Ezekiel 3:14

3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, ¹  my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully ²  on me.

Ezekiel 7:22

7:22 I will turn my face away from them and they will desecrate my treasured place. ³  Vandals will enter it and desecrate it. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 14:6

14:6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations.

Ezekiel 18:31

18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ⁵  Why should you die, O house of Israel?

Ezekiel 23:40

23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ⁶  For them you bathed, ⁷  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry.

Ezekiel 30:4

30:4 A sword will come against Egypt

and panic will overtake Ethiopia

when the slain fall in Egypt

and they carry away her wealth

and dismantle her foundations.

Ezekiel 32:20

32:20 They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; they carry her and all her hordes away.

Ezekiel 43:9

43:9 Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever.

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¹ tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.

² tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity.

sn In Ezekiel God’s “hand” being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (1:3; 3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).

³ sn My treasured place probably refers to the temple (however, cf. NLT “my treasured land”).

⁴ sn Since the pronouns “it” are both feminine, they do not refer to the masculine “my treasured place”; instead they probably refer to Jerusalem or the land, both of which are feminine in Hebrew.

⁵ sn In Ezek 11:19, 36:26 the new heart and new spirit are promised as future blessings.

⁶ tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.

⁷ tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.