4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, 3 put them in a single container, and make food 4 from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days 5 – you will eat it.
13:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note 6 that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives 7 like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds.
17:22 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘I will take a sprig 9 from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. 10
I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs;
I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
24:25 “And you, son of man, this is what will happen on the day I take 11 from them their stronghold – their beautiful source of joy, the object in which their eyes delight, and the main concern of their lives, 12 as well as their sons and daughters: 13
1 tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.
2 tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.
3 sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.
4 tn Heb “bread.”
5 tc The LXX reads “190 days.”
6 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
7 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
8 sn Harlots suffered degradation when their nakedness was exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).
9 sn The language is analogous to messianic imagery in Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8; 6:4 although the technical terminology is not the same.
10 tc The LXX lacks “and plant it.”
11 tn Heb “(Will) it not (be) in the day I take?”
12 tn Heb “the uplifting of their soul.” According to BDB 672 s.v. מַשָּׂא 2, the term “uplifting” refers to “that to which they lift up their soul, their heart’s desire.” However, this text is the only one listed for this use. It seems more likely that the term has its well-attested nuance of “burden, load,” here and refers to that which weighs them down emotionally and is a constant source of concern or worry.
13 tn In the Hebrew text there is no conjunction before “their sons and daughters.” For this reason one might assume that the preceding descriptive phrases refer to the sons and daughters, but verse 21 suggests otherwise. The descriptive phrases appear to refer to the “stronghold,” which parallels “my sanctuary” in verse 21. The children constitute a separate category.
14 tc The translation here follows the marginal reading (Qere) of the Hebrew text. The consonantal text (Kethib) is meaningless.
15 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
16 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
17 tn Heb “I will place them on it, that is, on the stick of Judah.”
18 sn The reunification of Israel and Judah is envisioned as well in Ezek 33:23, 29; Jer 3:18; 23:5-6; Hos 1:11; Amos 9:11.
19 tn Heb “young lions.”