16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them 1 as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,
16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity 2 of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help 3 the poor and needy.
1 sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.
2 tn Or “guilt.”
3 tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”
4 sn The Lord speaks here in the role of the husband of the sisters.
5 tn Heb “they have passed to them for food.” The verb is commonly taken to refer to passing children through fire, especially as an offering to the pagan god Molech. See Jer 32:35.
6 tn Or “Groan silently. As to the dead….” Cf. M. Greenberg’s suggestion that דֹּם מֵתִים (dom metim) be taken together and דֹּם be derived from ָדּמַם (damam, “to moan, murmur”). See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:508.
7 tn Heb “(For) the dead mourning you shall not conduct.” In the Hebrew text the word translated “dead” is plural, indicating that mourning rites are in view. Such rites would involve outward demonstrations of one’s sorrow, including wailing and weeping.
8 sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).
9 sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.
10 tn Heb “the bread of men.” The translation follows the suggestion accepted by M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 2:509) that this refers to a meal brought by comforters to the one mourning. Some repoint the consonantal text to read “the bread of despair” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:56), while others, with support from the Targum and Vulgate, emend the consonantal text to read “the bread of mourners” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:784).
11 tn Heb “to desecrate.”
12 tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”