11:1 A wind 15 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 16
12:12 “The prince 21 who is among them will raise his belongings 22 onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He 23 will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes.
13:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note 24 that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives 25 like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds.
17:9 “‘Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Will it prosper?
Will he not rip out its roots
and cause its fruit to rot 27 and wither?
All its foliage 28 will wither.
No strong arm or large army
will be needed to pull it out by its roots. 29
24:25 “And you, son of man, this is what will happen on the day I take 39 from them their stronghold – their beautiful source of joy, the object in which their eyes delight, and the main concern of their lives, 40 as well as their sons and daughters: 41
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 42 over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob.
“‘Look, I am against 43 you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster 44 lying in the midst of its waterways,
who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” 45
32:24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit. 32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. 49 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.
33:10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, 50 and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior 51 and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! 52 Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die 53 by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease.
1 tc The LXX reads “when it went, they went; when it stood, they stood.”
tn Heb “when they went, they went; when they stood, they stood.”
2 tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.
3 tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.
sn Here thorns may be a figure for hostility (Ezek 28:24; Mic 7:4).
4 tn Heb “of their faces.”
5 sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.
6 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.
7 tn The Hebrew term can refer to menstrual impurity. The term also occurs at the end of v. 20.
8 sn Compare Zeph 1:18.
9 tn Heb “it.” Apparently the subject is the silver and gold mentioned earlier (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:102).
10 tn The “stumbling block of their iniquity” is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30; 44:12).
11 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
12 sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.
13 sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).
14 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.
15 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
16 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
17 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for empahsis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
18 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (gÿ’ullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (aleph) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
19 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
20 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
21 sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.
22 tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.
23 tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”
24 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
25 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
26 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
27 tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT and appears to have the meaning of “strip off.” In application to fruit the meaning may be “cause to rot.”
28 tn Heb “all the טַרְפֵּי (tarpey) of branches.” The word טַרְפֵּי occurs only here in the Bible; its precise meaning is uncertain.
29 tn Or “there will be no strong arm or large army when it is pulled up by the roots.”
30 tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.
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).
31 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.
32 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
33 tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”
34 tn See the note at 2:3.
35 tn Heb “come against.”
36 tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.
37 tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”
38 tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”
39 tn Heb “(Will) it not (be) in the day I take?”
40 tn Heb “the uplifting of their soul.” According to BDB 672 s.v. מַשָּׂא 2, the term “uplifting” refers to “that to which they lift up their soul, their heart’s desire.” However, this text is the only one listed for this use. It seems more likely that the term has its well-attested nuance of “burden, load,” here and refers to that which weighs them down emotionally and is a constant source of concern or worry.
41 tn In the Hebrew text there is no conjunction before “their sons and daughters.” For this reason one might assume that the preceding descriptive phrases refer to the sons and daughters, but verse 21 suggests otherwise. The descriptive phrases appear to refer to the “stronghold,” which parallels “my sanctuary” in verse 21. The children constitute a separate category.
42 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
43 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.
44 tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew
45 sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.
46 tn Heb “and they will not stand to them in their height, all the drinkers of water.”
47 tn Heb “for death, to the lower earth.”
48 tn Heb “the sons of men.”
49 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
50 tn Heb “(are) upon us.”
51 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
52 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
53 tn Heb “fall.”
54 tn The term shepherd is applied to kings in the ancient Near East. In the OT the
55 tn Or “sanctify,” Heb “make holy.”
56 tn Heb “from the sword.”
57 tn Heb “it.”
58 sn For a similar concept of the transmitting of holiness, see Exod 19:12-14; Lev 10:1-2; 2 Sam 6:7. Similar laws concerning the priest are found in Lev 10 and 21.
59 sn A similar attitude toward non-Israelites is found in Isa 56:3-8.