Ezekiel 22:7

22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ²  within you.

Ezekiel 22:12-14

22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ³  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ⁴  declares the sovereign Lord. ⁵ 

22:13 “‘See, I strike my hands together ⁶  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ⁷  they have done among you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, ⁸  or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? ⁹  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!

[22:7]  ¹ tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ² tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

[22:12]  ³ tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ⁴ sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ⁵ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

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

[22:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “the blood which was in you.”

[22:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.

[22:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”