Ezekiel 17:12

17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ¹  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ²  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ³  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon.

Ezekiel 17:2

17:2 “Son of man, offer a riddle, ⁴  and tell a parable to the house of Israel.

Ezekiel 24:10-16

24:10 Pile up the bones, kindle the fire;

cook the meat well, mix in the spices,

let the bones be charred.

24:11 Set the empty pot on the coals, ⁵ 

until it becomes hot and its copper glows,

until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot ⁶  is consumed.

24:12 It has tried my patience; ⁷ 

yet its thick rot is not removed ⁸  from it.

Subject its rot to the fire! ⁹ 

24:13 You mix uncleanness with obscene conduct. ¹⁰ 

I tried to cleanse you, ¹¹  but you are not clean.

You will not be cleansed from your uncleanness ¹² 

until I have exhausted my anger on you.

24:14 “‘I the Lord have spoken; judgment ¹³  is coming and I will act! I will not relent, or show pity, or be sorry! ¹⁴  I will judge you ¹⁵  according to your conduct ¹⁶  and your deeds, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

Ezekiel’s Wife Dies

24:15 The word of Lord came to me: 24:16 “Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, ¹⁷  but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears.

Ezekiel 24:2

24:2 “Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege ¹⁸  to Jerusalem ¹⁹  this very day.

Ezekiel 36:9-10

36:9 For indeed, I am on your side; ²⁰  I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted. 36:10 I will multiply your people ²¹  – the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt.

Jeremiah 22:23-28

22:23 You may feel as secure as a bird

nesting in the cedars of Lebanon.

But oh how you ²²  will groan ²³  when the pains of judgment come on you.

They will be like those of a woman giving birth to a baby. ²⁴ 

Jeconiah Will Be Permanently Exiled

22:24 The Lord says, ²⁵ 

“As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah, ²⁶  king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you. ²⁷  22:25 I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian ²⁸  soldiers. 22:26 I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to ²⁹  a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there. 22:27 You will never come back to this land to which you will long to return!” ³⁰ 

22:28 This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away.

He will be like a clay vessel ³¹  that no one wants. ³² 

Why will he and his children be forced into exile?

Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? ³³ 

Jeremiah 24:1

Good Figs and Bad Figs

24:1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon. ³⁴ 

[17:12]  ¹ tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

[17:12]  ² sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

[17:12]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:2]  ⁴ sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.

[24:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”

[24:11]  ⁶ tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).

[24:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “(with) toil she has wearied.” The meaning of the statement is unclear in the Hebrew text; some follow the LXX and delete it. The first word in the statement (rendered “toil” in the literal translation above) occurs only here in the OT, and the verb “she has wearied” lacks a stated object. Elsewhere the Hiphil of the verb refers to wearying someone or trying someone’s patience. The feminine subject is apparently the symbolic pot.

[24:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “does not go out.”

[24:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “in fire its rust.” The meaning of the expression is unclear. The translation understands the statement as a command to burn the rust away. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:768.

[24:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in your uncleanness (is) obscene conduct.”

[24:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “because I cleansed you.” In this context (see especially the very next statement), the statement must refer to divine intention and purpose. Despite God’s efforts to cleanse his people, they resisted him and remained morally impure.

[24:13]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text adds the word “again.”

[24:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “it”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[24:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps, “change my mind.”

[24:14]  ¹⁵ tc Some medieval Hebrew mss and the major ancient versions read a first person verb here. Most Hebrew mss read have an indefinite subject, “they will judge you,” which could be translated, “you will be judged.”

[24:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “ways.”

[24:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a strike.”

[24:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “lean on, put pressure on.”

[24:2]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[36:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I (am) toward you.”

[36:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will multiply on you human(s).”

[22:23]  ²² tn Heb “You who dwell in Lebanon, you who are nested in its cedars, how you….” The metaphor has been interpreted for the sake of clarity. The figure here has often been interpreted of the people of Jerusalem living in paneled houses or living in a city dominated by the temple and palace which were built from the cedars of Lebanon. Some even interpret this as a reference to the king who has been characterized as living in a cedar palace, in a veritable Lebanon (cf. vv. 6-7, 14 and see also the alternate interpretation of 21:13-14). However, the reference to “nesting in the cedars” and the earlier reference to “feeling secure” suggests that the figure is rather like that of Ezek 31:6 and Dan 4:12. See also Hab 2:9 where a related figure is used. The forms for “you who dwell” and “you who are nested” in the literal translation are feminine singular participles referring again to personified Jerusalem. (The written forms of these participles are to be explained as participles with a hireq campaginis according to GKC 253 §90.m. The use of the participle before the preposition is to be explained according to GKC 421 §130.a.)

[22:23]  ²³ tn The verb here should be identified as a Niphal perfect of the verb אָנַח (’anakh) with the א (aleph) left out (so BDB 336 s.v. חָנַן Niph and GKC 80 §23.f, n. 1). The form is already translated that way by the Greek, Latin, and Syriac versions.

[22:23]  ²⁴ sn This simile has already been used in Jer 4:31; 6:24 in conjunction with Zion/Jerusalem’s judgment.

[22:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[22:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Coniah.” This is the spelling of this king’s name here and in v. 28 and 37:1. Elsewhere in Jeremiah he is called Jeconiah (24:1; 27:20; 28:4; 29:2 [see also 1 Chr 3:16, 17; Esth 2:6]) and Jehoiachin (52:31, 33 [see also 2 Kgs 24:6, 8, 12, 15; 25:27, 29; 2 Chr 36:8, 9; Ezek 1:2]). For the sake of consistency the present translation uses the name Jeconiah throughout.

[22:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “As surely as I live, Jeconiah, King of Judah, son of Jehoiakim will not be a signet ring on my right hand. Indeed I will tear you off from it [i.e., pull you off of my finger as a signet ring].” The signet ring was the king’s seal by which he verified all his legal and political transactions. To have the signet ring was to exercise authority in the king’s name. For examples of this see Gen 41:42, 43; 1 Kgs 21:8; Esth 3:10; 8:2. The figure has been interpreted in the translation for the sake of clarity. The particles כִּי אִם (ki ’im) that stand after the oath formula “As I live” introduce a negative statement according to the usage of Hebrew grammar (cf. BDB 474 s.v. כִּי אִם 1.a and BDB 50 s.v. אִם 1.b[2] and compare 2 Sam 3:35). The particle כִּי that stands in front of “I will tear you off” introduces a positive affirmation according to the same rules of Hebrew grammar (cf. BDB 472 s.v. כִּי 1.c and compare 1 Sam 14:39, 44). The Lord is swearing emphatically that Jeconiah will not be the earthly representative of his rule; i.e., not carry the authority of the signet ring bearer. As in several other places in Jeremiah there is a sudden shift from the third person to the second person which runs throughout vv. 24-27. The pronouns are leveled in the translation to the second person to avoid confusion. The figures are interpreted in the translation to convey the proper significance. See the study note for explanation.

[22:25]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the Chaldeans.” See the study note on 21:4.

[22:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I will hurl you and your mother…into another land where…” The verb used here is very forceful. It is the verb used for Saul throwing a spear at David (1 Sam 18:11) and for the Lord unleashing a violent storm on the sea (Jonah 1:4). It is used both here and in v. 28 for the forceful exile of Jeconiah and his mother.

[22:27]  ³⁰ tn Heb “And unto the land to which they lift up their souls to return there, there they will not return.” Once again there is a sudden shift in person from the second plural to the third plural. As before the translation levels the pronouns to avoid confusion. For the idiom “to lift up the soul to” = “to long/yearn to/for” see BDB 670 s.v. נָשָׂא 1.b(9).

[22:28]  ³¹ tn The word translated “clay vessel” occurs only here. Its meaning, however, is assured on the basis of the parallelism and on the basis of the verb root which is used for shaping or fashioning in Job 10:8. The KJV renders it as “idol,” but that word, while having the same consonants, never appears in the singular. The word is missing in the Greek version but is translated “vessel” in the Latin version. The word “clay” is supplied in the translation to clarify what sort of vessel is meant; its inclusion is justified based on the context and the use of the same verb root in Job 10:8 to refer to shaping or fashioning, which would imply clay pots or vessels.

[22:28]  ³² tn Heb “Is this man, Coniah, a despised, broken vessel or a vessel that no one wants?” The question is rhetorical expecting a positive answer in agreement with the preceding oracle.

[22:28]  ³³ sn The question “Why?” is a common rhetorical feature in the book of Jeremiah. See Jer 2:14, 31; 8:5, 19, 22; 12:1; 13:22; 14:19. In several cases like this one no answer is given, leaving a sense of exasperation and hopelessness with the sinfulness of the nation that calls forth such punishment from God.

[24:1]  ³⁴ sn See 2 Kgs 24:10-17 (especially vv. 14-16). Nebuchadnezzar left behind the poorest people of the land under the puppet king Zedekiah. Jeconiah has already been referred to earlier in 13:18; 22:25-26. The deportation referred to here occurred in 597 b.c. and included the priest Ezekiel.