5:8 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, 1 and I will execute judgment 2 among you while the nations watch. 3
25:8 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Moab 8 and Seir say, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations.”
32:16 This is a lament; they will chant it.
The daughters of the nations will chant it.
They will chant it over Egypt and over all her hordes,
declares the sovereign Lord.”
35:10 “‘You said, “These two nations, these two lands 11 will be mine, and we will possess them,” 12 – although the Lord was there –
39:21 “I will display my majesty 14 among the nations. All the nations will witness the judgment I have executed, and the power I have exhibited 15 among them.
1 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.
2 tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”
3 tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”
4 tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”
5 tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”
6 tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.
7 tn Heb “drew my hand back.” This idiom also occurs in Lam 2:8 and Ps 74:11.
10 sn Moab was located immediately south of Ammon.
13 tc The MT reads לְשֵׁם (lÿshem, “for a name”), meaning perhaps a renowned planting (place). The translation takes this to be a metathesis of שָׁלֹם (shalom) as was read by the LXX.
14 tn Heb “those gathered” for famine.
16 sn The reference is to Israel and Judah.
17 tn Heb “it.”
19 tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”
22 tn Or “my glory.”
23 tn Heb “my hand which I have placed.”
25 tn Heb “there,” referring to the foreign nations to which they were exiled. The translation makes the referent clear.