Ezekiel 5:6

5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations ¹  and the countries around her. ²  Indeed, they ³  have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

Ezekiel 10:11

10:11 When they ⁴  moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow ⁵  without turning as they moved,

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¹ sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.

² tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”

³ sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.

⁴ sn That is, the cherubim.

⁵ tn Many interpreters assume that the human face of each cherub was the one that looked forward.