Ezekiel 1:20

1:20 Wherever the spirit ¹  would go, they would go, ²  and the wheels would rise up beside them because the spirit ³  of the living being was in the wheel.

Matthew 8:8-10

8:8 But the centurion replied, ⁴  “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. Instead, just say the word and my servant will be healed. 8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. ⁵  I say to this one, ‘Go’ and he goes, ⁶  and to another ‘Come’ and he comes, and to my slave ⁷  ‘Do this’ and he does it.” ⁸  8:10 When ⁹  Jesus heard this he was amazed and said to those who followed him, “I tell you the truth, ¹⁰  I have not found such faith in anyone in Israel!

¹ tn Or “wind”; the same Hebrew word can be translated as either “wind” or “spirit” depending on the context.

² tc The MT adds the additional phrase “the spirit would go,” which seems unduly redundant here and may be dittographic.

³ tn Or “wind.” The Hebrew is difficult since the text presents four creatures and then talks about “the spirit” (singular) of “the living being” (singular). According to M. Greenberg (Ezekiel [AB], 1:45) the Targum interprets this as “will.” Greenberg views this as the spirit of the one enthroned above the creatures, but one would not expect the article when the one enthroned has not yet been introduced.

⁴ tn Grk “But answering, the centurion replied.” The participle ἀποκριθείς (apokriqeis) is redundant and has not been translated.

⁵ tn Grk “having soldiers under me.”

⁶ sn I say to this one ‘Go’ and he goes. The illustrations highlight the view of authority the soldier sees in the word of one who has authority. Since the centurion was a commander of a hundred soldiers, he understood what it was both to command others and to be obeyed.

⁷ tn Though δοῦλος (doulos) is normally translated “servant,” the word does not bear the connotation of a free individual serving another. BDAG notes that “‘servant’ for ‘slave’ is largely confined to Biblical transl. and early American times… in normal usage at the present time the two words are carefully distinguished” (BDAG 260 s.v. 1). The most accurate translation is “bondservant” (sometimes found in the ASV for δοῦλος) in that it often indicates one who sells himself into slavery to another. But as this is archaic, few today understand its force.

⁸ tn The word “it” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were frequently omitted in Greek when clear from the context.

⁹ tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

¹⁰ tn Grk “Truly (ἀμήν, amhn), I say to you.”