Ezekiel 28:22-24

28:22 Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Look, I am against you, ¹  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 ²  in her.

28:23 I will send a plague into the city ³  and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it ⁴  from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

28:24 “‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers ⁵  or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them. ⁶  Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

[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]  ³ tn Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “by a sword against it.”

[28:24]  ⁵ sn Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.

[28:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”