Ezekiel 3:14

3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully on me.

Ezekiel 3:22

Isolated and Silenced

3:22 The hand of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley, and I will speak with you there.”

Ezekiel 8:1

A Desecrated Temple

8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand of the sovereign Lord seized me.

Ezekiel 33:22

33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived 10  in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak. 11 

Ezekiel 37:1

The Valley of Dry Bones

37:1 The hand 12  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed 13  me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.

Ezekiel 40:1

Vision of the New Temple

40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city 14  was struck down, on this very day, 15  the hand 16  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. 17 

Ezekiel 40:1

Vision of the New Temple

40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city 18  was struck down, on this very day, 19  the hand 20  of the Lord was on me, and he brought me there. 21 

Ezekiel 18:1-2

Individual Retribution

18:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 18:2 “What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel,

“‘The fathers eat sour grapes

And the children’s teeth become numb?’ 22 

Ezekiel 3:15

3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, 23  who lived by the Kebar River. 24  I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. 25 


tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.

tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity.

tn Or “power.”

sn Ezekiel had another vision at this location, recounted in Ezek 37.

tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”

tn Or “power.”

tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.

tn The other occurrences of the phrase “the hand of the Lord” in Ezekiel are in the context of prophetic visions.

tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

10 tn Heb “by the time of the arrival to me.” For clarity the translation specifies the refugee as the one who arrived.

11 sn Ezekiel’s God-imposed muteness was lifted (see 3:26).

12 tn Or “power.”

13 tn Heb “caused me to rest.”

14 sn That is, Jerusalem.

15 tn April 19, 573 b.c.

16 tn Or “power.”

17 sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).

18 sn That is, Jerusalem.

19 tn April 19, 573 b.c.

20 tn Or “power.”

21 sn That is, to the land of Israel (see v. 2).

22 tn This word only occurs here and in the parallel passage in Jer 31:29-30 in the Qal stem and in Eccl 10:10 in the Piel stem. In the latter passage it refers to the bluntness of an ax that has not been sharpened. Here the idea is of the “bluntness” of the teeth, not from having ground them down due to the bitter taste of sour grapes but to the fact that they have lost their “edge,” “bite,” or “sharpness” because they are numb from the sour taste. For this meaning for the word, see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 2:197.

23 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.

24 tn Or “canal.”

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