Ezekiel 13:18

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

Ezekiel 17:23

17:23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,

and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.

Every bird will live under it;

Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

Ezekiel 31:16

31:16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall, when I threw it down to Sheol, along with those who descend to the pit. ⁵  Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, all that were well-watered, were comforted in the earth below.

[13:18]  ¹ sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

[13:18]  ² tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

[13:18]  ³ tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.

[13:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).

[31:16]  ⁵ sn For the expression “going down to the pit,” see Ezek 26:20; 32:18, 24, 29.