Ezekiel 4:14

4:14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ¹  has never entered my mouth.”

Ezekiel 5:11

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 ²  you.

Ezekiel 20:26

20:26 I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ³  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ⁴  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ⁵ 

Ezekiel 20:43

20:43 And there you will remember your conduct ⁶  and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves. You will despise yourselves ⁷  because of all the evil deeds you have done.

Ezekiel 23:7

23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired ⁸  – with all their idols.

Ezekiel 28:16

28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ⁹  and you sinned;

so I defiled you and banished you ¹⁰  from the mountain of God –

the guardian cherub expelled you ¹¹  from the midst of the stones of fire.

Ezekiel 36:17

36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they defiled it by their behavior ¹²  and their deeds. In my sight their behavior was like the uncleanness of a woman having her monthly period.

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¹ tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).

² 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.

³ tn Or “gifts.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ 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.

⁶ tn Heb “ways.”

⁷ tn Heb “loathe yourselves in your faces.”

⁸ tn Heb “lusted after.”

⁹ tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

¹¹ tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

¹² tn Heb “way.”