11:16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little 1 sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
17:9 “‘Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘Will it prosper?
Will he not rip out its roots
and cause its fruit to rot 3 and wither?
All its foliage 4 will wither.
No strong arm or large army
will be needed to pull it out by its roots. 5
“‘Your heart is proud 14 and you said, “I am a god; 15
I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –
yet you are a man and not a god,
though you think you are godlike. 16
“‘Look, I am against 17 you, Pharaoh king of Egypt,
the great monster 18 lying in the midst of its waterways,
who has said, “My Nile is my own, I made it for myself.” 19
36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation 20 which you profaned among the nations where you went.
1 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
2 tn Heb “the days draw near and the word of every vision (draws near).”
3 tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT and appears to have the meaning of “strip off.” In application to fruit the meaning may be “cause to rot.”
4 tn Heb “all the טַרְפֵּי (tarpey) of branches.” The word טַרְפֵּי occurs only here in the Bible; its precise meaning is uncertain.
5 tn Or “there will be no strong arm or large army when it is pulled up by the roots.”
4 tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.
5 sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.
6 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
5 tn Heb “the pride of your strength” means “your strong pride.”
6 sn Heb “the delight of your eyes.” Just as Ezekiel was deprived of his beloved wife (v. 16, the “desire” of his “eyes”) so the Lord would be forced to remove the object of his devotion, the temple, which symbolized his close relationship to his covenant people.
7 tn Heb “the object of compassion of your soul.” The accentuation in the traditional Hebrew text indicates that the descriptive phrases (“the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life’s passion”) modify the preceding “my sanctuary.”
8 tn Heb “fall.”
6 tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).
7 tn Heb “lifted up.”
8 tn Or “I am divine.”
9 tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”
7 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
8 tn Heb “jackals,” but many medieval Hebrew
9 sn In Egyptian theology Pharaoh owned and controlled the Nile. See J. D. Currid, Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament, 240-44.
8 sn In Ezek 20:22 God refrained from punishment for the sake of his holy name. Here God’s reputation is the basis for Israel’s restoration.