Ezekiel 12:6

12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. ¹  You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground ²  because I have made you an object lesson ³  to the house of Israel.”

Ezekiel 20:5

20:5 and say to them:

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore ⁴  to the descendants ⁵  of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore ⁶  to them, “I am the Lord your God.”

Ezekiel 22:4

22:4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; ⁷  the end of your years has come. ⁸  Therefore I will make ⁹  you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands.

Ezekiel 25:3

25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says: You said “Aha!” about my sanctuary when it was desecrated, about the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and about the house of Judah when they went into exile.

Ezekiel 28:13

28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. ¹⁰ 

Every precious stone was your covering,

the ruby, topaz, and emerald,

the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,

the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; ¹¹ 

your settings and mounts were made of gold.

On the day you were created they were prepared.

Ezekiel 29:3

29:3 Tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against ¹²  you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,

the great monster ¹³  lying in the midst of its waterways,

who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” ¹⁴ 

Ezekiel 29:18

29:18 “Son of man, King Nebuchadrezzar ¹⁵  of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. ¹⁶  Every head was rubbed bald and every shoulder rubbed bare; yet he and his army received no wages from Tyre for the work he carried out against it.

Ezekiel 31:16

31:16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. ¹⁷  Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.

Ezekiel 32:25

32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. ¹⁸  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.

Ezekiel 36:3

36:3 So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ¹⁹  and slander among the people,

Ezekiel 36:5

36:5 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely I have spoken in the fire of my zeal against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who with great joy and utter contempt have made my land their property and prey, because of its pasture.’

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¹ tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.

² tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

³ sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.

⁴ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

⁶ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

⁷ tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refers to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.

⁸ tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29) some prefer to emend the text and read “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.

⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.

¹⁰ sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubs placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.

¹¹ tn The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20, which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the Exod 28 list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

¹² 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.

¹³ tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew mss read correctly “the serpent.” The Hebrew term appears to refer to a serpent in Exod 7:9-10, 12; Deut 32:33; and Ps 91:13. It also refers to large creatures that inhabit the sea (Gen 1:21; Ps 148:7). In several passages it is associated with the sea or with the multiheaded sea monster Leviathan (Job 7:12; Ps 74:13; Isa 27:1; 51:9). Because of the Egyptian setting of this prophecy and the reference to the creature’s scales (v. 4), many understand a crocodile to be the referent here (e.g., NCV “a great crocodile”; TEV “you monster crocodile”; CEV “a giant crocodile”).

¹⁴ sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.

¹⁵ tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an “r” rather than an “n” (so also in v. 19).

¹⁶ sn Nebuchadnezzar besieged Tyre from 585 to 571 b.c.

map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.

¹⁷ sn For the expression “going down to the pit,” see Ezek 26:20; 32:18, 24, 29.

¹⁸ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

¹⁹ tn Heb “lip of the tongue.”