Ezekiel 1:3

1:3 the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel ¹  the son of Buzi, ²  at the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. ³  The hand ⁴  of the Lord came on him there).

Ezekiel 3:17

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ⁵  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me.

Ezekiel 12:28

12:28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer! The word I speak will come to pass, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel 13:6

13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie. ⁶  They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; ⁷  yet they expect their word to be confirmed. ⁸ 

Ezekiel 33:7

33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman ⁹  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf.

Ezekiel 33:30

33:30 “But as for you, son of man, your people ¹⁰  (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, ¹¹  ‘Come hear the word that comes ¹²  from the Lord.’

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¹ sn The prophet’s name, Ezekiel, means in Hebrew “May God strengthen.”

² tn Or “to Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest.”

³ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon, “Chaldeans” is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon. The Babylonians worked with the Medes to destroy the Assyrian Empire near the end of the 7th century b.c. Then, over the next century, the Babylonians dominated the West Semitic states (such as Phoenicia, Aram, Moab, Edom, and Judah in the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel) and made incursions into Egypt.

⁴ tn Or “power.”

sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s “hand” being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).

⁵ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

⁶ sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.

⁷ sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.

⁸ tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”

⁹ sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.

¹⁰ tn Heb “sons of your people.”

¹¹ tn Heb “one to one, a man to his brother.”

¹² tn Heb “comes out.”