4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, 1 put them in a single container, and make food 2 from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days 3 – you will eat it.
12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, 11 although they are a rebellious house.
16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing 17 that you had reached the age for love. 18 I spread my cloak 19 over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore 20 to the descendants 21 of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore 22 to them, “I am the Lord your God.”
“‘Your heart is proud 24 and you said, “I am a god; 25
I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –
yet you are a man and not a god,
though you think you are godlike. 26
“‘Look, I am against you, 27 Sidon,
and I will magnify myself in your midst.
Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments on her
and reveal my sovereign power 28 in her.
29:5 I will leave you in the wilderness,
you and all the fish of your waterways;
you will fall in the open field and will not be gathered up or collected. 29
I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the skies.
33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, 32 ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. 33 As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. 34 The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness 35 if he sins.’ 36
36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation 39 which you profaned among the nations where you went.
1 sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.
2 tn Heb “bread.”
3 tc The LXX reads “190 days.”
4 tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.
sn The mountainous terrain of Israel would contrast with the exiles’ habitat in the river valley of Babylonia.
5 tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the sovereign
6 tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.
7 tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.
8 tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”
9 tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling, but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.
10 tn Heb adds “in their faces.”
11 tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.
12 sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.
13 tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.
14 tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.
15 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).
16 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
17 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.
18 tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.
19 tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).
20 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
21 tn Heb “seed.”
22 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
23 tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).
24 tn Heb “lifted up.”
sn See Prov 16:5.
25 tn Or “I am divine.”
26 tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”
27 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
28 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.
29 tc Some Hebrew
30 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
31 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
32 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
33 tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.
34 tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”
35 tn Heb “by it.”
36 tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”
37 sn These verbs occur together in Gen 1:22, 28; 9:1.
38 tn Heb “your beginning.”
39 sn In Ezek 20:22 God refrained from punishment for the sake of his holy name. Here God’s reputation is the basis for Israel’s restoration.
40 tn Heb “young lions.”