4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days 1 – I have assigned one day for each year.
8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth of the month, 2 as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting in front of me, the hand 3 of the sovereign Lord seized me. 4
8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! 5
48:8 “Next to the border of Judah from the east side to the west will be the allotment you must set apart. It is to be eight and a quarter miles 8 wide, and the same length as one of the tribal portions, from the east side to the west; the sanctuary will be in the middle of it.
1 sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”
2 tc The LXX reads “In the sixth year, in the fifth month, on the fifth of the month.”
3 tn Or “power.”
4 tn Heb “fell upon me there,” that is, God’s influence came over him.
3 tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”
4 tn Heb “I will place them on it, that is, on the stick of Judah.”
5 sn The reunification of Israel and Judah is envisioned as well in Ezek 33:23, 29; Jer 3:18; 23:5-6; Hos 1:11; Amos 9:11.
5 tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers).