Ezekiel 22:6-8

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 1  22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt 2  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow 3  within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths!

Ezekiel 22:25-29

22:25 Her princes 4  within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows 5  within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, 6  or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore 7  my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. 8  They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. 9 

1 tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

2 tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

3 tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

4 tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.

5 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.

6 tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”

7 tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).

8 tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

9 tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”