Ezekiel 28:20-23

A Prophecy Against Sidon

28:20 The word of the Lord came to me: 28:21 “Son of man, turn toward ¹  Sidon ²  and prophesy against it. 28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, ³  Sidon,

and I will magnify myself in your midst.

Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I execute judgments on her

and reveal my sovereign power ⁴  in her.

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ⁵  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁶  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

[28:21]  ¹ tn Heb “set your face against.”

[28:21]  ² sn Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre.

[28:22]  ¹ tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.

[28:22]  ² tn Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.

[28:23]  ¹ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:23]  ² tn Heb “by a sword against it.”