6:8 “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. 4
21:30 Return it to its sheath! 10
In the place where you were created, 11
in your native land, I will judge you.
27:26 Your rowers have brought you into surging waters.
The east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
27:36 The traders among the peoples hiss at you;
you have become a horror, and will be no more.’”
28:4 By your wisdom and understanding you have gained wealth for yourself;
you have amassed gold and silver in your treasuries.
28:8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die violently 16 in the heart of the seas.
35:4 I will lay waste your cities;
and you will become desolate.
Then you will know that I am the Lord!
38:7 “‘Be ready and stay ready, you and all your companies assembled around you, and be a guard for them. 18
1 sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).
2 tn Heb “from time to time.”
3 sn A pint and a half [Heb “one-sixth of a hin”]. One-sixth of a hin was a quantity of liquid equal to about 1.3 pints or 0.6 liters.
4 tn Heb “when you have fugitives from the sword among the nations, when you are scattered among the lands.”
5 tn Or “has come.”
6 tn Or “has come.”
7 tc With different vowels the verb rendered “it has awakened” would be the noun “the end,” as in “the end is upon you.” The verb would represent a phonetic wordplay. The noun by virtue of repetition would continue to reinforce the idea of the end. Whether verb or noun, this is the only instance to occur with this preposition.
8 tc For this entire verse, the LXX has only “the end is come.”
tn In each of the three cases of the verb translated with forms of “to come,” the form may either be a participle (“comes/is coming”) or a perfect (“has come”). Either form would indicate that the end is soon to arrive. This last form appears also to be feminine, although “end” is masculine. This shift may be looking ahead to the next verse, whose first noun (“Doom”) is feminine.
9 tn Heb “Chaldea.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon (“Chaldeans”) and the territory from which they originated (“Chaldea”) is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon.
10 sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands it to halt and announces that Babylon itself will also experience his judgment. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:28.
11 tn In the Hebrew text of vv. 30-32 the second person verbal and pronominal forms are feminine singular. This may indicate that the personified Babylonian sword is being addressed. The Hebrew word for “sword” (see v. 28) is feminine. However, it may refer to the Ammonites.
12 tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).
13 tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).
14 tn The infinitive absolute continues the sequence begun in v. 28: “Look here, I am about to deliver you.” See Joüon 2:430 §123.w.
15 tn See v. 17.
16 tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”
17 tn Heb “I (am) toward you.”
18 tn The second person singular verbal and pronominal forms in the Hebrew text indicate that Gog is addressed here.