4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days 4 – I have assigned one day for each year.
8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing – the great abominations that the people 5 of Israel are practicing here, to drive me far from my sanctuary? But you will see greater abominations than these!”
16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty 11 became his.
16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity 13 of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help 14 the poor and needy.
17:10 Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper?
Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it?
Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”
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.
19:12 But it was plucked up in anger; it was thrown down to the ground.
The east wind 15 dried up its fruit;
its strong branches broke off and withered –
a fire consumed them.
22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. 17
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, 18 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 19
I tried to cleanse you, 20 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 21
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
33:30 “But as for you, son of man, your people 38 (who are talking about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses) say to one another, 39 ‘Come hear the word that comes 40 from the Lord.’ 33:31 They come to you in crowds, 41 and they sit in front of you as 42 my people. They hear your words, but do not obey 43 them. For they talk lustfully, 44 and their heart is set on 45 their own advantage. 46
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 sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”
5 tn Heb “house.”
6 tn Heb “placed.”
7 tn Heb “in its midst.”
8 tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.
9 tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
10 tn Heb “the days draw near and the word of every vision (draws near).”
11 tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
12 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
13 tn Or “guilt.”
14 tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”
15 sn The east wind symbolizes the Babylonians.
16 tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.
17 tn Heb “I did not find.”
18 tn The word “this” is not in the original text.
19 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
20 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.
21 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
22 tn Heb “a strike.”
23 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.
24 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.
25 sn The turban would normally be removed for mourning (Josh 7:6; 1 Sam 4:12).
26 sn Mourning rites included covering the lower part of the face. See Lev 13:45.
27 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).
28 tn The same verb appears in 4:17 and 33:10.
29 tn Or “in your punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
30 tn Heb “reminding of iniquity when they turned after them.”
31 tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
33 tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”
34 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
35 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
36 tn Heb “way.”
37 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
38 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
39 tn Heb “one to one, a man to his brother.”
40 tn Heb “comes out.”
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 tn The term translated “harshness” is used to describe the oppression the Israelites suffered as slaves in Egypt (Exod 1:13).
48 tn Heb “from the offspring of the house of Israel.”
49 sn That is, the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:8-15).