Ezekiel 1:3

1:3 the word of the Lord came to the priest Ezekiel ¹  the son of Buzi, ²  at the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. ³  The hand ⁴  of the Lord came on him there).

Ezekiel 23:23

23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, ⁵  Shoa, ⁶  and Koa, ⁷  and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses.

¹ sn The prophet’s name, Ezekiel, means in Hebrew “May God strengthen.”

² tn Or “to Ezekiel son of Buzi the priest.”

³ tn Heb “Chaldeans.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon, “Chaldeans” is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon. The Babylonians worked with the Medes to destroy the Assyrian Empire near the end of the 7th century b.c. Then, over the next century, the Babylonians dominated the West Semitic states (such as Phoenicia, Aram, Moab, Edom, and Judah in the modern countries of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Israel) and made incursions into Egypt.

⁴ tn Or “power.”

⁵ sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.

⁶ sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.

⁷ sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).