5:31 The prophets prophesy lies.
The priests exercise power by their own authority. 1
And my people love to have it this way.
But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes! 2
23:11 Moreover, 3 the Lord says, 4
“Both the prophets and priests are godless.
I have even found them doing evil in my temple!
23:12 So the paths they follow will be dark and slippery.
They will stumble and fall headlong.
For I will bring disaster on them.
A day of reckoning is coming for them.” 5
The Lord affirms it! 6
23:13 The Lord says, 7 “I saw the prophets of Samaria 8
doing something that was disgusting. 9
They prophesied in the name of the god Baal
and led my people Israel astray. 10
23:14 But I see the prophets of Jerusalem 11
doing something just as shocking.
They are unfaithful to me
and continually prophesy lies. 12
So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil,
with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. 13
I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom,
and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. 14
23:15 So then I, the Lord who rules over all, 15
have something to say concerning the prophets of Jerusalem: 16
‘I will make these prophets eat the bitter food of suffering
and drink the poison water of judgment. 17
For the prophets of Jerusalem are the reason 18
that ungodliness 19 has spread throughout the land.’”
3:11 Her 24 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 25
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 26 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 27
Disaster will not overtake 28 us!”
3:4 Her prophets are proud; 29
they are deceitful men.
Her priests defile what is holy; 30
they break God’s laws. 31
4:1 While Peter and John 34 were speaking to the people, the priests and the commander 35 of the temple guard 36 and the Sadducees 37 came up 38 to them, 4:2 angry 39 because they were teaching the people and announcing 40 in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 4:3 So 41 they seized 42 them and put them in jail 43 until the next day (for it was already evening). 4:4 But many of those who had listened to 44 the message 45 believed, and the number of the men 46 came to about five thousand.
4:5 On the next day, 47 their rulers, elders, and experts in the law 48 came together 49 in Jerusalem. 50 4:6 Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and others who were members of the high priest’s family. 51
5:17 Now the high priest rose up, and all those with him (that is, the religious party of the Sadducees 52 ), 53 and they were filled with jealousy. 54
1 tn Heb “they shall rule at their hands.” Since the word “hand” can be used figuratively for authority or mean “side” and the pronoun “them” can refer to the priests themselves or the prophets, the following translations have also been suggested: “the priests rule under their [the prophets’] directions,” or “the priests rule in league with them [the prophets].” From the rest of the book it would appear that the prophets did not exercise authority over the priests nor did they exercise the same authority over the people that the priests did. Hence it probably mean “by their own hand/power/authority.”
2 tn Heb “But what will you do at its end?” The rhetorical question implies a negative answer: “Nothing!”
3 tn The particle כִּי (ki) which begins this verse is parallel to the one at the beginning of the preceding verse. However, the connection is too distant to render it “for.” “Moreover” is intended to draw the parallel. The words “the
4 tn Heb “Oracle of the
5 tn For the last two lines see 11:23 and the notes there.
6 tn Heb “Oracle of the
7 tn The words “The
8 map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.
9 tn According to BDB 1074 s.v. תִּפְלָּה this word means “unseemly, unsavory.” The related adjective is used in Job 6:6 of the tastelessness of something that is unseasoned.
10 tn Heb “by Baal.”
11 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
12 tn Or “they commit adultery and deal falsely.” The word “shocking” only occurs here and in 5:30 where it is found in the context of prophesying lies. This almost assures that the reference to “walking in lies” (Heb “in the lie”) is referring to false prophesy. Moreover the references to the prophets in 5:13 and in 14:13-15 are all in the context of false prophesy as are the following references in this chapter in 23:24, 26, 32 and in 28:15. This appears to be the theme of this section. This also makes it likely that the reference to adultery is not literal adultery, though two of the false prophets in Babylon were guilty of this (29:23). The reference to “encouraging those who do evil” that follows also makes more sense if they were preaching messages of comfort rather than messages of doom. The verbs here are infinitive absolutes in place of the finite verb, probably used to place greater emphasis on the action (cf. Hos 4:2 in a comparable judgment speech.)
13 tn Heb “So they strengthen the hands of those doing evil so that they do not turn back from their evil.” For the use of the figure “strengthen the hands” meaning “encourage” see Judg 9:24; Ezek 13:22 (and cf. BDB 304 s.v. חָזַק Piel.2). The vav consecutive on the front of the form gives the logical consequence equivalent to “so” in the translation.
14 tn Heb “All of them are to me like Sodom and its [Jerusalem’s] inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”
16 tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the
17 tn Heb “I will feed this people wormwood and make them drink poison water.” For these same words of judgment on another group see 9:15 (9:14 HT). “Wormwood” and “poison water” are not to be understood literally here but are symbolic of judgment and suffering. See, e.g., BDB 542 s.v. לַעֲנָה.
18 tn The compound preposition מֵאֵת (me’et) expresses source or origin (see BDB 86 s.v. אֵת 4.c). Context shows that the origin is in their false prophesying which encourages people in their evil behavior.
19 sn A word that derives from this same Hebrew word is used in v. 11 at the beginning of the
20 tn Heb “a conspiracy of her prophets is in her midst.” The LXX reads “whose princes” rather than “a conspiracy of prophets.” The prophets are mentioned later in the paragraph (v. 28). If one follows the LXX in verse 25, then five distinct groups are mentioned in vv. 25-29: princes, priests, officials, prophets, and the people of the land. For a defense of the Septuagintal reading, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:720, n. 4.
21 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
22 tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”
23 tn Heb “hide their eyes from.” The idiom means to disregard or ignore something or someone (see Lev 20:4; 1 Sam 12:3; Prov 28:27; Isa 1:15).
24 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
25 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
26 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
27 tn Heb “Is not the
28 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
29 sn Applied to prophets, the word פֹּחֲזִים (pokhazim, “proud”) probably refers to their audacity in passing off their own words as genuine prophecies from the
30 tn Or “defile the temple.”
31 tn Heb “they treat violently [the] law.”
32 tn Or “and the scribes.” See the note on the phrase “experts in the law” in 2:4.
33 tn Grk “crying out in the temple [courts] and saying.” The participle λέγοντας (legontas) is somewhat redundant here in contemporary English and has not been translated.
34 tn Grk “While they”; the referents (Peter and John) have been specified in the translation for clarity.
35 tn Or “captain.”
36 tn Grk “the official of the temple,” a title for the commander of the Jewish soldiers guarding the temple (thus the translation, “the commander of the temple guard”). See L&N 37.91.
37 sn The Sadducees controlled the official political structures of Judaism at this time, being the majority members of the Sanhedrin. They were known as extremely strict on law and order issues (Josephus, J. W. 2.8.2 [2.119], 2.8.14 [2.164-166]; Ant. 13.5.9 [13.171-173], 13.10.6 [13.293-298], 18.1.2 [18.11], 18.1.4 [18.16-17], 20.9.1 [20.199]; Life 2 [10-11]). See also Matt 3:7; 16:1-12; 22:23-34; Mark 12:18-27; Luke 20:27-38; Acts 5:17; 23:6-8.
38 tn Or “approached.” This verb often denotes a sudden appearing (BDAG 418 s.v. ἐφίστημι 1).
39 tn Or “greatly annoyed,” “provoked.”
40 tn Or “proclaiming.”
41 tn Grk “And” Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the logical sequence of events.
42 tn Or “they arrested”; Grk “they laid hands on.”
43 tn Or “prison,” “custody.”
44 tn Or “had heard.”
45 tn Or “word.”
46 tn In the historical setting it is likely that only men are referred to here. The Greek term ἀνήρ (anhr) usually refers to males or husbands rather than people in general. Thus to translate “of the people” would give a false impression of the number, since any women and children were apparently not included in the count.
47 tn Grk “It happened that on the next day.” The introductory phrase ἐγένετο (egeneto, “it happened that”), common in Luke (69 times) and Acts (54 times), is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated.
48 tn Or “and scribes.” The traditional rendering of γραμματεύς (grammateu") as “scribe” does not communicate much to the modern English reader, for whom the term might mean “professional copyist,” if it means anything at all. The people referred to here were recognized experts in the law of Moses and in traditional laws and regulations. Thus “expert in the law” comes closer to the meaning for the modern reader.
49 tn Or “law assembled,” “law met together.”
50 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
51 sn The high priest’s family. This family controlled the high priesthood as far back as
52 sn See the note on Sadducees in 4:1.
53 sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.
54 sn Filled with jealousy. In Acts, the term “jealousy” (ζήλος, zhlos) occurs only here and in Acts 13:45. It is a key term in Judaism for religiously motivated rage (1 Macc 2:24; 1QH 14:13-15; m. Sanhedrin 9:5). It was a zeal motivated by a desire to maintain the purity of the faith.