Ezekiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ¹  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ²  at the Kebar River, ³  the heavens opened ⁴  and I saw a divine vision. ⁵ 

Ezekiel 8:2

8:2 As I watched, I noticed ⁶  a form that appeared to be a man. ⁷  From his waist downward was something like fire, ⁸  and from his waist upward something like a brightness, ⁹  like an amber glow. ¹⁰ 

Ezekiel 8:10

8:10 So I went in and looked. I noticed every figure ¹¹  of creeping thing and beast – detestable images ¹²  – and every idol of the house of Israel, engraved on the wall all around. ¹³ 

Ezekiel 10:1

God’s Glory Leaves the Temple

10:1 As I watched, I saw ¹⁴  on the platform ¹⁵  above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them.

[1:1]  ¹ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ² sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ³ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ⁴ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2

[8:2]  ⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb (so also throughout the chapter).

[8:2]  ⁷ tc The MT reads “fire” rather than “man,” the reading of the LXX. The nouns are very similar in Hebrew.

[8:2]  ⁸ tc The MT reads “what appeared to be his waist and downwards was fire.” The LXX omits “what appeared to be,” reading “from his waist to below was fire.” Suggesting that “like what appeared to be” belongs before “fire,” D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:277) points out the resulting poetic symmetry of form with the next line as followed in the translation here.

[8:2]  ⁹ tc The LXX omits “like a brightness.”

[8:2]  ¹⁰ tn See Ezek 1:4.

[8:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “pattern.”

[8:10]  ¹² tn Heb “detestable.” The word is often used to describe the figures of foreign gods.

[8:10]  ¹³ sn These engravings were prohibited in the Mosaic law (Deut 4:16-18).

[10:1]  ¹⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[10:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.