Isaiah 43:28

43:28 So I defiled your holy princes,

and handed Jacob over to destruction,

and subjected ¹  Israel to humiliating abuse.”

Lamentations 2:2

ב (Bet)

2:2 The Lord ²  destroyed ³  mercilessly ⁴ 

all the homes of Jacob’s descendants. ⁵ 

In his anger he tore down

the fortified cities ⁶  of Daughter Judah.

He knocked to the ground and humiliated

the kingdom and its rulers. ⁷ 

Ezekiel 24:21

24:21 Say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Realize I am about to desecrate my sanctuary – the source of your confident pride, ⁸  the object in which your eyes delight, ⁹  and your life’s passion. ¹⁰  Your very own sons and daughters whom you have left behind will die ¹¹  by the sword.

Ezekiel 28:16

28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ¹²  and you sinned;

so I defiled you and banished you ¹³  from the mountain of God –

the guardian cherub expelled you ¹⁴  from the midst of the stones of fire.

¹ tn The word “subjected” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the Lord”). See the tc note at 1:14.

³ tn Heb “has swallowed up.”

⁴ tc The Kethib is written לֹא חָמַל (lo’ khamal, “without mercy”), while the Qere reads וְלֹא חָמַל (vÿlo’ khamal, “and he has shown no mercy”). The Kethib is followed by the LXX, while the Qere is reflected in many Hebrew mss and the ancient versions (Syriac Peshitta, Aramaic Targum, Latin Vulgate). The English versions are split between the Kethib: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob without mercy” (cf. RSV, NRSV, NIV, TEV, NJPS) and the Qere: “The Lord swallowed all the dwellings of Jacob, and has shown no mercy” (cf. KJV, NASB, CEV). As these words occur between a verb and its object (חָמַל [khamal] is not otherwise followed by אֵת [’et, direct object marker]), an adverbial reading is the most natural, although interrupting the sentence with an insertion is possible. Compare 2:17, 21; 3:43. In contexts of harming, to show mercy often means to spare from harm.

⁵ tn Heb “all the dwellings of Jacob.”

⁶ tn Heb “the strongholds.”

⁷ tn Heb “He brought down to the ground in disgrace the kingdom and its princes.” The verbs חִלֵּל…הִגִּיע (higgi’…khillel, “he has brought down…he has profaned”) function as a verbal hendiadys, as the absence of the conjunction ו (vav) suggests. The first verb retains its full verbal force, while the second functions adverbially: “he has brought down [direct object] in disgrace.”

⁸ tn Heb “the pride of your strength” means “your strong pride.”

⁹ sn Heb “the delight of your eyes.” Just as Ezekiel was deprived of his beloved wife (v. 16, the “desire” of his “eyes”) so the Lord would be forced to remove the object of his devotion, the temple, which symbolized his close relationship to his covenant people.

¹⁰ tn Heb “the object of compassion of your soul.” The accentuation in the traditional Hebrew text indicates that the descriptive phrases (“the source of your confident pride, the object in which your eyes delight, and your life’s passion”) modify the preceding “my sanctuary.”

¹¹ tn Heb “fall.”

¹² tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”

¹³ tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.