Ezekiel 3:18

3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” ¹  and you do not warn him – you do not speak out to warn the wicked to turn from his wicked deed and wicked lifestyle so that he may live – that wicked person will die for his iniquity, ²  but I will hold you accountable for his death. ³ 

Ezekiel 8:17

8:17 He said to me, “Do you see, son of man? Is it a trivial thing that the house of Judah commits these abominations they are practicing here? For they have filled the land with violence and provoked me to anger still further. Look, they are putting the branch to their nose! ⁴ 

Ezekiel 33:8

33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ ⁵  and you do not warn ⁶  the wicked about his behavior, ⁷  the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. ⁸ 

Ezekiel 39:10

39:10 They will not need to take ⁹  wood from the field or cut down trees from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons. They will take the loot from those who looted them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them, ¹⁰  declares the sovereign Lord.

[3:18]  ¹ sn Even though the infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the warning, the warning is still implicitly conditional, as the following context makes clear.

[3:18]  ² tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and v. 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[3:18]  ³ tn Heb “his blood I will seek from your hand.” The expression “seek blood from the hand” is equivalent to requiring the death penalty (2 Sam 4:11-12).

[8:17]  ⁴ tn It is not clear what the practice of “holding a branch to the nose” indicates. A possible parallel is the Syrian relief of a king holding a flower to his nose as he worships the stars (ANEP 281). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:145-46. The LXX glosses the expression as “Behold, they are like mockers.”

[33:8]  ⁷ tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.

[33:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”

[33:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “way.”

[33:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”

[39:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they will not carry.”

[39:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “loot their looters and plunder their plunderers.”