¹ tc The MT has an additional word at the beginning of v. 11, וּפְנֵיהֶם (ufÿnehem, “and their faces”), which is missing from the LXX. As the rest of the verse only applies to wings, “their faces” would have to somehow be understood in the previous clause. But this would be very awkward and is doubly problematic since “their faces” are already introduced as the topic at the beginning of v. 10. The Hebrew scribe appears to have copied the phrase “and their faces and their wings” from v. 8, where it introduces the content of 9-11. Only “and (as for) their wings” belongs here.

² tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).

³ tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.

⁴ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

tn The Hebrew term used here is the strongest word available for expressing a covenant violation. The word is used in the diplomatic arena to express a treaty violation (2 Kgs 1:1; 3:5, 7).

⁵ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

⁶ tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

⁷ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

sn The significance of the number 390 is not clear. The best explanation is that “days” are used figuratively for years and the number refers to the years of the sinfulness of Israel during the period of the First Temple. Some understand the number to refer to the length of the division of the northern and southern kingdoms down to the fall of Jerusalem (931-586 b.c.), but this adds up to only 345 years.

⁸ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

⁹ tc The translation follows the LXX for the first line of the verse, although the LXX has lost the second line due to homoioteleuton (similar endings of the clauses). The MT reads “The seller will not return to the sale.” This Hebrew reading has been construed as a reference to land redemption, the temporary sale of the use of property, with property rights returned to the seller in the year of Jubilee. But the context has no other indicator that land redemption is in view. If correct, the LXX evidence suggests that one of the cases of “the customer” has been replaced by “the seller” in the MT, perhaps due to hoimoioarcton (similar beginnings of the words).

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew word refers to the din or noise made by a crowd, and by extension may refer to the crowd itself.

¹¹ tn Or “in their punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in v. 16; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 18:17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

¹² tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew mss along with the LXX and other ancient versions read “within them.”

¹³ tn Heb “their flesh.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “heart of flesh.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “their reproach.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.

¹⁷ tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.

¹⁸ tn Heb “lusted after.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”

²⁰ tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”

²¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something and has been translated here with a verb (so also throughout the chapter).

²² tn Heb “Look I am about to give you for a possession to.”

²³ tn Heb “sons.”

²⁴ tn Heb “and they will lift up over you a lament and they will say to you.”

²⁵ tn Heb “O inhabitant.” The translation follows the LXX and understands a different Hebrew verb, meaning “cease,” behind the consonantal text. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:72, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:43.

²⁶ tn Heb “she and her inhabitants who placed their terror to all her inhabitants.” The relationship of the final prepositional phrase to what precedes is unclear. The preposition probably has a specifying function here, drawing attention to Tyre’s inhabitants as the source of the terror mentioned prior to this. In this case, one might paraphrase verse 17b: “she and her inhabitants, who spread their terror; yes, her inhabitants (were the source of this terror).”

²⁷ sn Another Phoenician coastal city located between Sidon and Arvad.

²⁸ tn Heb “strengthening damages.” Here “to strengthen” means to repair. The word for “damages” occurs several times in 1 Kgs 12 about some type of damage to the temple, which may have referred to or included cracks. Since the context describes Tyre in its glory, we do not expect this reference to damages to be of significant scale, even if there are repairmen. This may refer to using pitch to seal the seams of the ship, which had to be done periodically and could be considered routine maintenance rather than repair of damage.

²⁹ sn The reference to “all the ships of the sea…within you” suggests that the metaphor is changing; previously Tyre had been described as a magnificent ship, but now the description shifts back to an actual city. The “ships of the sea” were within Tyre’s harbor. Verse 11 refers to “walls” and “towers” of the city.

³⁰ tn Heb “sons of Arvad.”

³¹ sn The identity of the Gammadites is uncertain.

³² tn See note on “quivers” in Jer 51:11 on the meaning of Hebrew שֶׁלֶט (shelet) and also M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:553.

³³ sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.

³⁴ tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”

³⁵ tc Thus the Masoretic Text. The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate translate as though the Hebrew read “cause to inhabit.”

³⁶ tn The Babylonians were known for their cruelty (2 Kgs 25:7).

³⁷ tn Heb “whose.”

³⁸ tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.

³⁹ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

⁴⁰ tn Heb “good.”

⁴¹ 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).

⁴² 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.”

⁴³ sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”

⁴⁴ sn See Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60, for other references to perpetual covenants.

⁴⁵ tn Heb “give them.”

⁴⁶ sn Decorative palm trees were also a part of Solomon’s temple (1 Kgs 6:29, 32, 35).

⁴⁷ tn The Hebrew text has no preposition; the LXX reads “from” (see v. 17).