Ezekiel 11:1-14

Context

The Fall of Jerusalem

11:1 A wind¹ lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people.² 11:2 The Lord³ said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 11:3 They say,⁴ ‘The time is not near to build houses;⁵ the city⁶ is a cooking pot⁷ and we are the meat in it.’ 11:4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”

11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came⁸ upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking,⁹ O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds.¹⁰ 11:6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 11:7 Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped¹¹ in the midst of the city¹² are the meat, and this city¹³ is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it.¹⁴ 11:8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the sovereign Lord. 11:9 ‘But I will take you out of the city.¹⁵ And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 11:10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not¹⁶ be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 11:12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”

11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!”¹⁷

11:14 Then the word of the Lord came to me:

[11:1] ¹tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.

[11:1] ²sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.

[11:2] ³tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:3] ⁴tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.

[11:3] ⁵sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).

[11:3] ⁶tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.

[11:3] ⁷sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.

[11:5] ⁸tn Heb “fell.”

[11:5] ⁹tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).

[11:5] ¹⁰tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”

[11:7] ¹¹tn Heb “placed.”

[11:7] ¹²tn Heb “in its midst.”

[11:7] ¹³tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.

[11:7] ¹⁴tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).

[11:9] ¹⁵tn Heb “its midst.”

[11:11] ¹⁶tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.

[11:13] ¹⁷tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.