Discovery BoxEzekiel 17:8 
Context17:8 In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted
to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.
Ezekiel 20:25
Context20:25 I also gave 1 them decrees 2 which were not good and regulations by which they could not live.
Ezekiel 24:4
Context24:4 add the pieces of meat to it,
every good piece,
the thigh and the shoulder;
fill it with choice bones.
1 tn Or “permitted.”
sn The content of the verse is shocking: that God would “give” bad decrees. This probably does not refer to the Mosaic law but to the practices of the Canaanites who were left in the land in order to test Israel. See Judg 2:20-23, the note on “decrees” in v. 25, and the note on “pass through the fire” in v. 26.
2 tn The Hebrew term חֻקּוֹת (khuqot; translated “statutes” elsewhere in this chapter) is normally feminine. Here Ezekiel changes the form to masculine: חֻקִּים (khuqim). Further, they are not called “my decrees” as vv. 11 and 13 refer to “my statutes.” The change is a signal that Ezekiel is not talking about the same statutes in vv. 11 and 13, which lead to life.
