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 9:9

9:9 He said to me, “The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, ⁵  for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ⁶ 

Ezekiel 17:24

17:24 All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.

I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree.

I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout.

I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!’”

Ezekiel 20:3

20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ⁷  declares the sovereign Lord.’

Ezekiel 36:4

36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about –

Ezekiel 44:2

44:2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

Ezekiel 44:5

44:5 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, pay attention, ⁸  watch closely and listen carefully to ⁹  everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the Lord’s house and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrances ¹⁰  to the temple with all the exits of the sanctuary.

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 tn Or “lawlessness” (NAB); “perversity” (NRSV). The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT, and its meaning is uncertain. The similar phrase in 7:23 has a common word for “violence.”

⁶ sn The saying is virtually identical to that of the elders in Ezek 8:12.

⁹ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

¹³ tn Heb “set your heart” (so also in the latter part of the verse).

¹⁴ tn Heb “Set your mind, look with your eyes, and with your ears hear.”

¹⁵ tc The Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum read the plural. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:618.