14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, 11 I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side:
26:7 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note that 14 I am about to bring King Nebuchadrezzar 15 of Babylon, king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, and horsemen, an army and hordes of people.
26:19 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging 16 waters overwhelm you,
28:7 I am about to bring foreigners 17 against you, the most terrifying of nations.
They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, 18
and they will defile your splendor.
38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants 23 the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days 24 that I would bring you against them?
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 Or “their holy places” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).
4 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
sn The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah, while Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, uses both terms.
5 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
6 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
7 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”
8 tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”
9 sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).
10 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
11 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
12 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
13 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. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
14 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something.
15 tn Heb “Nebuchadrezzar” is a variant and more correct spelling of Nebuchadnezzar, as the Babylonian name Nabu-kudurri-usur has an an “r” rather than an “n.”
16 tn Heb “many.”
17 sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.
18 tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”
19 tc Thus the Masoretic Text. The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew read “cause to inhabit.”
20 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
21 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
22 sn The Hebrew text mentions two different types of shields here.
23 tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”
24 tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.
25 tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT. An apparent cognate in the Ethiopic language means “walk along.” For a discussion of the research on this verb, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:460.
26 tn Heb “to desecrate.”
27 tc The Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions read “you.” The Masoretic text reads “they.”