6:12 Their houses will be turned over to others
as will their fields and their wives.
For I will unleash my power 1
against those who live in this land,”
says the Lord.
3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle 7 before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he 8 does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”
33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 15 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ 16 and you do not warn 17 the wicked about his behavior, 18 the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 19 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, 20 and he refuses to change, 21 he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.
20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging 27 them and saying farewell, 28 he left to go to Macedonia. 29
1 tn Heb “I will reach out my hand.” This figure involves both comparing God to a person (anthropomorphism) and substitution (metonymy) where hand is put for the actions or exertions of the hand. A common use of “hand” is for the exertion of power or strength (cf. BDB 290 s.v. יָד 2 and 289-90 s.v. יָד 1.e(2); cf. Deut 34:12; Ps 78:42; Jer 16:21).
2 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
3 sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.
4 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”
5 tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).
6 tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.
7 tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.
8 tn Heb “the righteous man.”
9 tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).
10 tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).
11 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
12 tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”
13 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
14 tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”
15 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
16 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
17 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
18 tn Heb “way.”
19 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
20 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
21 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
22 tn Or “did not avoid.” BDAG 1041 s.v. ὑποστέλλω 2.b has “shrink from, avoid implying fear…οὐ γὰρ ὑπεστειλάμην τοῦ μὴ ἀναγγεῖλαι I did not shrink from proclaiming Ac 20:27”; L&N 13.160 has “to hold oneself back from doing something, with the implication of some fearful concern – ‘to hold back from, to shrink from, to avoid’…‘for I have not held back from announcing to you the whole purpose of God’ Ac 20:27.”
23 tn Or “proclaiming,” “declaring.”
24 tn Or “plan.”
25 tn Or “be watchful.”
26 tn Or “admonishing.”
27 tn Or “exhorting.”
28 tn Or “and taking leave of them.”
29 sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.
30 tn Or “admonishing,” or “warning.” BDAG 679 s.v. νουθετέω states, “to counsel about avoidance or cessation of an improper course of conduct,, admonish, warn, instruct.” After the participle νουθετοῦντες (nouqetounte", “instructing”) the words πάντα ἄνθρωπον (panta anqrwpon, “all men”) occur in the Greek text, but since the same phrase appears again after διδάσκοντες (didaskontes) it was omitted in translation to avoid redundancy in English.
31 tn The two participles “instructing” (νουθετοῦντες, nouqetounte") and “teaching” (διδάσκοντες, didaskonte") are translated as participles of means (“by”) related to the finite verb “we proclaim” (καταγγέλλομεν, katangellomen).
32 tn Here ἄνθρωπον (anqrwpon) is twice translated as a generic (“people” and “person”) since both men and women are clearly intended in this context.
33 tn Since Paul’s focus is on the present experience of the Colossians, “mature” is a better translation of τέλειον (teleion) than “perfect,” since the latter implies a future, eschatological focus.