Ezekiel 20:1-13

Israel’s Rebellion

20:1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, ¹  some of the elders ²  of Israel came to seek ³  the Lord, and they sat down in front of me. 20:2 The word of the Lord came to me: 20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and tell them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Are you coming to seek me? As surely as I live, I will not allow you to seek me, ⁴  declares the sovereign Lord.’ 20:4 “Are you willing to pronounce judgment? ⁵  Are you willing to pronounce judgment, son of man? Then confront them with the abominable practices of their fathers, 20:5 and say to them:

“‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: On the day I chose Israel I swore ⁶  to the descendants ⁷  of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I swore ⁸  to them, “I am the Lord your God.” 20:6 On that day I swore ⁹  to bring them out of the land of Egypt to a land which I had picked out ¹⁰  for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹¹  the most beautiful of all lands. 20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must get rid of the detestable idols you keep before you, ¹²  and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” 20:8 But they rebelled against me, and refused to listen to me; no one got rid of their detestable idols, ¹³  nor did they abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I decided to pour out ¹⁴  my rage on them and fully vent my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 20:9 I acted for the sake of my reputation, ¹⁵  so that I would not be profaned before the nations among whom they lived, ¹⁶  before whom I revealed myself by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁷ 

20:10 “‘So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them to the wilderness. 20:11 I gave them my statutes ¹⁸  and revealed my regulations to them. The one ¹⁹  who carries ²⁰  them out will live by them! ²¹  20:12 I also gave them my Sabbaths ²²  as a reminder of our relationship, ²³  so that they would know that I, the Lord, sanctify them. ²⁴  20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness; they did not follow my statutes and they rejected my regulations (the one who obeys them will live by them), and they utterly desecrated my Sabbaths. So I decided to pour out ²⁵  my rage on them in the wilderness and destroy them. ²⁶ 

[20:1]  ¹ sn The date would be August 14th, 591 b.c. The seventh year is the seventh year of Jehoiachin’s exile.

[20:1]  ² tn Heb “men from the elders.”

[20:1]  ³ tn See the note at 14:3.

[20:3]  ⁴ tn Or “I will not reveal myself to you.”

[20:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment.

[20:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “seed.”

[20:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand.”

[20:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “I lifted up my hand to them.”

[20:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “searched out.” The Hebrew word is used to describe the activity of the spies in “spying out” the land of Canaan (Num 13-14); cf. KJV “I had espied for them.”

[20:6]  ¹¹ sn The phrase “a land flowing with milk and honey,” a figure of speech describing the land’s abundant fertility, occurs in v. 15 as well as Exod 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; Lev 20:24; Num 13:27; Deut 6:3; 11:9; 26:9; 27:3; Josh 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:23 (see also Deut 1:25; 8:7-9).

[20:7]  ¹² tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of his eyes, throw away.” The Pentateuch does not refer to the Israelites worshiping idols in Egypt, but Josh 24:14 appears to suggest that they did so.

[20:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “each one, the detestable things of their eyes did not throw away.”

[20:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for the sake of my name.”

[20:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “before the eyes of the nations in whose midst they were.”

[20:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to whom I made myself known before their eyes to bring them out from the land of Egypt.” The translation understands the infinitive construct (“to bring them out”) as indicating manner. God’s deliverance of his people from Egypt was an act of self-revelation in that it displayed his power and his commitment to his promises.

[20:11]  ¹⁸ sn The laws were given at Mount Sinai.

[20:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the man.”

[20:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “does.”

[20:11]  ²¹ tn The wording and the concept is contained in Lev 18:5 and Deut 30:15-19.

[20:12]  ²² sn Ezekiel’s contemporary, Jeremiah, also stressed the importance of obedience to the Sabbath law (Jer 17).

[20:12]  ²³ tn Heb “to become a sign between me and them.”

[20:12]  ²⁴ tn Or “set them apart.” The last phrase of verse 12 appears to be a citation of Exod 31:13.

[20:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and I said/thought to pour out.”

[20:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to bring them to an end.”