7:10 “Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone out! The staff has budded, pride has blossomed!
7:1 The word of the Lord came to me:
11:1 A wind 1 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 2 11:2 The Lord 3 said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 11:3 They say, 4 ‘The time is not near to build houses; 5 the city 6 is a cooking pot 7 and we are the meat in it.’ 11:4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came 8 upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, 9 O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. 10 11:6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 11:7 Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped 11 in the midst of the city 12 are the meat, and this city 13 is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. 14 11:8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the sovereign Lord. 11:9 ‘But I will take you out of the city. 15 And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 11:10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not 16 be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 11:12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”
11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!” 17
11:14 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 11:15 “Son of man, your brothers, 18 your relatives, 19 and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem 20 have said, ‘They have gone 21 far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
11:16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little 22 sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
11:18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; 23 I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies 24 and I will give them tender hearts, 25 11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 26 11:21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, 27 says the sovereign Lord.”
11:22 Then the cherubim spread 28 their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 11:23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped 29 over the mountain east of it. 11:24 Then a wind 30 lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, 31 in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 11:25 So I told the exiles everything 32 the Lord had shown me.
12:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:2 “Son of man, you are living in the midst of a rebellious house. 33 They have eyes to see, but do not see, and ears to hear, but do not hear, 34 because they are a rebellious house.
12:3 “Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, 35 although they are a rebellious house. 12:4 Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile. 12:5 While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. 12:6 While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. 36 You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground 37 because I have made you an object lesson 38 to the house of Israel.”
12:7 So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage 39 on my shoulder while they watched.
12:8 The word of the Lord came to me in the morning: 12:9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ 12:10 Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem, 40 and all the house of Israel within it.’ 41 12:11 Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’
12:12 “The prince 42 who is among them will raise his belongings 43 onto his shoulder in darkness, and will go out. He 44 will dig a hole in the wall to leave through. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the land with his eyes. 12:13 But I will throw my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans 45 (but he will not see it), 46 and there he will die. 47 12:14 All his retinue – his attendants and his troops – I will scatter to every wind; I will unleash a sword behind them.
12:15 “Then they will know that I am the Lord when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them among foreign countries. 12:16 But I will let a small number of them survive the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they can confess all their abominable practices to the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”
12:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:18 “Son of man, eat your bread with trembling, 48 and drink your water with anxious shaking. 12:19 Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says about the inhabitants of Jerusalem and of the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in fright, for their land will be stripped bare of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it. 12:20 The inhabited towns will be left in ruins and the land will be devastated. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
12:21 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel, ‘The days pass slowly, and every vision fails’? 12:23 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: I hereby end this proverb; they will not recite it in Israel any longer.’ But say to them, ‘The days are at hand when every vision will be fulfilled. 49 12:24 For there will no longer be any false visions or flattering omens amidst the house of Israel. 12:25 For I, the Lord, will speak. Whatever word I speak will be accomplished. It will not be delayed any longer. Indeed in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and accomplish it, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
12:26 The word of the Lord came to me: 12:27 “Take note, son of man, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for distant days; he is prophesying about the far future.’ 12:28 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: None of my words will be delayed any longer! The word I speak will come to pass, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
1 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
2 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
1 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
1 tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.
2 sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).
3 tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.
4 sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.
1 tn Heb “fell.”
2 tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).
3 tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”
1 tn Heb “placed.”
2 tn Heb “in its midst.”
3 tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.
4 tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
1 tn Heb “its midst.”
1 tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.
1 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
1 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for empahsis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
2 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (gÿ’ullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (aleph) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
3 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
4 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
1 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
1 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
2 tn Heb “their flesh.”
3 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
1 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
1 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
1 tn Heb “lifted.”
1 tn Heb “stood.”
1 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
2 tn Heb “to Chaldea.”
1 tn Heb “all the words of.”
1 sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).
2 sn This verse is very similar to Isa 6:9-10.
1 tn Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.
1 tn Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.
2 tn Or “land” (ASV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
3 sn See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.
1 tn The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.
1 tc The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The Targum, which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The LXX reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”).
2 tc The MT reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.
1 sn The prince is a reference to Zedekiah.
2 tn The words “his belongings” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.
3 tc The MT reads “they”; the LXX and Syriac read “he.”
1 tn Or “Babylonians” (NCV, NLT).
2 sn He will not see it. This prediction was fulfilled in 2 Kgs 25:7 and Jer 52:11, which recount how Zedekiah was blinded before being deported to Babylon.
3 sn There he will die. This was fulfilled when King Zedekiah died in exile (Jer 52:11).
1 tn The Hebrew term normally refers to an earthquake (see 1 Kgs 19:11; Amos 1:1).
1 tn Heb “the days draw near and the word of every vision (draws near).”