106:12 They believed his promises; 1
they sang praises to him.
106:13 They quickly forgot what he had done; 2
they did not wait for his instructions. 3
29:13 The sovereign master 6 says,
“These people say they are loyal to me; 7
they say wonderful things about me, 8
but they are not really loyal to me. 9
Their worship consists of
nothing but man-made ritual. 10
11:12 (12:1) 17 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies;
the house of Israel has surrounded me 18 with deceit.
But Judah still roams about with 19 God;
he remains faithful to the Holy One.
1 tn Heb “his words.”
2 tn Heb “his works.”
3 tn Heb “his counsel.”
4 tn Heb “the
5 tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
6 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
7 tn Heb “Because these people draw near to me with their mouth.”
8 tn Heb “and with their lips they honor me.”
9 tn Heb “but their heart is far from me.” The heart is viewed here as the seat of the will, from which genuine loyalty derives.
10 tn Heb “their fear of me is a commandment of men that has been taught.”
11 tn Heb “as people come.” Apparently this is an idiom indicating that they come in crowds. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:264.
12 tn The word “as” is supplied in the translation.
13 tn Heb “do.”
14 tn Heb “They do lust with their mouths.”
15 tn Heb “goes after.”
16 tn The present translation understands the term often used for “unjust gain” in a wider sense, following M. Greenberg, who also notes that the LXX uses a term which can describe either sexual or ritual pollution. See M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:687.
17 sn Beginning with 11:12, the verse numbers through 12:14 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 11:12 ET = 12:1 HT, 12:1 ET = 12:2 HT, etc., through 12:14 ET = 12:15 HT. From 13:1 to 13:16 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
18 tn The phrase “has surrounded me” is not repeated in the Hebrew text here, but is implied by the parallelism in the preceding line. It is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons, smoothness, and readability.
19 tn The verb רוּד (rud, “to roam about freely”) is used in a concrete sense to refer to someone wandering restlessly and roaming back and forth (BDB 923 s.v. רוּד; Judg 11:37). Here, it is used figuratively, possibly with positive connotations, as indicated by the preposition עִם (’im, “with”), to indicate accompaniment: “but Judah still goes about with God” (HALOT 1194 s.v. רוד). Some English versions render it positively: “Judah still walks with God” (RSV, NRSV); “Judah is restive under God” (REB); “but Judah stands firm with God” (NJPS); “but Judah yet ruleth with God” (KJV, ASV). Other English versions adopt the negative connotation “to wander restlessly” and nuance עִם in an adversative sense (“against”): “Judah is still rebellious against God” (NAB), “Judah is unruly against God” (NIV), and “the people of Judah are still rebelling against me” (TEV).