Ezekiel 24:17

24:17 Groan in silence for the dead, ¹  but do not perform mourning rites. ²  Bind on your turban ³  and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lip ⁴  and do not eat food brought by others.” ⁵ 

Ezekiel 30:18

30:18 In Tahpanhes the day will be dark ⁶ 

when I break the yoke of Egypt there.

Her confident pride will cease within her;

a cloud will cover her, and her daughters will go into captivity.

Ezekiel 37:6

37:6 I will put tendons ⁷  on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath ⁸  in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

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¹ 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.

² 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.

³ sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).

⁴ sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.

⁵ 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).

⁶ sn In Zeph 1:15 darkness is associated with the day of the Lord.

⁷ tn The exact physiological meaning of the term is uncertain. In addition to v. 8, the term occurs only in Gen 32:33; Job 10:11; 40:17; and Jer 48:4.

⁸ tn Or “a spirit.”