Ezekiel 17:6

17:6 It sprouted and became a vine,

spreading low to the ground; ¹ 

its branches turning toward him, ²  its roots were under itself. ³ 

So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

Ezekiel 31:3

31:3 Consider Assyria, ⁴  a cedar in Lebanon, ⁵ 

with beautiful branches, like a forest giving shade,

and extremely tall;

its top reached into the clouds.

Ezekiel 13:18

13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ⁶  on all their wrists ⁷  and make headbands ⁸  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁹  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

[17:6]  ¹ tn Heb “short of stature.”

[17:6]  ² tn That is, the eagle.

[17:6]  ³ tn Or “him,” i.e., the eagle.

[31:3]  ⁴ sn Either Egypt, or the Lord compares Egypt to Assyria, which is described in vv. 3-17 through the metaphor of a majestic tree. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:185. Like Egypt, Assyria had been a great world power, but in time God brought the Assyrians down. Egypt should learn from history the lesson that no nation, no matter how powerful, can withstand the judgment of God. Rather than following the text here, some prefer to emend the proper name Assyria to a similar sounding common noun meaning “boxwood” (see Ezek 27:6), which would make a fitting parallel to “cedar of Lebanon” in the following line. In this case vv. 3-18 in their entirety refer to Egypt, not Assyria. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:121-27.

[31:3]  ⁵ sn Lebanon was know for its cedar trees (Judg 9:15; 1 Kgs 4:33; 5:6; 2 Kgs 14:9; Ezra 3:7; Pss 29:5; 92:12; 104:16).

[13:18]  ⁷ sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.

[13:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.

[13:18]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).