3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 1 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, 13 as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand 14 of the sovereign Lord seized me. 15
8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people 16 of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
13:10 “‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” 17 when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, 18 they coat it with whitewash.
14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem 22 to kill both people and animals!
18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer 23 for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.
18:21 “But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 35
I tried to cleanse you, 36 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 37
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
32:10 I will shock many peoples with you,
and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.
“‘Look, I am against you, Mount Seir;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and turn you into a desolate ruin.
38:14 “Therefore, prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On that day when my people Israel are living securely, you will take notice 53
38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants 54 the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days 55 that I would bring you against them?
39:25 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore 56 the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name.
45:9 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Enough, you princes of Israel! Put away violence and destruction, and do what is just and right. Put an end to your evictions of my people, 58 declares the sovereign Lord.
1 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.
sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.
2 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
3 tn Heb “the one who is left, the one who is spared.”
4 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
5 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
6 tn Or “punish” (cf. BDB 1047 s.v. שָׁפַט 3.c).
7 tn Heb “ways.”
8 tn Heb “I will place on you.”
9 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
10 tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.
11 tn “I will set your behavior on your head.”
12 tn Heb “and your abominable practices will be among you.”
13 tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”
sn In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month would be September 17, 592
14 tn Or “power.”
sn Hand in the OT can refer metaphorically to power, authority, or influence. In Ezekiel God’s hand being on the prophet is regularly associated with communication or a vision from God (3:14, 22; 8:1; 37:1; 40:1).
15 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
16 tn Heb “house.”
17 tn Or “peace.”
18 tn The Hebrew word only occurs here in the Bible. According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:202-3) it is also used in the Mishnah of a wall of rough stones without mortar. This fits the context here comparing the false prophetic messages to a nice coat of whitewash on a structurally unstable wall.
19 tn Heb “from your hand(s).” This refers to their power over the people.
20 sn I will be their God. See Exod 6:7; Lev 26:12; Jer 7:23; 11:4.
21 tn Heb “break its staff of bread.”
22 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
23 tn Heb “lift up, bear.”
24 tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”
25 tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”
26 tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.
27 tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.
28 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
29 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
30 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.
31 sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
32 sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.
33 tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).
34 tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.
35 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
36 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
37 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
38 tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Cherethites,” and draws attention to the statement.
39 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
40 tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
41 tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.
42 tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.
43 tn Heb “do.”
44 tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”
45 tn Heb “goes after.”
46 tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.
47 sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6
48 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
49 tn Heb “way.”
50 tn Or “spirit.” This is likely an allusion to Gen 2 and God’s breath which creates life.
51 sn See Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60, for other references to perpetual covenants.
52 tn Heb “give them.”
53 tn The Hebrew text is framed as a rhetorical question: “will you not take notice?”
54 tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”
55 tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.
56 tn Heb “cause to return.”
57 sn Tobiah, an Ammonite (Neh 13:8), was dismissed from the temple.
58 sn Evictions of the less fortunate by the powerful are described in 1 Kgs 21:1-16; Jer 22:1-5, 13-17; Ezek 22:25.
59 tn Heb “strayed off.”