Ezekiel 11:3-11

11:3 They say, ¹  ‘The time is not near to build houses; ²  the city ³  is a cooking pot ⁴  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 came ⁵  upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, ⁶  O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. ⁷  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 dumped ⁸  in the midst of the city ⁹  are the meat, and this city ¹⁰  is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. ¹¹  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. ¹²  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 not ¹³  be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel.

[11:3]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.

[11:3]  ² sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).

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

[11:3]  ⁴ sn 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “fell.”

[11:5]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).

[11:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”

[11:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “placed.”

[11:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in its midst.”

[11:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.

[11:7]  ¹² tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).

[11:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “its midst.”

[11:11]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.