Ezekiel 3:11

3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, ¹  and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”

Ezekiel 3:15

3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, ²  who lived by the Kebar River. ³  I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 3:17-21

3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman ⁵  for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ⁶  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ⁷  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁸  3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. ⁹ 

3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle ¹⁰  before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he ¹¹  does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”

Ezekiel 2:3

2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house ¹²  of Israel, to rebellious nations ¹³  who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted ¹⁴  against me to this very day.

Jeremiah 24:1-7

Good Figs and Bad Figs

24:1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon. ¹⁵  24:2 One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. ¹⁶  The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten. 24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”

24:4 The Lord said to me, ¹⁷  24:5 “I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon ¹⁸  are like those good figs. I consider them to be good. 24:6 I will look after their welfare ¹⁹  and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land ²⁰  and will not uproot them. ²¹  24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I ²²  am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly ²³  return to me.’

¹ tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”

² sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.

³ tn Or “canal.”

⁴ sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.

⁵ tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.

⁶ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

⁷ tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

⁸ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

⁹ tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.

¹⁰ tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.

¹¹ tn Heb “the righteous man.”

¹² tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).

¹³ tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.

¹⁴ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

¹⁵ sn See 2 Kgs 24:10-17 (especially vv. 14-16). Nebuchadnezzar left behind the poorest people of the land under the puppet king Zedekiah. Jeconiah has already been referred to earlier in 13:18; 22:25-26. The deportation referred to here occurred in 597 b.c. and included the priest Ezekiel.

¹⁶ sn See Isa 28:4; Hos 9:10.

¹⁷ tn Heb “The word of the Lord came to me.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “the land of the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4.

¹⁹ tn Heb “I will set my eyes upon them for good.” For the nuance of “good” see Jer 21:10; Amos 9:4 (in these cases the opposite of harm; see BDB 375 s.v. טוֹבָה 1).

²⁰ tn The words “There” and “firmly in the land” are not in the text but are implicit from the connection and the metaphor. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

²¹ sn For these terms see Jer 1:10.

²² tn Heb “I will give them a heart to know me that I am the Lord.” For the use of “heart” here referring to “inclinations, resolutions, and determinations of the will” see BDB 525 s.v. לֵב 4 and compare the usage in 2 Chr 12:14. For the use of “know” to mean “acknowledge” see BDB 384 s.v. יָדַע Qal.1.f and compare the usage in Jer 39:4. For the construction “know ‘someone’ that he…” = “know that ‘someone’…” see GKC 365 §117.h and compare the usage in 2 Sam 3:25.

²³ tn Heb “with all their heart.”