Ezekiel 5:12

5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. 1  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, 2  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them.

Ezekiel 13:18

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands 3  on all their wrists 4  and make headbands 5  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! 6  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

Ezekiel 13:20

13:20 “‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note 7  that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives 8  like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds.

Ezekiel 44:19

44:19 When they go out to the outer court to the people, they must remove the garments they were ministering in, and place them in the holy chambers; they must put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. 9 

Ezekiel 46:18

46:18 The prince will not take away any of the people’s inheritance by oppressively removing them from their property. He will give his sons an inheritance from his own possessions so that my people will not be scattered, each from his own property.’”

1 sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.

2 sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.

3 sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

4 tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

5 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.

6 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).

7 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

8 tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”

9 sn For a similar concept of the transmitting of holiness, see Exod 19:12-14; Lev 10:1-2; 2 Sam 6:7. Similar laws concerning the priest are found in Lev 10 and 21.