Ezekiel 2:2

2:2 As he spoke to me, ¹  a wind ²  came into me and stood me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.

Ezekiel 3:24

3:24 Then a wind ³  came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord ⁴  spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house.

Ezekiel 17:20

17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me.

Ezekiel 20:38

20:38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt ⁵  against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

Ezekiel 39:26

39:26 They will bear their shame for all their unfaithful acts against me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.

[2:2]  ¹ tc The phrase “as he spoke to me” is absent from the LXX.

[2:2]  ² tn Or “spirit.” NIV has “the Spirit,” but the absence of the article in the Hebrew text makes this unlikely. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the Lord’s Spirit is referred to as “the Spirit of the Lord” (11:5; 37:1), “the Spirit of God” (11:24), or “my (that is, the Lord’s) Spirit” (36:27; 37:14; 39:29). Some identify the “spirit” of 2:2 as the spirit that energized the living beings, however, that “spirit” is called “the spirit” (1:12, 20) or “the spirit of the living beings” (1:20-21; 10:17). Still others see the term as referring to an impersonal “spirit” of strength or courage, that is, the term may also be understood as a disposition or attitude. The Hebrew word often refers to a wind in Ezekiel (1:4; 5:10, 12; 12:4; 13:11, 13; 17:10, 21; 19:12; 27:26; 37:9). In 37:5-10 a “breath” originates in the “four winds” and is associated with the Lord’s life-giving breath (see v. 14). This breath enters into the dry bones and gives them life. In a similar fashion the breath of 2:2 (see also 3:24) energizes paralyzed Ezekiel. Breath and wind are related. On the one hand it is a more normal picture to think of breath rather than wind entering someone, but since wind represents an external force it seems more likely for wind rather than breath to stand someone up (unless we should understand it as a disposition). It may be that one should envision the breath of the speaker moving like a wind to revive Ezekiel, helping him to regain his breath and invigorating him to stand. A wind also transports the prophet from one place to another (3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 43:5).

[3:24]  ³ tn See the note on “wind” in 2:2.

[3:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “he.”

[20:38]  ⁵ tn See the note at 2:3.