Ezekiel 28:9

28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you –

though you are a man and not a god –

when you are in the power of those who wound you?

Ezekiel 28:12-16

28:12 “Son of man, sing ¹  a lament for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘You were the sealer ²  of perfection,

full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God. ³ 

Every precious stone was your covering,

the ruby, topaz, and emerald,

the chrysolite, onyx, and jasper,

the sapphire, turquoise, and beryl; ⁴ 

your settings and mounts were made of gold.

On the day you were created they were prepared.

28:14 I placed you there with an anointed ⁵  guardian ⁶  cherub; ⁷ 

you were on the holy mountain of God;

you walked about amidst fiery stones.

28:15 You were blameless in your behavior ⁸  from the day you were created,

until sin was discovered in you.

28:16 In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence, ⁹  and you sinned;

so I defiled you and banished you ¹⁰  from the mountain of God –

the guardian cherub expelled you ¹¹  from the midst of the stones of fire.

Daniel 8:10-12

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ¹²  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ¹³  to the ground, where it trampled them. 8:11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ¹⁴  from whom ¹⁵  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ¹⁶  was thrown down. 8:12 The army was given over, ¹⁷  along with the daily sacrifice, in the course of his sinful rebellion. ¹⁸  It hurled ¹⁹  truth ²⁰  to the ground and enjoyed success. ²¹ 

[28:12]  ¹ tn Heb “lift up.”

[28:12]  ² tn For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.

[28:13]  ³ sn The imagery of the lament appears to draw upon an extrabiblical Eden tradition about the expulsion of the first man (see v. 14 and the note there) from the garden due to his pride. The biblical Eden tradition speaks of cherubs placed as guardians at the garden entrance following the sin of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:24), but no guardian cherub like the one described in verse 14 is depicted or mentioned in the biblical account. Ezekiel’s imagery also appears to reflect Mesopotamian and Canaanite mythology at certain points. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:119-20.

[28:13]  ⁴ tn The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20, which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the Exod 28 list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:14]  ⁵ tn Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:14]  ⁶ tn The meaning of this phrase in Hebrew is uncertain. The word translated here “guards” occurs in Exod 25:20 in reference to the cherubim “covering” the ark.

[28:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “you (were) an anointed cherub that covers and I placed you.” In the Hebrew text the ruler of Tyre is equated with a cherub, and the verb “I placed you” is taken with what follows (“on the holy mountain of God”). However, this reading is problematic. The pronoun “you” at the beginning of verse 14 is feminine singular in the Hebrew text; elsewhere in this passage the ruler of Tyre is addressed with masculine singular forms. It is possible that the pronoun is a rare (see Deut 5:24; Num 11:15) or defectively written (see 1 Sam 24:19; Neh 9:6; Job 1:10; Ps 6:3; Eccl 7:22) masculine form, but it is more likely that the form should be repointed as the preposition “with” (see the LXX). In this case the ruler of Tyre is compared to the first man, not to a cherub. If this emendation is accepted, then the verb “I placed you” belongs with what precedes and concludes the first sentence in the verse. It is noteworthy that the verbs in the second and third lines of the verse also appear at the end of the sentence in the Hebrew text. The presence of a conjunction at the beginning of “I placed you” is problematic for the proposal, but it may reflect a later misunderstanding of the syntax of the verse. For a defense of the proposed emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “ways.”

[28:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”

[28:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[28:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.

[8:10]  ¹² tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ¹³ sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:11]  ¹⁴ sn The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1).

[8:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps “and by him,” referring to Antiochus rather than to God.

[8:11]  ¹⁶ sn Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.

[8:12]  ¹⁷ tc The present translation reads וּצְבָאָהּ נִתַּן (utsÿva’ah nittan) for the MT וְצָבָא תִּנָּתֵן (vÿtsava’ tinnaten). The context suggests a perfect rather than an imperfect verb.

[8:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in (the course of) rebellion.” The meaning of the phrase is difficult to determine. It could mean “due to rebellion,” referring to the failures of the Jews, but this is not likely since it is not a point made elsewhere in the book. The phrase more probably refers to the rebellion against God and the atrocities against the Jews epitomized by Antiochus.

[8:12]  ¹⁹ tc Two medieval Hebrew MSS and the LXX have a passive verb here: “truth was hurled to the ground” (cf. NIV, NCV, TEV).

[8:12]  ²⁰ sn Truth here probably refers to the Torah. According to 1 Macc 1:56, Antiochus initiated destruction of the sacred books of the Jews.

[8:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “it acted and prospered.”