5:11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare 5 you.
6:11 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. 6
13:10 “‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,” 9 when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar, 10 they coat it with whitewash.
21:24 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you have brought up 23 your own guilt by uncovering your transgressions and revealing your sins through all your actions, for this reason you will be taken by force. 24
23:35 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, 25 you must bear now the punishment 26 for your obscene conduct and prostitution.”
28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,”
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.
1 sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.
2 sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.
3 tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”
4 tn Heb “the righteous man.”
5 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.
6 sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18).
7 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
8 sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.
9 tn Or “peace.”
10 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.
11 sn These verbs, “pity” and “spare,” echo the judgment oracles in 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 10.
12 sn A similar concept is found in Deut 32:10.
13 tn The Hebrew term, which also occurs in vv. 34 and 41 of this chapter, always refers to the payment of a prostitute (Deut 23:19; Isa 23:17; Hos 9:1; Mic 1:7).
14 tn Heb “be put to death.” The translation follows an alternative reading that appears in several ancient textual witnesses.
15 tn Heb “his blood will be upon him.”
16 tn Or “gifts.”
17 sn This act is prohibited in Deut 12:29-31 and Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35. See also 2 Kgs 21:6; 23:10. This custom indicates that the laws the Israelites were following were the disastrous laws of pagan nations (see Ezek 16:20-21).
18 sn God sometimes punishes sin by inciting the sinner to sin even more, as the biblical examples of divine hardening and deceit make clear. See Robert B. Chisholm, Jr., “Divine Hardening in the Old Testament,” BSac 153 (1996): 410-34; idem, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28. For other instances where the Lord causes individuals to act unwisely or even sinfully as punishment for sin, see 1 Sam 2:25; 2 Sam 17:14; 1 Kgs 12:15; 2 Chr 25:20.
19 tn Heb “ways.”
20 tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”
21 tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).
22 tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.
23 tn Heb “caused to be remembered.”
24 tn Heb “Because you have brought to remembrance your guilt when your transgressions are uncovered so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds – because you are remembered, by the hand you will be seized.”
25 tn Heb “and you cast me behind your back.” The expression pictures her rejection of the Lord (see 1 Kgs 14:9).
26 tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text but is demanded by the context.
27 sn Tyre was located on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel.
28 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
29 tn Heb “I will be filled.”
30 sn That is, Jerusalem.
31 tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.
32 tn Heb “a stumbling block of iniquity.” This is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (cf. also Ezek 7:19; 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30).
33 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
34 tn Heb “will bear.”