38:23 “All your wives and your children will be turned over to the Babylonians. 6 You yourself will not escape from them but will be captured by the 7 king of Babylon. This city will be burned down.” 8
ק (Qof)
4:19 Those who pursued us were swifter
than eagles 9 in the sky. 10
They chased us over the mountains;
they ambushed us in the wilderness.
ר (Resh)
4:20 Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king 11 –
was caught in their traps, 12
of whom we thought, 13
“Under his protection 14 we will survive among the nations.”
21:25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, 17
whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Tear off the turban, 18
take off the crown!
Things must change! 19
Exalt the lowly,
bring down the proud! 20
21:27 A total ruin I will make it! 21
It will come to an end
when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ 22
1 tn Heb “and they seized him with hooks.”
2 tn Heb “And afterward.”
3 tn Heb “oracle of the
4 tn Heb “And Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials I will give into the hand of their enemies and into the hand of those who seek their lives and into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon which has gone up from against them.” The last two “and into the hand” phrases are each giving further explication of “their enemies” (the conjunction is explicative [cf. BDB 252 s.v. וְ 1.b]). The sentence has been broken down into shorter English sentences in conformity with contemporary English style.
5 tn Heb “Oracle of the
6 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
7 tn Heb “you yourself will not escape from their hand but will be seized by [caught in] the hand of the king of Babylon.” Neither use of “hand” is natural to the English idiom.
8 tc This translation follows the reading of the Greek version and a few Hebrew
9 tn The bird referred to here could be one of several species of eagles, but more likely is the griffin-vulture (cf. NEB “vultures”). However, because eagles are more commonly associated with swiftness than vultures in contemporary English, “eagles” was used in the translation.
10 tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
11 tn Heb “the anointed one of the
12 tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”
13 tn Heb “of whom we had said.”
14 tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).
15 tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).
16 tn Heb “fall.”
17 tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.
18 tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.
19 tn Heb “This not this.”
20 tn Heb “the high one.”
21 tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.
22 tn Heb “Also this, he was not, until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it.” The Hebrew text, as it stands, is grammatically difficult. The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“was not”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS). In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king’s turban/crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. The preposition translated “when” normally means “until,” but here it seems to refer to the period during which the preceding situation is realized, rather than its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. The second part of the statement, though awkward, probably refers to the arrival of the Babylonian king, to whom the Lord had assigned the task of judgment (see 23:24). Or the verse may read “A total ruin I will make, even this. It will not be until the one comes to whom is (the task of) judgment and I have assigned it.”