Ezekiel 28:22-24

28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, ¹  Sidon,

and I will magnify myself in your midst.

Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I execute judgments on her

and reveal my sovereign power ²  in her.

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ³  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁴  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ⁵  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ⁶  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

Ezekiel 28:26

28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ⁷  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Exodus 9:14

9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues ⁸  on your very self ⁹  and on your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

Exodus 14:18

14:18 And the Egyptians will know ¹⁰  that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor ¹¹  because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹ 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.

² tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.

³ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁴ tn Heb “by a sword against it.”

⁵ sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.

⁶ tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”

⁷ sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.

⁸ tn The expression “all my plagues” points to the rest of the plagues and anticipates the proper outcome. Another view is to take the expression to mean the full brunt of the attack on the Egyptian people.

⁹ tn Heb “to your heart.” The expression is unusual, but it may be an allusion to the hard heartedness of Pharaoh – his stubbornness and blindness (B. Jacob, Exodus, 274).

¹⁰ tn The construction is unusual in that it says, “And Egypt will know.” The verb is plural, and so “Egypt” must mean “the Egyptians.” The verb is the perfect tense with the vav consecutive, showing that this recognition or acknowledgment by Egypt will be the result or purpose of the defeat of them by God.

¹¹ tn The form is בְּהִכָּבְדִי (bÿhikkavÿdi), the Niphal infinitive construct with a preposition and a suffix. For the suffix on a Niphal, see GKC 162-63 §61.c. The word forms a temporal clause in the line.