Ezekiel 22:9-11

22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. ¹  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ²  they commit obscene acts among you. ³  22:10 They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ⁴  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ⁵  22:11 One ⁶  commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates ⁷  his sister – his father’s daughter ⁸  – within you.

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¹ tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”

² tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

³ sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.

⁴ tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).

⁵ tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).

⁶ tn Heb “a man.”

⁷ tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.

⁸ sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.