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. 16
Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” 29:10 I am against 22 you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol 23 to Syene, 24 as far as the border with Ethiopia.
32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. 27 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.
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 31 in the wilderness and even sleep in the woods. 32
47:13 This is what the sovereign Lord says: “Here 47 are the borders 48 you will observe as you allot the land to the twelve tribes of Israel. (Joseph will have two portions.) 49
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
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 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
6 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
7 sn The day refers to the day of the Lord, a concept which, beginning in Amos 5:18-20, became a common theme in the OT prophetic books. It refers to a time when the Lord intervenes in human affairs as warrior and judge.
8 tc The LXX reads “neither tumult nor birth pains.” The LXX varies at many points from the MT in this chapter. The context suggests that one or both of these would be present on a day of judgment, thus favoring the MT. Perhaps more significant is the absence of “the mountains” in the LXX. If the ר (resh) in הָרִים (harim, “the mountains” not “on the mountains”) were a ד (dalet), which is a common letter confusion, then it could be from the same root as the previous word, הֵד (hed), meaning “the day is near – with destruction, not joyful shouting.”
9 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
sn The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah, while Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, uses both terms.
10 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
11 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
12 tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”
13 tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”
14 tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.
15 tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”
16 tn Heb “I did not find.”
17 tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”
18 tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”
19 tn Heb “shoulder.”
20 tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).
21 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
22 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.
23 sn This may refer to a site in the Egyptian Delta which served as a refuge for Jews (Jer 44:1; 46:14).
24 sn Syene is known today as Aswan.
25 tn Heb “whose.”
26 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.
27 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
28 sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).
29 tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”
30 tn Heb “Will you possess?”
31 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).
32 sn The woods were typically considered to be places of danger (Ps 104:20-21; Jer 5:6).
33 tc The MT reads לְשֵׁם (lÿshem, “for a name”), meaning perhaps a renowned planting (place). The translation takes this to be a metathesis of שָׁלֹם (shalom) as was read by the LXX.
34 tn Heb “those gathered” for famine.
35 tn Heb “way.”
36 tn Or “spirit.” This is likely an allusion to Gen 2 and God’s breath which creates life.
37 sn Jeremiah also attested to the reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms (Jer 3:12, 14; 31:2-6).
38 tn Heb “go up against.”
39 tn Heb “come (to).”
40 tn Heb “men of perpetuity.”
41 tn Heb “and bury the travelers and those who remain on the surface of the ground.” The reference to “travelers” seems odd and is omitted in the LXX. It is probably an accidental duplication (see v. 11).
42 tn Heb “as the scouts scout.”
43 tn That is, the aforementioned bone.
44 tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.
45 tn The expression introduces the three major visions of Ezekiel (1:1; 8:3; 40:2).
46 tn The reference to a very high mountain is harmonious with Isa 2:2.
47 tc This translation follows the reading זֶה (zeh) instead of גֵּה (geh), a nonexistent word, as supported by the LXX.
48 tn Or “territory”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:715.
49 tc The grammar is awkward, though the presence of these words is supported by the versions. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 2:274) suggests that it is an explanatory gloss.
sn One portion for Ephraim, the other for Manasseh (Gen 48:17-20).