14:15 “Suppose I were to send wild animals through the land and kill its children, leaving it desolate, without travelers due to the wild animals.
14:19 “Or suppose I were to send a plague into that land, and pour out my rage on it with bloodshed, killing both people and animals.
17:4 He plucked off its topmost shoot;
he brought it to a land of merchants
and planted it in a city of traders.
17:5 He took one of the seedlings 1 of the land,
placed it in a cultivated plot; 2
a shoot by abundant water,
like a willow he planted it.
“‘The fathers eat sour grapes
And the children’s teeth become numb?’ 5
19:4 The nations heard about him; he was trapped in their pit.
They brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt. 6
19:7 He broke down 7 their strongholds 8 and devastated their cities.
The land and everything in it was frightened at the sound of his roaring.
21:32 You will become fuel for the fire –
your blood will stain the middle of the land; 13
you will no longer be remembered,
for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
27:29 They will descend from their ships – all who handle the oar,
the sailors and all the sea captains – they will stand on the land.
30:5 Ethiopia, Put, Lud, all the foreigners, 20 Libya, and the people 21 of the covenant land 22 will die by the sword along with them.
32:6 I will drench the land with the flow
of your blood up to the mountains,
and the ravines will be full of your blood. 23
32:8 I will darken all the lights in the sky over you,
and I will darken your land,
declares the sovereign Lord.
36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land.
47:15 “This will be the border of the land: 39 On the north side, from the Great Sea by way of Hethlon to the entrance of Zedad;
1 tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.
2 tn Heb “a field for seed.”
3 tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).
4 tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”
5 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Jer 31:29-30 in the Qal stem and in Eccl 10:10 in the Piel stem. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the idea is of the “bluntness” of the teeth, not from having ground them down due to the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.
6 sn The description applies to king Jehoahaz (2 Kgs 23:31-34; Jer 22:10-12).
7 tc The Hebrew text reads “knew,” but is apparently the result of a ר-ד (dalet-resh) confusion. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. However, Allen retains the reading “widows” as the object of the verb, which he understands in the sense of “do harm to,” and translates the line: “He did harm to women by making them widows” (p. 282). The line also appears to be lacking a beat for the meter of the poem.
8 tc The Hebrew text reads “widows” instead of “strongholds,” apparently due to a confusion of ר (resh) and ל (lamed). L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:284) favors the traditional text, understanding “widows” in the sense of “women made widows.” D. I. Block, (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:602) also defends the Hebrew text, arguing that the image is that of a dominant male lion who takes over the pride and by copulating with the females lays claim to his predecessor’s “widows.”
9 tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2; 13:17.
10 tn Or “the way toward the south,” or “the way toward Teman.” Teman is in the south and may be a location or the direction.
11 tn Or “toward Darom.” Darom may mean the south or a region just north of southern city of Beer Sheba. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:417-18.
12 tn The Hebrew term can also mean “forest,” but a meaning of uncultivated wasteland fits the Negev region far better. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:418.
13 tn Heb “your blood will be in the middle of the land.”
14 tc The MT reads “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context, and a poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).
15 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
16 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
17 tn Heb “with all your scorn in (the) soul.”
18 sn The location is mentioned in Judg 11:33.
19 tn Heb “for which he worked,” referring to the assault on Tyre (v. 18).
20 tn The same expression appears in Exod 12:38; Jer 25:20; 50:37; Neh 13:3. It may refer to foreign mercenaries serving in the armies of the nations listed here.
21 tn Heb “sons.”
22 tn The expression “sons of the covenant land” possibly refers to Jews living in Egypt (Jer 44).
23 tn Heb “from you.”
24 tn Heb “stand.”
25 sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.
26 sn See Ezek 7:8; 9:8; 14:19; 20:8, 13, 21; 22:22; 30:15.
27 sn For the concept of defiling the land in legal literature, see Lev 18:28; Deut 21:23.
28 sn This promise reflects the ancient covenantal ideal (see Exod 6:7).
29 tn Heb “set your face against.”
30 sn This may refer to a Lydian king in western Asia Minor in the seventh century
31 sn One of the sons of Japheth according to Gen 10:2; 1 Chr 1:5.
32 tn Heb “the prince, the chief of Meshech and Tubal.” Some translate “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” but it is more likely that the Hebrew noun in question is a common noun in apposition to “prince,” rather than a proper name. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:434-35. As Block demonstrates, attempts by some popular writers to identify these proper names with later geographical sites in Russia are anachronistic. See as well E. Yamauchi, Foes From the Northern Frontier, 19-27.
sn Meshech and Tubal were two nations in Cappadocia of Asia Minor. They were also sons of Japheth (Gen 10:2; 1 Chr 1:5).
33 tn Heb “goes up against.”
34 sn The phrase “in the fire of my fury” occurs in Ezek 21:31; 22:21, 31.
35 tn Or “shaking.”
36 tn Heb “name.”
37 sn Gen 15:9-21.
38 tn Heb “will fall to you as an inheritance.”
39 sn The measurements resemble those in Num 34:1-2.
40 tn Or “holy.”