Discovery BoxEzekiel 1:1 
Context1:1 In the thirtieth year, 1 on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles 2 at the Kebar River, 3 the heavens opened 4 and I saw a divine vision. 5
Ezekiel 1:4
Context1:4 As I watched, I noticed 6 a windstorm 7 coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, 8 such that bright light 9 rimmed it and came from 10 it like glowing amber 11 from the middle of a fire.
Ezekiel 1:27
Context1:27 I saw an amber glow 12 like a fire enclosed all around 13 from his waist up. From his waist down I saw something that looked like fire. There was a brilliant light around it,
Ezekiel 2:8
Context2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”
Ezekiel 3:3
Context3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 14 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
Ezekiel 3:27
Context3:27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue 15 and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, 16 for they are a rebellious house.
Ezekiel 5:10
Context5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, 17 and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors 18 to the winds. 19
Ezekiel 5:15
Context5:15 You will be 20 an object of scorn and taunting, 21 a prime example of destruction 22 among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. 23 I, the Lord, have spoken!
Ezekiel 6:14
Context6:14 I will stretch out my hand against them 24 and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, 25 in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
Ezekiel 7:24
Context7:24 I will bring the most wicked of the nations and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the arrogance of the strong, and their sanctuaries 26 will be desecrated.
Ezekiel 8:2
Context8:2 As I watched, I noticed 27 a form that appeared to be a man. 28 From his waist downward was something like fire, 29 and from his waist upward something like a brightness, 30 like an amber glow. 31
Ezekiel 8:5
Context8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, look up toward 32 the north.” So I looked up toward the north, and I noticed to the north of the altar gate was this statue of jealousy at the entrance.
Ezekiel 8:10
Context8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure 33 of creeping thing and beast – detestable images 34 – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. 35
Ezekiel 9:8
Context9:8 While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, “Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?”
Ezekiel 11:13
Context11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!” 36
Ezekiel 11:17
Context11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
Ezekiel 12:13
Context12:13 But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans 37 (but he will not see it), 38 and there he will die. 39
Ezekiel 12:16
Context12:16 But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 13:14-15
Context13:14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it, 40 and you will know that I am the Lord. 13:15 I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more –
Ezekiel 13:21
Context13:21 I will tear off your headbands and rescue my people from your power; 41 they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 14:8
Context14:8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword 42 and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 14:17
Context14:17 “Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.
Ezekiel 14:23
Context14:23 They will console you when you see their behavior and their deeds, because you will know that it was not without reason that I have done everything which I have done in it, declares the sovereign Lord.”
Ezekiel 15:6
Context15:6 “Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Like the wood of the vine is among the trees of the forest which I have provided as fuel for the fire – so I will provide the residents of Jerusalem 43 as fuel. 44
Ezekiel 16:19
Context16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 16:27
Context16:27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene conduct.
Ezekiel 17:20
Context17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.
Ezekiel 20:6-7
Context20:6 On that day I swore 45 to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out 46 for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, 47 the most beautiful of all lands. 20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, 48 and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
Ezekiel 20:33
Context20:33 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm, 49 and with an outpouring of rage, I will be king over you.
Ezekiel 20:36
Context20:36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 20:44
Context20:44 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I deal with you for the sake of my reputation and not according to your wicked conduct and corrupt deeds, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 21:3
Context21:3 and say to them, 50 ‘This is what the Lord says: Look, 51 I am against you. 52 I will draw my sword 53 from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked. 54
Ezekiel 22:20
Context22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there 55 and melt you.
Ezekiel 22:31
Context22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, 56 declares the sovereign Lord.”
Ezekiel 23:22
Context23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, 57 I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side:
Ezekiel 24:13
Context24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 58
I tried to cleanse you, 59 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 60
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
Ezekiel 25:16
Context25:16 So this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note, I am about to stretch out my hand against the Philistines. I will kill 61 the Cherethites 62 and destroy those who remain on the seacoast.
Ezekiel 26:3
Context26:3 therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, 63 I am against you, 64 O Tyre! I will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
Ezekiel 26:14
Context26:14 I will make you a bare rock; you will be a place where fishing nets are spread. You will never be built again, 65 for I, the Lord, have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 26:19
Context26:19 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: When I make you desolate like the uninhabited cities, when I bring up the deep over you and the surging 66 waters overwhelm you,
Ezekiel 28:17
Context28:17 Your heart was proud because of your beauty;
you corrupted your wisdom on account of your splendor.
I threw you down to the ground;
I placed you before kings, that they might see you.
Ezekiel 28:23
Context28:23 I will send a plague into the city 67 and bloodshed into its streets;
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it 68 from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 29:4
Context29:4 I will put hooks in your jaws
and stick the fish of your waterways to your scales.
I will haul you up from the midst of your waterways,
and all the fish of your waterways will stick to your scales.
Ezekiel 29:9-10
Context29:9 The land of Egypt will become a desolate ruin. Then they will know that I am the Lord.
Because he said, “The Nile is mine and I made it,” 29:10 I am against 69 you and your waterways. I will turn the land of Egypt into an utter desolate ruin from Migdol 70 to Syene, 71 as far as the border with Ethiopia.
Ezekiel 32:10
Context32:10 I will shock many peoples with you,
and their kings will shiver with horror because of you.
When I brandish my sword before them,
every moment each one will tremble for his life, on the day of your fall.
Ezekiel 33:8
Context33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ 72 and you do not warn 73 the wicked about his behavior, 74 the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 75
Ezekiel 34:12
Context34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. 76
Ezekiel 34:26
Context34:26 I will turn them and the regions around my hill into a blessing. I will make showers come down in their season; they will be showers that bring blessing. 77
Ezekiel 35:3
Context35:3 Say to it, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you, Mount Seir;
I will stretch out my hand against you
and turn you into a desolate ruin.
Ezekiel 35:6
Context35:6 Therefore, as surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I will subject you to bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.
Ezekiel 36:37
Context36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: 78 I will multiply their people like sheep. 79
Ezekiel 37:12
Context37:12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.
Ezekiel 37:21
Context37:21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land.
Ezekiel 37:26
Context37:26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them. 80 I will establish them, 81 increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever.
Ezekiel 38:11
Context38:11 You will say, “I will invade 82 a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against 83 those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates –
Ezekiel 38:17
Context38:17 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days by my servants 84 the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days 85 that I would bring you against them?
Ezekiel 38:22
Context38:22 I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.
Ezekiel 39:2
Context39:2 I will turn you around and drag you along; 86 I will lead you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.
Ezekiel 39:27
Context39:27 When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will magnify myself among them in the sight of many nations.
1 sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593
2 sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.
3 sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century
4 sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.
5 tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2
6 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
7 sn Storms are often associated with appearances of God (see Nah 1:3; Ps 18:12). In some passages, the “storm” (סְעָרָה, sÿ’arah) may be a whirlwind (Job 38:1, 2 Kgs 2:1).
8 tn Heb “fire taking hold of itself,” perhaps repeatedly. The phrase occurs elsewhere only in Exod 9:24 in association with a hailstorm. The LXX interprets the phrase as fire flashing like lightning, but it is possibly a self-sustaining blaze of divine origin. The LXX also reverses the order of the descriptors, i.e., “light went around it and fire flashed like lightning within it.”
9 tn Or “radiance.” The term also occurs in 1:27b.
10 tc Or “was in it”; cf. LXX ἐν τῷ μέσῳ αὐτοῦ (en tw mesw autou, “in its midst”).
11 tn The LXX translates חַשְׁמַל (khashmal) with the word ἤλεκτρον (hlektron, “electrum”; so NAB), an alloy of silver and gold, perhaps envisioning a comparison to the glow of molten metal.
13 tc The LXX lacks this phrase. Its absence from the LXX may be explained as a case of haplography resulting from homoioteleuton, skipping from כְּמַרְאֵה (kÿmar’eh) to מִמַּרְאֵה (mimmar’eh). On the other hand, the LXX presents a much more balanced verse structure when it is recognized that the final words of this verse belong in the next sentence.
14 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.
sn I ate it. A similar idea of consuming God’s word is found in Jer 15:16 and Rev 10:10, where it is also compared to honey and may be specifically reminiscent of this text.
15 tn Heb “open your mouth.”
16 tn Heb “the listener will listen, the refuser will refuse.” Because the word for listening can also mean obeying, the nuance may be that the obedient will listen, or that the one who listens will obey. Also, although the verbs are not jussive as pointed in the MT, some translate them with a volitive sense: “the one who listens – let that one listen, the one who refuses – let that one refuse.”
17 tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”
sn This cannibalism would occur as a result of starvation due to the city being besieged. It is one of the judgments threatened for a covenant law violation (Lev 26:29; see also Deut 28:53; Jer 19:9; Lam 2:20; Zech 11:9).
18 tn Heb “all of your survivors.”
19 tn Heb “to every wind.”
20 tc This reading is supported by the versions and by the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QEzek). Most Masoretic Hebrew
21 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT. A related verb means “revile, taunt” (see Ps 44:16).
22 tn Heb “discipline and devastation.” These words are omitted in the Old Greek. The first term pictures Jerusalem as a recipient or example of divine discipline; the second depicts her as a desolate ruin (see Ezek 6:14).
23 tn Heb “in anger and in fury and in rebukes of fury.” The heaping up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of God’s anger.
24 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
25 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
26 sn Or “their holy places” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV).
27 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).
28 tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.
29 tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.
30 tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”
32 tn Heb “lift your eyes (to) the way of.”
33 tn Or “pattern.”
34 tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.
35 sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).
36 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
37 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
sn The Chaldeans were a group of people in the country south of Babylon from which Nebuchadnezzar came. The Chaldean dynasty his father established became the name by which the Babylonians are regularly referred to in the book of Jeremiah, while Jeremiah’s contemporary, Ezekiel, uses both terms.
38 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
39 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
40 tn Or “within it,” referring to the city of Jerusalem.
41 tn Heb “from your hand(s).” This refers to their power over the people.
42 tn Heb “proverbs.”
43 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
44 tn The words “as fuel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied.
45 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”
46 tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”
47 sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).
48 tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.
49 sn This phrase occurs frequently in Deuteronomy (Deut 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 11:2; 26:8).
50 tn Heb “the land of Israel.”
51 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
52 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
53 sn This is the sword of judgment, see Isa 31:8; 34:6; 66:16.
54 sn Ezekiel elsewhere pictures the Lord’s judgment as discriminating between the righteous and the wicked (9:4-6; 18:1-20; see as well Pss 1 and 11) and speaks of the preservation of a remnant (3:21; 6:8; 12:16). Perhaps here he exaggerates for rhetorical effect in an effort to subdue any false optimism. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:25-26; D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:669-70; and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel (Hermeneia), 1:424-25.
55 tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.
56 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
57 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
58 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
59 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
60 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
61 tn In Hebrew the verb “and I will cut off” sounds like its object, “the Cherethites,” and draws attention to the statement.
62 sn This is a name for the Philistines, many of whom migrated to Palestine from Crete.
63 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) draws attention to something and has been translated here as a verb.
64 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
65 sn This prophecy was fulfilled by Alexander the Great in 332
66 tn Heb “many.”
67 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
68 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
69 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
70 sn This may refer to a site in the Egyptian Delta which served as a refuge for Jews (Jer 44:1; 46:14).
71 sn Syene is known today as Aswan.
72 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
73 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
74 tn Heb “way.”
75 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
76 sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6
77 tn Heb “showers of blessing.” Abundant rain, which in turn produces fruit and crops (v. 27), is a covenantal blessing for obedience (Lev 26:4).
78 tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
79 sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
80 sn See Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60, for other references to perpetual covenants.
81 tn Heb “give them.”
82 tn Heb “go up against.”
83 tn Heb “come (to).”
84 tn Heb “by the hand of my servants.”
85 tn The Hebrew text adds “years” here, but this is probably a scribal gloss on the preceding phrase. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:201.
86 tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT. An apparent cognate in the Ethiopic language means “walk along.” For a discussion of the research on this verb, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:460.
