Ezekiel 9:2

9:2 Next, I noticed 1  six men 2  coming from the direction of the upper gate 3  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit 4  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Ezekiel 17:12

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: 5  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ 6  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem 7  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

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

2 sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

3 sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

4 tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.

5 tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

6 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

7 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.