Ezekiel 1:4

1:4 As I watched, I noticed ¹  a windstorm ²  coming from the north – an enormous cloud, with lightning flashing, ³  such that bright light ⁴  rimmed it and came from ⁵  it like glowing amber ⁶  from the middle of a fire.

Ezekiel 1:28

1:28 like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds after the rain. ⁷  This was the appearance of the surrounding brilliant light; it looked like the glory of the Lord. When I saw ⁸  it, I threw myself face down, and I heard a voice speaking.

Ezekiel 5:2

5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them.

Ezekiel 5:6

5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations ⁹  and the countries around her. ¹⁰  Indeed, they ¹¹  have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

Ezekiel 16:37

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. ¹² 

Ezekiel 23:22

23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look here, ¹³  I am about to stir up against you the lovers with whom you were disgusted; I will bring them against you from every side:

Ezekiel 28:26

28:26 They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely ¹⁴  when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’”

Ezekiel 32:24-25

32:24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit. 32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. ¹⁵  All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.

Ezekiel 36:3-4

36:3 So prophesy and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Surely because they have made you desolate and crushed you from all directions, so that you have become the property of the rest of the nations, and have become the subject of gossip ¹⁶  and slander among the people, 36:4 therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the sovereign Lord: This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, and to the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that have become prey and an object of derision to the rest of the nations round about –

Ezekiel 37:21

37:21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land.

Ezekiel 43:13

The Altar

43:13 “And these are the measurements of the altar: ¹⁷  Its base ¹⁸  is 1¾ feet ¹⁹  high, ²⁰  and 1¾ feet ²¹  wide, and its border nine inches ²²  on its edge. This is to be the height ²³  of the altar.

Ezekiel 45:1

The Lord’s Portion of the Land

45:1 “‘When you allot the land as an inheritance, you will offer an allotment ²⁴  to the Lord, a holy portion from the land; the length will be eight and a quarter miles ²⁵  and the width three and one-third miles. ²⁶  This entire area will be holy. ²⁷ 

[1:4]  ¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[1:4]  ² sn Storms are often associated with appearances of God (see Nah 1:3; Ps 18:12). In some passages, the “storm” (סְעָרָה, sÿ’arah) may be a whirlwind (Job 38:1, 2 Kgs 2:1).

[1:4]  ³ tn Heb “fire taking hold of itself,” perhaps repeatedly. The phrase occurs elsewhere only in Exod 9:24 in association with a hailstorm. The LXX interprets the phrase as fire flashing like lightning, but it is possibly a self-sustaining blaze of divine origin. The LXX also reverses the order of the descriptors, i.e., “light went around it and fire flashed like lightning within it.”

[1:4]  ⁴ tn Or “radiance.” The term also occurs in 1:27b.

[1:4]  ⁵ tc Or “was in it”; cf. LXX ἐν τῷ μέσῳ αὐτοῦ (en tw mesw autou, “in its midst”).

[1:4]  ⁶ tn The LXX translates חַשְׁמַל (khashmal) with the word ἤλεκτρον (hlektron, “electrum”; so NAB), an alloy of silver and gold, perhaps envisioning a comparison to the glow of molten metal.

[1:28]  ⁷ sn Reference to the glowing substance and the brilliant light and storm phenomena in vv. 27-28a echoes in reverse order the occurrence of these phenomena in v. 4.

[1:28]  ⁸ tn The vision closes with the repetition of the verb “I saw” from the beginning of the vision in 1:4.

[5:6]  ¹³ sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.

[5:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”

[5:6]  ¹⁵ sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.

[16:37]  ¹⁹ sn Harlots suffered degradation when their nakedness was exposed (Jer 13:22, 26; Hos 2:12; Nah 3:5).

[23:22]  ²⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[28:26]  ³¹ sn This promise was given in Lev 25:18-19.

[32:25]  ³⁷ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

[36:3]  ⁴³ tn Heb “lip of the tongue.”

[43:13]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the measurements of the altar by cubits, the cubit being a cubit and a handbreadth.” The measuring units here and in the remainder of this section are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard feet and inches, with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes. On the altar see Ezek 40:47.

[43:13]  ⁵⁰ tn The Hebrew term normally means “bosom.” Here it refers to a hollow in the ground.

[43:13]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).

[43:13]  ⁵² tn The word “high” is not in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for clarity.

[43:13]  ⁵³ tn Heb “one cubit” (i.e., 52.5 cm).

[43:13]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “one span.” A span was three handbreadths, or about nine inches (i.e., 22.5 cm).

[43:13]  ⁵⁵ tc Heb “bulge, protuberance, mound.” The translation follows the LXX.

[45:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “a contribution.”

[45:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “twenty-five thousand cubits” (i.e., 13.125 kilometers). The measuring units here are the Hebrew “long” cubit, consisting of a cubit (about 18 inches or 45 cm) and a handbreadth (about 3 inches or 7.5 cm), for a total of 21 inches (52.5 cm). Because modern readers are not familiar with the cubit as a unit of measurement, and due to the additional complication of the “long” cubit as opposed to the regular cubit, all measurements have been converted to American standard miles (one mile = 5,280 feet), with the Hebrew measurements and the metric equivalents given in the notes.

[45:1]  ⁵⁷ tc The LXX reads “twenty thousand cubits.”

[45:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “holy it is in all its territory round about.”