Text -- Ezekiel 9:1-3 (NET)

The Execution of Idolaters

9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!” 9:2 Next, I noticed six men coming from the direction of the upper gate which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar. 9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Eze 9:1

¹ tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.

NET Notes: Eze 9:2

¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

² sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

³ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

⁴ tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.

NET Notes: Eze 9:3

¹ tn Heb “house.”