty violation (2 Kgs 1:1; 3:5, 7).
5 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.
sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.
6 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
7 tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.
8 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
9 tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).
10 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
11 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
12 tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.
13 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
14 tn See Ezek 1:4.
15 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
16 tn Heb “house.”
17 tn Heb “house.”
18 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
19 tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).
20 tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum
21 tn Heb “the cherub.”
22 tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”
23 tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
24 sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.
25 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
26 sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.
27 tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.
28 tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).
29 tn Heb “break its staff of bread.”
30 tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.
32 tn Heb “their reproach.”
33 tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.
34 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.
35 tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.
36 tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.
37 tn Heb “I did not find.”
38 tn Heb “a strike.”
39 sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.
40 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
41 tn Heb “I will be filled.”
42 sn That is, Jerusalem.
43 tn Heb “lift up.”
44 tn For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.
45 sn The expression “breaking the arm” indicates the removal of power (Ps 10:15; 37:17; Job 38:15; Jer 48:25).
46 sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.
47 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
48 sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.
49 tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.
50 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
51 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
52 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
53 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
54 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
55 tn Heb “one to one, a man to his brother.”
56 tn Heb “comes out.”
57 tn Heb “way.”
58 tn The Hebrew text is framed as a rhetorical question: “will you not take notice?”
59 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
60 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
61 tn Heb “house.”
62 tn Heb “a measuring stick of six cubits, [each] a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Therefore the measuring stick in the man’s hand was 10.5 feet (3.15 meters) long. Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.
63 tn Heb “building.”
64 tn Heb “one rod [or “reed”]” (also a second time in this verse, twice in v. 6, three times in v. 7, and once in v. 8).
65 tn Heb “one thousand cubits” (i.e., 525 meters); this phrase occurs three times in the next two verses.