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 32:27

32:27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, ⁵  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ⁶  when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.

Ezekiel 38:8

38:8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ⁷  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ⁸  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

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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 tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech-Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.

⁶ tn Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear; in light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend “their iniquities” to “their swords.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.

⁷ tn Heb “from the sword.”

⁸ tn Heb “it.”