Ezekiel 22:13-16

22:13 “‘See, I strike my hands together ¹  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ²  they have done among you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, ³  or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? ⁴  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. ⁵  22:16 You will be profaned within yourself ⁶  in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

[22:13]  ¹ sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).

[22:13]  ² tn Heb “the blood which was in you.”

[22:14]  ³ tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.

[22:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”

[22:15]  ⁵ sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.

[22:16]  ⁷ tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58.