Discovery BoxEzekiel 28:20-26 
Context28:20 The word of the Lord came to me: 28:21 “Son of man, turn toward 1 Sidon 2 and prophesy against it. 28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Look, I am against you, 3 Sidon,
and I will magnify myself in your midst.
Then they will know that I am the Lord
when I execute judgments on her
and reveal my sovereign power 4 in her.
28:23 I will send a plague into the city 5 and bloodshed into its streets;
the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it 6 from every side.
Then they will know that I am the Lord.
28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers 7 or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. 8 Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.
28:25 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power 9 over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. 28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely 10 when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”
1 tn Heb “set your face against.”
2 sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.
map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
3 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.
4 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.
5 tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “by a sword against it.”
7 sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.
8 tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”
9 tn Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
10 sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.
