Discovery BoxEzekiel 11:1-11 
Context11:1 A wind 1 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 2 11:2 The Lord 3 said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 11:3 They say, 4 ‘The time is not near to build houses; 5 the city 6 is a cooking pot 7 and we are the meat in it.’ 11:4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came 8 upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, 9 O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. 10 11:6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 11:7 Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped 11 in the midst of the city 12 are the meat, and this city 13 is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. 14 11:8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the sovereign Lord. 11:9 ‘But I will take you out of the city. 15 And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 11:10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not 16 be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.
1 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
2 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
3 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
4 tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.
5 sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).
6 tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.
7 sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.
8 tn Heb “fell.”
9 tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).
10 tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”
11 tn Heb “placed.”
12 tn Heb “in its midst.”
14 tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
15 tn Heb “its midst.”
16 tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.
