Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 28:15-68
Context28:15 “But if you ignore 1 the Lord your God and are not careful to keep all his commandments and statutes I am giving you today, then all these curses will come upon you in full force: 2 28:16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the field. 28:17 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed. 28:18 Your children 3 will be cursed, as well as the produce of your soil, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out. 4
28:20 “The Lord will send on you a curse, confusing you and opposing you 5 in everything you undertake 6 until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, in that you have forsaken me. 7 28:21 The Lord will plague you with deadly diseases 8 until he has completely removed you from the land you are about to possess. 28:22 He 9 will afflict you with weakness, 10 fever, inflammation, infection, 11 sword, 12 blight, and mildew; these will attack you until you perish. 28:23 The 13 sky 14 above your heads will be bronze and the earth beneath you iron. 28:24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; it will come down on you from the sky until you are destroyed.
28:25 “The Lord will allow you to be struck down before your enemies; you will attack them from one direction but flee from them in seven directions and will become an object of terror 15 to all the kingdoms of the earth. 28:26 Your carcasses will be food for every bird of the sky and wild animal of the earth, and there will be no one to chase them off. 28:27 The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, eczema, and scabies, all of which cannot be healed. 28:28 The Lord will also subject you to madness, blindness, and confusion of mind. 16 28:29 You will feel your way along at noon like the blind person does in darkness and you will not succeed in anything you do; 17 you will be constantly oppressed and continually robbed, with no one to save you. 28:30 You will be engaged to a woman and another man will rape 18 her. You will build a house but not live in it. You will plant a vineyard but not even begin to use it. 28:31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your very eyes but you will not eat of it. Your donkey will be stolen from you as you watch and will not be returned to you. Your flock of sheep will be given to your enemies and there will be no one to save you. 28:32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you look on in vain all day, and you will be powerless to do anything about it. 19 28:33 As for the produce of your land and all your labor, a people you do not know will consume it, and you will be nothing but oppressed and crushed for the rest of your lives. 28:34 You will go insane from seeing all this. 28:35 The Lord will afflict you in your knees and on your legs with painful, incurable boils – from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. 28:36 The Lord will force you and your king 20 whom you will appoint over you to go away to a people whom you and your ancestors have not known, and you will serve other gods of wood and stone there. 28:37 You will become an occasion of horror, a proverb, and an object of ridicule to all the peoples to whom the Lord will drive you.
28:38 “You will take much seed to the field but gather little harvest, because locusts will consume it. 28:39 You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will not drink wine or gather in grapes, because worms will eat them. 28:40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with olive oil, because the olives will drop off the trees while still unripe. 21 28:41 You will bear sons and daughters but not keep them, because they will be taken into captivity. 28:42 Whirring locusts 22 will take over every tree and all the produce of your soil. 28:43 The foreigners 23 who reside among you will become higher and higher over you and you will become lower and lower. 28:44 They will lend to you but you will not lend to them; they will become the head and you will become the tail!
28:45 All these curses will fall on you, pursuing and overtaking you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping his commandments and statutes that he has given 24 you. 28:46 These curses 25 will be a perpetual sign and wonder with reference to you and your descendants. 26
28:47 “Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have, 28:48 instead in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and poverty 27 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you. They 28 will place an iron yoke on your neck until they have destroyed you. 28:49 The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth 29 as the eagle flies, 30 a nation whose language you will not understand, 28:50 a nation of stern appearance that will have no regard for the elderly or pity for the young. 28:51 They 31 will devour the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your soil until you are destroyed. They will not leave you with any grain, new wine, olive oil, calves of your herds, 32 or lambs of your flocks 33 until they have destroyed you. 28:52 They will besiege all of your villages 34 until all of your high and fortified walls collapse – those in which you put your confidence throughout the land. They will besiege all your villages throughout the land the Lord your God has given you. 28:53 You will then eat your own offspring, 35 the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you, because of the severity of the siege 36 by which your enemies will constrict you. 28:54 The man among you who is by nature tender and sensitive will turn against his brother, his beloved wife, and his remaining children. 28:55 He will withhold from all of them his children’s flesh that he is eating (since there is nothing else left), because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict 37 you in your villages. 28:56 Likewise, the most 38 tender and delicate of your women, who would never think of putting even the sole of her foot on the ground because of her daintiness, 39 will turn against her beloved husband, her sons and daughters, 28:57 and will secretly eat her afterbirth 40 and her newborn children 41 (since she has nothing else), 42 because of the severity of the siege by which your enemy will constrict you in your villages.
28:58 “If you refuse to obey 43 all the words of this law, the things written in this scroll, and refuse to fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God, 28:59 then the Lord will increase your punishments and those of your descendants – great and long-lasting afflictions and severe, enduring illnesses. 28:60 He will infect you with all the diseases of Egypt 44 that you dreaded, and they will persistently afflict you. 45 28:61 Moreover, the Lord will bring upon you every kind of sickness and plague not mentioned in this scroll of commandments, 46 until you have perished. 28:62 There will be very few of you left, though at one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky, 47 because you will have disobeyed 48 the Lord your God. 28:63 This is what will happen: Just as the Lord delighted to do good for you and make you numerous, he 49 will take delight in destroying and decimating you. You will be uprooted from the land you are about to possess. 28:64 The Lord will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods that neither you nor your ancestors have known, gods of wood and stone. 28:65 Among those nations you will have no rest nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for there the Lord will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair. 28:66 Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next. 50 28:67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And in the evening you will say, ‘I wish it were morning!’ because of the things you will fear and the things you will see. 28:68 Then the Lord will make you return to Egypt by ship, over a route I said to you that you would never see again. There you will sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”
Deuteronomy 29:18-28
Context29:18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the Lord our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit. 51 29:19 When such a person 52 hears the words of this oath he secretly 53 blesses himself 54 and says, “I will have peace though I continue to walk with a stubborn spirit.” 55 This will destroy 56 the watered ground with the parched. 57 29:20 The Lord will be unwilling to forgive him, and his intense anger 58 will rage 59 against that man; all the curses 60 written in this scroll will fall upon him 61 and the Lord will obliterate his name from memory. 62 29:21 The Lord will single him out 63 for judgment 64 from all the tribes of Israel according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law. 29:22 The generation to come – your descendants who will rise up after you, as well as the foreigner who will come from distant places – will see 65 the afflictions of that land and the illnesses that the Lord has brought on it. 29:23 The whole land will be covered with brimstone, salt, and burning debris; it will not be planted nor will it sprout or produce grass. It will resemble the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord destroyed in his intense anger. 66 29:24 Then all the nations will ask, “Why has the Lord done all this to this land? What is this fierce, heated display of anger 67 all about?” 29:25 Then people will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 29:26 They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods they did not know and that he did not permit them to worship. 68 29:27 That is why the Lord’s anger erupted against this land, bringing on it all the curses 69 written in this scroll. 29:28 So the Lord has uprooted them from their land in anger, wrath, and great rage and has deported them to another land, as is clear today.”
Psalms 107:34
Context107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, 70
because of the sin of its inhabitants.
Ezekiel 16:1-63
Context16:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 16:2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem 71 with her abominable practices 16:3 and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; 72 you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 73 16:5 No eye took pity on you to do even one of these things for you to spare you; 74 you were thrown out into the open field 75 because you were detested on the day you were born.
16:6 “‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” 76 16:7 I made you plentiful like sprouts in a field; you grew tall and came of age so that you could wear jewelry. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, but you were still naked and bare.
16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing 77 that you had reached the age for love. 78 I spread my cloak 79 over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame 80 spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. 81
16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty 82 became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. 83 16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution 84 with them. 16:18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them. 16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.
16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them 85 as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough, 16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols. 86 16:22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.
16:23 “‘After all of your evil – “Woe! Woe to you!” declares the sovereign Lord – 16:24 you built yourself a chamber 87 and put up a pavilion 88 in every public square. 16:25 At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced 89 your beauty when you spread 90 your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity. 16:26 You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your sexually aroused neighbors, 91 multiplying your promiscuity and provoking me to anger. 16:27 So see here, I have stretched out my hand against you and cut off your rations. I have delivered you into the power of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed by your obscene conduct. 16:28 You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians because your sexual desires were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them and yet you were still not satisfied. 16:29 Then you multiplied your promiscuity to the land of merchants, Babylonia, 92 but you were not satisfied there either.
16:30 “‘How sick is your heart, declares the sovereign Lord, when you perform all of these acts, the deeds of a bold prostitute. 16:31 When you built your chamber at the head of every street and put up your pavilion in every public square, you were not like a prostitute, because you scoffed at payment. 93
16:32 “‘Adulterous wife, who prefers strangers instead of her own husband! 16:33 All prostitutes receive payment, 94 but instead you give gifts to every one of your lovers. You bribe them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors! 16:34 You were different from other prostitutes 95 because no one solicited you. When you gave payment and no payment was given to you, you became the opposite!
16:35 “‘Therefore O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 16:36 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because your lust 96 was poured out and your nakedness was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children you have given to them, 16:37 therefore, take note: I am about to gather all your lovers whom you enjoyed, both all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness. 97 16:38 I will punish you as an adulteress and murderer deserves. 98 I will avenge your bloody deeds with furious rage. 99 16:39 I will give you into their hands and they will destroy your chambers and tear down your pavilions. They will strip you of your clothing and take your beautiful jewelry and leave you naked and bare. 16:40 They will summon a mob who will stone you and hack you in pieces with their swords. 16:41 They will burn down your houses and execute judgments on you in front of many women. Thus I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer give gifts to your clients. 100 16:42 I will exhaust my rage on you, and then my fury will turn from you. I will calm down and no longer be angry.
16:43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth and have enraged me with all these deeds, I hereby repay you for what you have done, 101 declares the sovereign Lord. Have you not engaged in prostitution on top of all your other abominable practices?
16:44 “‘Observe – everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 16:46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north 102 of you with her daughters, and your younger sister, who lived south 103 of you, was Sodom 104 with her daughters. 16:47 Have you not copied their behavior 105 and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time 106 you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.
16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity 107 of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help 108 the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 16:51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. 109 You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. 110 Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.
16:53 “‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters (along with your fortunes among them), 16:54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in consoling them. 16:55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former status, Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former status, and you and your daughters will be restored to your former status. 16:56 In your days of majesty, 111 was not Sodom your sister a byword in your mouth, 16:57 before your evil was exposed? Now you have become an object of scorn to the daughters of Aram 112 and all those around her and to the daughters of the Philistines – those all around you who despise you. 16:58 You must bear your punishment for your obscene conduct and your abominable practices, declares the Lord.
16:59 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you according to what you have done when you despised your oath by breaking your covenant. 16:60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish a lasting 113 covenant with you. 16:61 Then you will remember your conduct, and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my covenant with you. 16:62 I will establish my covenant with you, and then you will know that I am the Lord. 16:63 Then you will remember, be ashamed, and remain silent 114 when I make atonement for all you have done, 115 declares the sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 22:1--23:49
Context22:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, 116 are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? 117 Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 22:3 Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), 118 and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity), 22:4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; 119 the end of your years has come. 120 Therefore I will make 121 you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 22:5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, 122 full of turmoil.
22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 123 22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt 124 within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow 125 within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. 126 Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; 127 they commit obscene acts among you. 128 22:10 They have sex with their father’s wife within you; 129 they violate women during their menstrual period within you. 130 22:11 One 131 commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates 132 his sister – his father’s daughter 133 – within you. 22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; 134 you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, 135 declares the sovereign Lord. 136
22:13 “‘See, I strike my hands together 137 at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed 138 they have done among you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, 139 or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? 140 I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. 141 22:16 You will be profaned within yourself 142 in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
22:17 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become slag to me. All of them are like bronze, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; 143 they are the worthless slag of silver. 22:19 Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘Because all of you 144 have become slag, look out! – I am about to gather you in the middle of Jerusalem. 145 22:20 As silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin are gathered in a furnace so that the fire can melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and in my rage. I will deposit you there 146 and melt you. 22:21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my fury, and you will be melted in it. 22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted in it, and you will know that I, the Lord, have poured out my anger on you.’”
22:23 The word of the Lord came to me: 22:24 “Son of man, say to her: ‘You are a land that receives no rain 147 or showers in the day of my anger.’ 148 22:25 Her princes 149 within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows 150 within it. 22:26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, 151 or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore 152 my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit. 22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. 153 They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. 154
22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one. 155 22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, 156 declares the sovereign Lord.”
23:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 23:2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother. 23:3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers 157 fondled their virgin nipples there. 23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah 158 the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters. 159 Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. 160 She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians 161 – warriors 162 23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired 163 – with all their idols. 23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her. 164 23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians 165 for whom she lusted. 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious 166 among women, and they executed judgments against her.
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, 167 but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister. 23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path. 23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, 168 23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians 169 whose native land is Chaldea. 23:16 When she saw them, 170 she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 171 23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. 172 They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she 173 became disgusted with them. 23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, 174 I 175 was disgusted with her, just as I 176 had been disgusted with her sister. 23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. 23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, 177 and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions. 23:21 This is how you assessed 178 the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled 179 your nipples and squeezed 180 your young breasts.
23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, 181 I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side: 23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, 182 Shoa, 183 and Koa, 184 and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and nobles, all of them riding on horses. 23:24 They will attack 185 you with weapons, 186 chariots, wagons, and with a huge army; 187 they will array themselves against you on every side with large shields, small shields, and helmets. I will assign them the task of judgment; 188 they will punish you according to their laws. 23:25 I will direct 189 my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in rage. They will cut off your nose and your ears, 190 and your survivors will die 191 by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your survivors will be consumed by fire. 23:26 They will strip your clothes off you and take away your beautiful jewelry. 23:27 So I will put an end to your obscene conduct and your prostitution which you have practiced in the land of Egypt. 192 You will not seek their help 193 or remember Egypt anymore.
23:28 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, 194 I am about to deliver you over to 195 those whom you hate, to those with whom you were disgusted. 23:29 They will treat you with hatred, take away all you have labored for, 196 and leave you naked and bare. Your nakedness will be exposed, just as when you engaged in prostitution and obscene conduct. 197 23:30 I will do these things to you 198 because you engaged in prostitution with the nations, polluting yourself with their idols. 23:31 You have followed the ways of your sister, so I will place her cup of judgment 199 in your hand. 23:32 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: “You will drink your sister’s deep and wide cup; 200 you will be scorned and derided, for it holds a great deal. 23:33 You will be overcome by 201 drunkenness and sorrow. The cup of your sister Samaria is a cup of horror and desolation. 23:34 You will drain it dry, 202 gnaw its pieces, 203 and tear out your breasts, 204 for I have spoken, declares the sovereign Lord.
23:35 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have forgotten me and completely disregarded me, 205 you must bear now the punishment 206 for your obscene conduct and prostitution.”
23:36 The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment 207 on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds! 23:37 For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, 208 they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. 209 23:38 Moreover, they have done this to me: In the very same day 210 they desecrated my sanctuary and profaned my Sabbaths. 23:39 On the same day they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came to my sanctuary to desecrate it. This is what they have done in the middle of my house.
23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. 211 For them you bathed, 212 painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 23:41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, 213 including all kinds of men; 214 even Sabeans 215 were brought from the desert. The sisters 216 put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 23:44 They had sex with her 217 as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women. 23:45 But upright men will punish them appropriately for their adultery and bloodshed, 218 because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
23:46 “For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Bring up an army 219 against them and subject them 220 to terror and plunder. 23:47 That army will pelt them with stones and slash them with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses. 221 23:48 I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct. 23:49 They will repay you for your obscene conduct, and you will be punished for idol worship. 222 Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.”
[28:15] 1 tn Heb “do not hear the voice of.”
[28:15] 2 tn Heb “and overtake you” (so NIV, NRSV); NAB, NLT “and overwhelm you.”
[28:18] 3 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).
[28:19] 4 sn See note on the similar expression in v. 6.
[28:20] 5 tn Heb “the curse, the confusion, and the rebuke” (NASB and NIV similar); NRSV “disaster, panic, and frustration.”
[28:20] 6 tn Heb “in all the stretching out of your hand.”
[28:20] 7 tc For the MT first person common singular suffix (“me”), the LXX reads either “Lord” (Lucian) or third person masculine singular suffix (“him”; various codices). The MT’s more difficult reading probably represents the original text.
[28:21] 8 tn Heb “will cause pestilence to cling to you.”
[28:22] 9 tn Heb “The
[28:22] 10 tn Or perhaps “consumption” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV). The term is from a verbal root that indicates a weakening of one’s physical strength (cf. NAB “wasting”; NIV, NLT “wasting disease”).
[28:22] 11 tn Heb “hot fever”; NIV “scorching heat.”
[28:22] 12 tn Or “drought” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[28:23] 13 tc The MT reads “Your.” The LXX reads “Heaven will be to you.”
[28:23] 14 tn Or “heavens” (also in the following verse). The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[28:25] 15 tc The meaningless MT reading זַעֲוָה (za’avah) is clearly a transposition of the more commonly attested Hebrew noun זְוָעָה (zÿva’ah, “terror”).
[28:28] 16 tn Heb “heart” (so KJV, NASB).
[28:29] 17 tn Heb “you will not cause your ways to prosper.”
[28:30] 18 tc For MT reading שָׁגַל (shagal, “ravish; violate”), the Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate presume the less violent שָׁכַב (shakhav, “lie with”). The unexpected counterpart to betrothal here favors the originality of the MT.
[28:32] 19 tn Heb “and there will be no power in your hand”; NCV “there will be nothing you can do.”
[28:36] 20 tc The LXX reads the plural “kings.”
[28:40] 21 tn Heb “your olives will drop off” (נָשַׁל, nashal), referring to the olives dropping off before they ripen.
[28:42] 22 tn The Hebrew term denotes some sort of buzzing or whirring insect; some have understood this to be a type of locust (KJV, NIV, CEV), but other insects have also been suggested: “buzzing insects” (NAB); “the cricket” (NASB); “the cicada” (NRSV).
[28:43] 23 tn Heb “the foreigner.” This is a collective singular and has therefore been translated as plural; this includes the pronouns in the following verse, which are also singular in the Hebrew text.
[28:45] 24 tn Heb “commanded”; NAB, NIV, TEV “he gave you.”
[28:46] 25 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the curses mentioned previously) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[28:46] 26 tn Heb “seed” (so KJV, ASV).
[28:48] 27 tn Heb “lack of everything.”
[28:48] 28 tn Heb “he” (also later in this verse). The pronoun is a collective singular referring to the enemies (cf. CEV, NLT). Many translations understand the singular pronoun to refer to the
[28:49] 29 tn Heb “from the end of the earth.”
[28:49] 30 tn Some translations understand this to mean “like an eagle swoops down” (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT), comparing the swift attack of an eagle to the attack of the Israelites’ enemies.
[28:51] 31 tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).
[28:51] 32 tn Heb “increase of herds.”
[28:51] 33 tn Heb “growth of flocks.”
[28:52] 34 tn Heb “gates,” also in vv. 55, 57.
[28:53] 35 tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NRSV); NASB “the offspring of your own body.”
[28:53] 36 tn Heb “siege and stress.”
[28:55] 37 tn Heb “besiege,” redundant with the noun “siege.”
[28:56] 38 tc The LXX adds σφόδρα (sfodra, “very”) to bring the description into line with v. 54.
[28:56] 39 tn Heb “delicateness and tenderness.”
[28:57] 40 tn Heb includes “that which comes out from between her feet.”
[28:57] 41 tn Heb “her sons that she will bear.”
[28:57] 42 tn Heb includes “in her need for everything.”
[28:58] 43 tn Heb “If you are not careful to do.”
[28:60] 44 sn These are the plagues the
[28:60] 45 tn Heb “will cling to you” (so NIV); NLT “will claim you.”
[28:61] 46 tn The Hebrew term תּוֹרָה (torah) can refer either (1) to the whole Pentateuch or, more likely, (2) to the book of Deuteronomy or even (3) only to this curse section of the covenant text. “Scroll” better reflects the actual document, since “book” conveys the notion of a bound book with pages to the modern English reader. Cf. KJV, NASB, NRSV “the book of this law”; NIV, NLT “this Book of the Law”; TEV “this book of God’s laws and teachings.”
[28:62] 47 tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.
[28:62] 48 tn Heb “have not listened to the voice of.”
[28:63] 49 tn Heb “the
[28:66] 50 tn Heb “you will not be confident in your life.” The phrase “from one day to the next” is implied by the following verse.
[29:18] 51 tn Heb “yielding fruit poisonous and wormwood.” The Hebrew noun לַעֲנָה (la’anah) literally means “wormwood” (so KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB), but is used figuratively for anything extremely bitter, thus here “fruit poisonous and bitter.”
[29:19] 52 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the subject of the warning in v. 18) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[29:19] 53 tn Heb “in his heart.”
[29:19] 54 tn Or “invokes a blessing on himself.” A formalized word of blessing is in view, the content of which appears later in the verse.
[29:19] 56 tn Heb “thus destroying.” For stylistic reasons the translation begins a new sentence here.
[29:19] 57 tn Heb “the watered with the parched.” The word “ground” is implied. The exact meaning of the phrase is uncertain although it appears to be figurative. This appears to be a proverbial observation employing a figure of speech (a merism) suggesting totality. That is, the Israelite who violates the letter and even spirit of the covenant will harm not only himself but everything he touches – “the watered and the parched.” Cf. CEV “you will cause the rest of Israel to be punished along with you.”
[29:20] 58 tn Heb “the wrath of the
[29:20] 59 tn Heb “smoke,” or “smolder.”
[29:20] 60 tn Heb “the entire oath.”
[29:20] 61 tn Or “will lie in wait against him.”
[29:20] 62 tn Heb “blot out his name from under the sky.”
[29:21] 63 tn Heb “set him apart.”
[29:21] 64 tn Heb “for evil”; NAB “for doom”; NASB “for adversity”; NIV “for disaster”; NRSV “for calamity.”
[29:22] 65 tn Heb “will say and see.” One expects a quotation to appear, but it seems to be omitted. To avoid confusion in the translation, the verb “will say” is omitted.
[29:23] 66 tn Heb “the anger and the wrath.” This construction is a hendiadys intended to intensify the emotion.
[29:24] 67 tn Heb “this great burning of anger”; KJV “the heat of this great anger.”
[29:26] 68 tn Heb “did not assign to them”; NASB, NRSV “had not allotted to them.”
[29:27] 69 tn Heb “the entire curse.”
[107:34] 70 tn Heb “a salty land.”
[16:2] 71 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[16:4] 72 tn Heb “in water you were not washed for cleansing” or “with water you were not washed smooth” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:473, n. 57, for a discussion of possible meanings of this hapax legomenon).
[16:4] 73 sn Arab midwives still cut the umbilical cords of infants and then proceed to apply salt and oil to their bodies.
[16:5] 74 sn These verbs, “pity” and “spare,” echo the judgment oracles in 5:11; 7:4, 9; 8:18; 9:5, 10.
[16:5] 75 sn A similar concept is found in Deut 32:10.
[16:6] 76 tc The translation reflects the Hebrew text, which repeats the statement, perhaps for emphasis. However, a few medieval Hebrew manuscripts, the Old Greek, and the Syriac do not include the repetition. The statement could have been accidentally repeated or the second occurrence could have been accidentally omitted. Based on the available evidence it is difficult to know which is more likely.
[16:8] 77 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.
[16:8] 78 tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.
[16:8] 79 tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).
[16:14] 81 sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.
[16:15] 82 tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[16:16] 83 tc The text as written in the MT is incomprehensible (“not coming [plural] and he will not”). Driver has suggested a copying error of similar-sounding words, specifically לֹא (lo’) for לוֹ (lo). The feminine participle בָאוֹת (va’ot) has also been read as the feminine perfect בָאת (va’t). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:228, n. 15.b, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:486, n. 137.
[16:17] 84 tn Or perhaps “and worshiped them,” if the word “prostitution” is understood in a figurative rather than a literal sense (cf. CEV, NLT).
[16:20] 85 sn The sacrifice of children was prohibited in Lev 18:21; 20:2; Deut 12:31; 18:10.
[16:21] 86 tn Heb “and you gave them, by passing them through to them.” Some believe this alludes to the pagan practice of making children pass through the fire.
[16:24] 87 tn The Hebrew גֶּב (gev) may represent more than one word, each rare in the Old Testament. It may refer to a “mound” or to “rafters.” The LXX, Syriac, and Vulgate interpret this as a brothel.
[16:24] 88 tn Or “lofty place” (NRSV). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:229, and B. Lang, Frau Weisheit, 137.
[16:25] 89 tn Heb “treated as if abominable,” i.e., repudiated.
[16:25] 90 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew root is found in Prov 13:3 in reference to the talkative person who habitually “opens wide” his lips.
[16:26] 91 tn Heb “your neighbors, large of flesh.” The word “flesh” is used here of the genitals. It may simply refer to the size of their genitals in general, or, as the translation suggests, depicts them as sexually aroused.
[16:29] 92 tn Heb “Chaldea.” The name of the tribal group ruling Babylon (“Chaldeans”) and the territory from which they originated (“Chaldea”) is used as metonymy for the whole empire of Babylon.
[16:31] 93 tn The Hebrew term, which also occurs in vv. 34 and 41 of this chapter, always refers to the payment of a prostitute (Deut 23:19; Isa 23:17; Hos 9:1; Mic 1:7).
[16:33] 94 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[16:34] 95 tn Heb “With you it was opposite of women in your prostitution.”
[16:36] 96 tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.
[16:37] 97 sn Harlots suffered degradation when their nakedness was exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).
[16:38] 98 tn Heb “and I will judge you (with) the judgments of adulteresses and of those who shed blood.”
[16:38] 99 tn Heb “and I will give you the blood of rage and zeal.”
[16:41] 100 tn The words “to your clients” are not in the Hebrew text but are implied.
[16:43] 101 tn Heb “your way on (your) head I have placed.”
[16:46] 104 sn Sodom was the epitome of evil (Deut 29:23; 32:32; Isa 1:9-10; 3:9; Jer 23:14; Lam 4:6; Matt 10:15; 11:23-24; Jude 7).
[16:47] 105 tn Heb “walked in their ways.”
[16:47] 106 tn The Hebrew expression has a temporal meaning as illustrated by the use of the phrase in 2 Chr 12:7.
[16:49] 108 tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”
[16:51] 109 tn Or “you have multiplied your abominable deeds beyond them.”
[16:52] 110 tn Heb “because you have interceded for your sisters with your sins.”
[16:57] 112 tc So MT, LXX, and Vulgate; many Hebrew
[16:63] 114 tn Heb “and your mouth will not be open any longer.”
[16:63] 115 tn Heb “when I make atonement for you for all which you have done.”
[22:2] 116 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.
[22:2] 117 tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.
[22:3] 118 tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).
[22:4] 119 tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refers to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.
[22:4] 120 tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29) some prefer to emend the text and read “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.
[22:4] 121 tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.
[22:5] 122 tn Heb “unclean of name.”
[22:6] 123 tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”
[22:7] 124 tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”
[22:7] 125 tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.
[22:9] 126 tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”
[22:9] 127 tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.
[22:9] 128 sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.
[22:10] 129 tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).
[22:10] 130 tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).
[22:11] 132 tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.
[22:11] 133 sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.
[22:12] 134 tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.
[22:12] 135 sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.
[22:12] 136 tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.
[22:13] 137 sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).
[22:13] 138 tn Heb “the blood which was in you.”
[22:14] 139 tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.
[22:14] 140 tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”
[22:15] 141 sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.
[22:16] 142 tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58.
[22:18] 143 tn For similar imagery, see Isa 1:21-26; Jer 6:27-30.
[22:19] 144 tn The Hebrew second person pronoun is masculine plural here and in vv. 19b-21, indicating that the people are being addressed.
[22:19] 145 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[22:20] 146 tn Heb “I will put.” No object is supplied in the Hebrew, prompting many to emend the text to “I will blow.” See BHS and verse 21.
[22:24] 147 tc The MT reads “that is not cleansed”; the LXX reads “that is not drenched,” which assumes a different vowel pointing as well as the loss of a מ (mem) due to haplography. In light of the following reference to showers, the reading of the LXX certainly fits the context well. For a defense of the emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:32. Yet the MT is not an unreasonable reading since uncleanness in the land also fits the context, and a poetic connection between rain and the land being uncleansed may be feasible since washing with water is elsewhere associated with cleansing (Num 8:7; 31:23; Ps 51:7).
[22:24] 148 tn Heb “in a day of anger.”
[22:25] 149 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.
[22:25] 150 tn Heb “her widows they have multiplied.” The statement alludes to their murderous acts.
[22:26] 151 tn Or “between the consecrated and the common.”
[22:26] 152 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).
[22:28] 153 tn Heb “her prophets coat for themselves with whitewash.” The expression may be based on Ezek 13:10-15.
[22:29] 154 tn Heb “and the foreigner they have oppressed without justice.”
[22:30] 155 tn Heb “I did not find.”
[22:31] 156 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
[23:3] 157 tn In the Hebrew text the subject is left unstated and must be supplied from the context.
[23:4] 158 tn The names Oholah and Oholibah are both derived from the word meaning “tent.” The meaning of Oholah is “her tent,” while Oholibah means “my tent is in her.”
[23:4] 159 sn In this allegory the Lord is depicted as being the husband of two wives. The OT law prohibited a man from marrying sisters (Lev 18:18), but the practice is attested in the OT (cf. Jacob). The metaphor is utilized here for illustrative purposes and does not mean that the Lord condoned such a practice or bigamy in general.
[23:5] 160 tn Heb “while she was under me.” The expression indicates that Oholah is viewed as the Lord’s wife. See Num 5:19-20, 29.
[23:5] 162 tn The term apparently refers to Assyrian military officers; it is better construed with the description that follows. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:738.
[23:7] 163 tn Heb “lusted after.”
[23:8] 164 tn Heb “and poured out their harlotry on her.”
[23:9] 165 tn Heb “I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria.”
[23:11] 167 tn The word “this” is not in the original text.
[23:14] 168 tn The only other occurrence of the Hebrew term is in Jer 22:14.
[23:15] 169 tn Heb “the sons of Babel.”
[23:16] 170 tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”
[23:16] 171 sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).
[23:17] 172 tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”
[23:17] 173 tn Heb “her soul.”
[23:18] 174 tn Heb “She exposed her harlotry and she exposed her nakedness.”
[23:20] 177 tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?) whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is extremely problematic here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” but this still fails to explain how the pronoun relates to the noun. It is more likely that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of their genitals.
[23:21] 178 tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.
[23:21] 179 tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
[23:21] 180 tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.
[23:22] 181 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[23:23] 182 sn Pekod was the name of an Aramean tribe (known as Puqudu in Mesopotamian texts) that lived in the region of the Tigris River.
[23:23] 183 sn Shoa was the name of a nomadic people (the Sutu) that lived in Mesopotamia.
[23:23] 184 sn Koa was the name of another Mesopotamian people group (the Qutu).
[23:24] 185 tn Heb “come against.”
[23:24] 186 tn This is the only occurrence of this term in the OT. The precise meaning is uncertain.
[23:24] 187 tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”
[23:24] 188 tn Heb “I will place before them judgment.”
[23:25] 190 tn Heb “they will remove.”
[23:27] 192 tn Heb “I will cause your obscene conduct to cease from you and your harlotry from the land of Egypt.”
[23:27] 193 tn Heb “lift your eyes to them.”
[23:28] 194 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[23:28] 195 tn Heb “I am giving you into the hand of.”
[23:29] 196 tn The Hebrew term means “labor,” but by extension it can also refer to that for which one works.
[23:29] 197 tn Heb “The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, and your obscene conduct and your harlotry.”
[23:30] 198 tn The infinitive absolute continues the sequence begun in v. 28: “Look here, I am about to deliver you.” See Joüon 2:430 §123.w.
[23:31] 199 tn Heb “her cup.” A cup of intoxicating strong drink is used, here and elsewhere, as a metaphor for judgment because both leave one confused and reeling. (See Jer 25:15, 17, 28; Hab 2:16.) The cup of wrath is a theme also found in the NT (Mark 14:36).
[23:32] 200 sn The image of a deep and wide cup suggests the degree of punishment; it will be extensive and leave the victim helpless.
[23:33] 201 tn Heb “filled with.”
[23:34] 202 tn Heb “You will drink it and drain (it).”
[23:34] 203 tn D. I. Block compares this to the idiom of “licking the plate” (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:754, n. 137). The text is difficult as the word translated “gnaw” is rare. The noun is used of the shattered pieces of pottery and so could envision a broken cup. But the Piel verb form is used in only one other place (Num 24:8), where it is a denominative from the noun “bone” and seems to mean to “break (bones).” Why it would be collocated with “sherds” is not clear. For this reason some emend the phrase to read “consume its dregs” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 2:44) or emend the verb to read “swallow,” as if the intoxicated Oholibah breaks the cup and then eats the very sherds in an effort to get every last drop of the beverage that dampens them.
[23:34] 204 sn The severe action is more extreme than beating the breasts in anguish (Isa 32:12; Nah 2:7). It is also ironic for these are the very breasts she so blatantly offered to her lovers (vv. 3, 21).
[23:35] 205 tn Heb “and you cast me behind your back.” The expression pictures her rejection of the Lord (see 1 Kgs 14:9).
[23:35] 206 tn The word “punishment” is not in the Hebrew text but is demanded by the context.
[23:36] 207 tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment. See 20:4; 22:2.
[23:37] 208 sn The Lord speaks here in the role of the husband of the sisters.
[23:37] 209 tn Heb “they have passed to them for food.” The verb is commonly taken to refer to passing children through fire, especially as an offering to the pagan god Molech. See Jer 32:35.
[23:38] 210 tn Heb “in that day.”
[23:40] 211 tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.
[23:40] 212 tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.
[23:42] 213 tn Heb “(was) in her.”
[23:42] 214 tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”
[23:42] 215 tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.
[23:42] 216 tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.
[23:44] 217 tn Heb “and they came to her.”
[23:45] 218 tn Heb “and upright men will judge them (with) the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of those who shed blood.”
[23:46] 219 tn Heb “assembly.”
[23:46] 220 tn Heb “give them to.”
[23:47] 221 tn The Hebrew text adds “with fire.”
[23:49] 222 tn Heb “and the sins of your idols you will bear.” By extension it can mean the punishment for the sins.
