28:6 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Because you think you are godlike, 1
28:7 I am about to bring foreigners 2 against you, the most terrifying of nations.
They will draw their swords against the grandeur made by your wisdom, 3
and they will defile your splendor.
28:8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die violently 4 in the heart of the seas.
28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –
though you are a man and not a god –
when you are in the power of those who wound you?
28:10 You will die the death of the uncircumcised 5 by the hand of foreigners;
for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
1 tn Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”
2 sn This is probably a reference to the Babylonians.
3 tn Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”
3 tn Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”
4 sn The Phoenicians practiced circumcision, so the language here must be figurative, indicating that they would be treated in a disgraceful manner. Uncircumcised peoples were viewed as inferior, unclean, and perhaps even sub-human. See 31:18 and 32:17-32, as well as the discussion in D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:99.