6:11 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. 3 6:12 The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these 4 will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them.
14:21 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send my four terrible judgments – sword, famine, wild animals, and plague – to Jerusalem 5 to kill both people and animals!
21:12 Cry out and moan, son of man,
for it is wielded against my people;
against all the princes of Israel.
They are delivered up to the sword, along with my people.
Therefore, strike your thigh. 15
21:15 So hearts melt with fear and many stumble.
At all their gates I have stationed the sword for slaughter.
Ah! It is made to flash, it is drawn for slaughter!
21:29 while seeing false visions for you
and reading lying omens for you 16 –
to place that sword 17 on the necks of the profane wicked, 18
whose day has come,
the time of final punishment.
28:23 I will send a plague into the city 19 and bloodshed into its streets;
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it 20 from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
30:6 “‘This is what the Lord says:
Egypt’s supporters will fall;
her confident pride will crumble. 21
From Migdol to Syene 22 they will die by the sword within her,
declares the sovereign Lord.
32:10 I will shock many peoples with you,
and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.
32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. 30 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living.
32:29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.
35:5 “‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword 33 at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.
1 tn Heb “will bereave you.”
2 tn Heb “will pass through you.” This threat recalls the warning of Lev 26:22, 25 and Deut 32:24-25.
3 sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18).
4 tn Heb “the one who is left, the one who is spared.”
5 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
6 tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).
7 tn Heb “fall.”
8 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
9 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
10 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.
11 sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
12 sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.
13 tn Heb “all flesh” (also in the following verse).
14 tn Heb “Negev.” The Negev is the south country.
15 sn This physical action was part of an expression of grief. Cp. Jer. 31:19.
16 tn Heb “in the seeing concerning you falsehood, in divining concerning you a lie.” This probably refers to the attempts of the Ammonites to ward off judgment through prophetic visions and divination.
17 tn Heb “you”; the referent (the sword mentioned in v. 28) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
18 sn The second half of the verse appears to state that the sword of judgment would fall upon the wicked, despite their efforts to prevent it.
19 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
21 tn Heb “come down.”
22 sn Syene is known as Aswan today.
23 sn The expression “breaking the arm” indicates the removal of power (Ps 10:15; 37:17; Job 38:15; Jer 48:25).
24 sn This may refer to the event recorded in Jer 37:5.
25 tn The word h!nn@h indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
26 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.
27 tn Heb “him”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
28 tn Heb “whose.”
29 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.
30 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
31 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
32 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
33 tn Or “gave over…to the power of the sword.” This phrase also occurs in Jer 18:21 and Ps 63:10.