17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city 6 of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help 7 him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note 8 – he gave his promise 9 and did all these things – he will not escape!
17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him 10 for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me. 17:21 All the choice men 11 among his troops will die 12 by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!
21:25 “‘As for you, profane and wicked prince of Israel, 13
whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
21:26 this is what the sovereign Lord says:
Tear off the turban, 14
take off the crown!
Things must change! 15
Exalt the lowly,
bring down the proud! 16
21:27 A total ruin I will make it! 17
It will come to an end
when the one arrives to whom I have assigned judgment.’ 18
24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem 21 or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. 22
1 tn Heb “and by their judgments.”
2 tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).
3 tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”
4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
5 tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “place.”
7 tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”
8 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.
9 sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).
10 tn Heb “place it on his head.”
11 tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).
12 tn Heb “fall.”
13 tn This probably refers to King Zedekiah.
14 tn Elsewhere in the Bible the turban is worn by priests (Exod 28:4, 37, 39; 29:6; 39:28, 31; Lev 8:9; 16:4), but here a royal crown is in view.
15 tn Heb “This not this.”
16 tn Heb “the high one.”
17 tn Heb “A ruin, a ruin, a ruin I will make it.” The threefold repetition of the noun “ruin” is for emphasis and draws attention to the degree of ruin that would take place. See IBHS 233 §12.5a and GKC 431-32 §133.k. The pronominal suffix (translated “it”) on the verb “make” is feminine in Hebrew. The probable antecedent is the “turban/crown” (both nouns are feminine in form) mentioned in verse 26. The point is that the king’s royal splendor would be completely devastated as judgment overtook his realm and brought his reign to a violent end.
18 tn Heb “Also this, he was not, until the coming of the one to whom the judgment belongs and I have given it.” The Hebrew text, as it stands, is grammatically difficult. The pronoun “this” is feminine, while the following negated verb (“was not”) is masculine. Some emend the verb to a feminine form (see BHS). In this case the statement refers to the destiny of the king’s turban/crown (symbolizing his reign). See the previous note. The preposition translated “when” normally means “until,” but here it seems to refer to the period during which the preceding situation is realized, rather than its termination point. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:19, 21. The second part of the statement, though awkward, probably refers to the arrival of the Babylonian king, to whom the Lord had assigned the task of judgment (see 23:24). Or the verse may read “A total ruin I will make, even this. It will not be until the one comes to whom is (the task of) judgment and I have assigned it.”
19 tn Heb “And afterward.”
20 tn Heb “oracle of the
21 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
22 tn Heb “Like the bad figs which cannot be eaten from badness [= because they are so bad] surely [emphatic כִּי, ki] so I regard Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his officials and the remnant of Jerusalem which remains in this land and those who are living in Egypt.” The sentence has been restructured in the translation to conform more to contemporary English style. For the use of נָתַן (natan) meaning “regard” or “treat like” see BDB 681 s.v. נָתַן 3.c and compare the usage in Ezek 28:6;Gen 42:30.
23 tn Heb “Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4 for explanation.
24 tn Heb “will not escape from their hand.”