3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 1 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech 2 and difficult language, 3 but 4 to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand 5 – surely if 6 I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, 7 because they are not willing to listen to me, 8 for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 9
3:8 “I have made your face adamant 10 to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! 11 Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, 12 for they are a rebellious house.”
3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, 13 and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”
3:12 Then a wind lifted me up 14 and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place, 15 3:13 and the sound of the living beings’ wings brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, a great rumbling sound. 3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, 16 my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully 17 on me. 3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, 18 who lived by the Kebar River. 19 I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. 20
3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle 26 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 27 does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”
58:1 “Shout loudly! Don’t be quiet!
Yell as loud as a trumpet!
Confront my people with their rebellious deeds; 38
confront Jacob’s family with their sin! 39
6:5 Therefore, I will certainly cut 40 you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; 41
I will certainly kill you 42 in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; 43
for 44 my judgment 45 will come forth like the light of the dawn. 46
8:1 Sound the alarm! 47
An eagle 48 looms over the temple of the Lord!
For they have broken their covenant with me, 49
and have rebelled against my law.
1 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.
2 tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).
3 tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.
4 tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.
5 tn Heb “hear.”
6 tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.
7 sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.
8 sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.
9 tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”
10 tn Heb “strong, resolute.”
11 tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.
12 tn Heb “of their faces.”
13 tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”
14 sn See note on “wind” in 2:2.
15 tc This translation accepts the emendation suggested in BHS of בְּרוּם (bÿrum) for בָּרוּךְ (barukh). The letters mem (מ) and kaph (כ) were easily confused in the old script while בָּרוּךְ (“blessed be”) both implies a quotation which is out of place here and also does not fit the later phrase, “from its place,” which requires a verb of motion.
16 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.
17 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.
18 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.
19 tn Or “canal.”
20 sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.
21 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
22 sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.
23 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.”
24 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).
25 tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.
26 tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.
27 tn Heb “the righteous man.”
28 tn Heb “set your face toward.” This expression occurs as well in Ezek 6:2; 13:17.
29 tn Or “the way toward the south,” or “the way toward Teman.” Teman is in the south and may be a location or the direction.
30 tn Or “toward Darom.” Darom may mean the south or a region just north of southern city of Beer Sheba. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:417-18.
31 tn The Hebrew term can also mean “forest,” but a meaning of uncultivated wasteland fits the Negev region far better. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:418.
32 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
33 tn Fire also appears as a form of judgment in Ezek 15:4-7; 19:12, 14.
34 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
35 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
36 tn Heb “set your face toward.”
37 tn Heb “the sons of Ammon.” Ammon was located to the east of Israel.
38 tn Heb “declare to my people their rebellion.”
39 tn Heb “and to the house of Jacob their sin.” The verb “declare” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
40 tn The two suffix conjugation verbs חָצַבְתִּי (khatsavti, Qal perfect 1st person common singular from חָצַב, khatsav, “to cut into pieces”) and הֲרַגְתִּים (haragtim, Qal perfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from הָרַג, harag, “to kill”) are used in reference to future-time events. These are examples of the so-called “prophetic perfect” which emphasizes the certainty of the future event (e.g., Num 24:17; Josh 10:19; Isa 8:23; 9:1). For this function of the perfect, see IBHS 480-81 §30.1d. Most English versions, however, render these as past tenses.
41 tn Heb “by the prophets” (so KJV, NRSV). The prophets are pictured as the executioners of Israel and Judah because they announced their imminent destruction. The prophetic word was endowed with the power of fulfillment.
42 tn Heb “them.” The shift from the 2nd person masculine singular referents (“your” and “you”) in 6:4-5 to the 3rd person masculine plural referent (“them”) is an example of enallage, a poetic device used for emphasis.
43 tn Heb “with the words of my mouth” (so NIV); TEV “with my message of judgment and destruction.”
44 tn The disjunctive vav prefixed to the noun (וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, umishpatekha) has an explanatory function.
45 tc The MT reads וּמִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ אוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpatekha ’or yetse’, “and your judgments [are] a light [which] goes forth”) which is enigmatic and syntactically awkward (cf. KJV, NASB). The LXX reads καὶ τὸ κρίμα μου ὡς φώς (kai to krima mou {ws fos, “my judgment goes forth like light”) which reflects וּמִשְׁפָּטִי כָאוֹר יֵצֵא (umishpati kha’or yetse’, “my judgment goes forth like the light”) and posits only a simple misdivision of words. This is reflected in the Syriac Peshitta and Aramaic Targum and is followed by the present translation (so also NCV, NRSV). See D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:238.
46 tn The noun אוֹר (’or, “light”) is used here in reference to the morning light or dawn (e.g., Judg 16:2; 19:26; 1 Sam 14:36; 25:34, 36; 2 Sam 17:22; 23:4; 2 Kgs 7:9; Neh 8:3; Job 24:14; Prov 4:18; Mic 2:1; cf. CEV, NLT) rather than lightning (cf. NIV). This continues the early morning imagery used throughout 6:2-5.
47 tn Heb “A horn unto your gums!”; NAB “A trumpet to your lips!”
48 tn Or perhaps “A vulture.” Some identify the species indicated by the Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) as the griffon vulture (cf. NEB, NRSV).
49 tn Heb “my covenant” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); TEV “the covenant I made with them.”