24:9 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Woe to the city of bloodshed!
I will also make the pile high.
24:10 Pile up the bones, kindle the fire;
cook the meat well, mix in the spices,
let the bones be charred.
24:11 Set the empty pot on the coals, 4
until it becomes hot and its copper glows,
until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot 5 is consumed.
24:12 It has tried my patience; 6
yet its thick rot is not removed 7 from it.
Subject its rot to the fire! 8
24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. 9
I tried to cleanse you, 10 but you are not clean.
You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness 11
until I have exhausted my anger on you.
24:14 “‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment 12 is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! 13 I will judge you 14 according to your conduct 15 and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
30:30 The Lord will give a mighty shout 21
and intervene in power, 22
with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire, 23
with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem 24 or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 25 24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. 26 That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them. 27 24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease 28 on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’” 29
1 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
2 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.
3 tn Heb “all flesh.”
4 tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”
5 tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).
6 tn Heb “(with) toil she has wearied.” The meaning of the statement is unclear in the Hebrew text; some follow the LXX and delete it. The first word in the statement (rendered “toil” in the literal translation above) occurs only here in the OT, and the verb “she has wearied” lacks a stated object. Elsewhere the Hiphil of the verb refers to wearying someone or trying someone’s patience. The feminine subject is apparently the symbolic pot.
7 tn Heb “does not go out.”
8 tn Heb “in fire its rust.” The meaning of the expression is unclear. The translation understands the statement as a command to burn the rust away. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:768.
9 tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”
10 tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.
11 tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”
12 tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
13 tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”
14 tc Some medieval Hebrew
15 tn Heb “ways.”
16 tn Heb “lean on, put pressure on.”
17 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
18 tn Heb “shoulder.”
19 tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).
20 tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”
21 tn Heb “the Lord will cause the splendor of his voice to be heard.”
22 tn Heb “and reveal the lowering of his arm.”
23 tn Heb “and a flame of consuming fire.”
24 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
25 tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad] surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem which remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6;Gen 42:30.
26 tn Or “an object of reproach in peoples’ proverbs…an object of ridicule in people’s curses.” The alternate translation treats the two pairs which are introduced without vavs (ו) but are joined by vavs as examples of hendiadys. This is very possible here but the chain does not contain this pairing in 25:18; 29:18.
27 tn Heb “I will make them for a terror for disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and a curse in all the places which I banish them there.” The complex Hebrew sentence has been broken down into equivalent shorter sentences to conform more with contemporary English style.
28 sn See Jer 14:12 and the study note there.
29 tn Heb “fathers.”