7:14 “They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd. 1
9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, 2 “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare 3 anyone!
21:10 It is sharpened for slaughter,
it is polished to flash like lightning!
“‘Should we rejoice in the scepter of my son? No! The sword despises every tree! 6
21:13 “‘For testing will come, and what will happen when the scepter, which the sword despises, is no more? 7 declares the sovereign Lord.’
21:32 You will become fuel for the fire –
your blood will stain the middle of the land; 8
you will no longer be remembered,
for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
32:13 I will destroy all its cattle beside the plentiful waters;
and no human foot will disturb 14 the waters 15 again,
nor will the hooves of cattle disturb them.
44:28 “‘This will be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you must give them no property in Israel; I am their property. 20
1 tn The Hebrew word refers to the din or noise made by a crowd, and by extension may refer to the crowd itself.
2 tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”
3 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.
4 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
5 tn The Hebrew verb is feminine plural, indicating that it is the false prophetesses who are addressed here.
6 tn Heb “Or shall we rejoice, scepter of my son, it despises every tree.” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned just before this. Alternatively, the line may be understood as “let us not rejoice, O tribe of my son; it despises every tree.” The same word in Hebrew may be either “rod,” “scepter,” or “tribe.” The word sometimes translated as “or” or taken as an interrogative particle may be a negative particle. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:672, n. 79.
sn The people of Judah should not place false hope in their king, symbolized by his royal scepter, for God’s judgment (symbolized by fire and then a sword) would destroy every tree (see 20:47), symbolizing the righteous and wicked (see 21:3-4).
7 tn Heb “For testing (will come) and what if also a scepter, it despises, will not be?” The translation understands the subject of the verb “despises,” which is a feminine form in the Hebrew text, to be the sword (which is a feminine noun) mentioned in the previous verses. The text is very difficult and any rendering is uncertain.
8 tn Heb “your blood will be in the middle of the land.”
9 tc The MT reads “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context, and a poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).
10 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
11 tn Heb “I will give it for a possession.”
12 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon” (twice in this verse).
13 tn Heb “the sons.”
14 tn Heb “muddy.”
15 tn Heb “them,” that is, the waters mentioned in the previous line. The translation clarifies the referent.
16 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
17 tn Heb “came up.”
18 tn Or “spirit.”
19 sn See Ezek 11:19; 37:14.
20 sn See Num 18:20; Deut 10:9; 18:2; Josh 13:33; 18:7.