Ezekiel 3:2

3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.

Ezekiel 37:13

37:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people.

Ezekiel 33:22

33:22 Now the hand of the Lord had been on me ¹  the evening before the refugee reached me, but the Lord ²  opened my mouth by the time the refugee arrived ³  in the morning; he opened my mouth and I was no longer unable to speak. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 46:1

The Prince’s Offerings

46:1 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The gate of the inner court that faces east ⁵  will be closed six working days, but on the Sabbath day it will be opened and on the day of the new moon it will be opened.

Ezekiel 1:1

A Vision of God’s Glory

1:1 In the thirtieth year, ⁶  on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles ⁷  at the Kebar River, ⁸  the heavens opened ⁹  and I saw a divine vision. ¹⁰ 

Ezekiel 24:27

24:27 On that day you will be able to speak again; ¹¹  you will talk with the fugitive and be silent no longer. You will be an object lesson for them, and they will know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel 25:9

25:9 So look, I am about to open up Moab’s flank, ¹²  eliminating the cities, ¹³  including its frontier cities, ¹⁴  the beauty of the land – Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim.

Ezekiel 3:27

3:27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue ¹⁵  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, ¹⁶  for they are a rebellious house.

Ezekiel 21:22

21:22 Into his right hand ¹⁷  comes the portent for Jerusalem – to set up battering rams, to give the signal ¹⁸  for slaughter, to shout out the battle cry, ¹⁹  to set up battering rams against the gates, to erect a siege ramp, to build a siege wall.

Ezekiel 21:28

21:28 “As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says concerning the Ammonites and their coming humiliation; ²⁰  say:

“‘A sword, a sword drawn for slaughter,

polished to consume, ²¹  to flash like lightning –

Ezekiel 37:12

37:12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.

Ezekiel 44:2

44:2 The Lord said to me: “This gate will be shut; it will not be opened, and no one will enter by it. For the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it will remain shut.

Ezekiel 46:12

46:12 When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a voluntary offering to the Lord, the gate facing east will be opened for him, and he will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings just as he did on the Sabbath. Then he will go out, and the gate will be closed after he goes out. ²² 

[33:22]  ¹ tn The other occurrences of the phrase “the hand of the Lord” in Ezekiel are in the context of prophetic visions.

[33:22]  ² tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:22]  ³ tn Heb “by the time of the arrival to me.” For clarity the translation specifies the refugee as the one who arrived.

[33:22]  ⁴ sn Ezekiel’s God-imposed muteness was lifted (see 3:26).

[46:1]  ¹ sn The east gate of the outer court was permanently closed (Ezek 44:2).

[1:1]  ¹ sn The meaning of the thirtieth year is problematic. Some take it to mean the age of Ezekiel when he prophesied (e.g., Origen). The Aramaic Targum explains the thirtieth year as the thirtieth year dated from the recovery of the book of the Torah in the temple in Jerusalem (2 Kgs 22:3-9). The number seems somehow to be equated with the fifth year of Jehoiachin’s exile in 1:2, i.e., 593 b.c.

[1:1]  ² sn The Assyrians started the tactic of deportation, the large-scale forced displacement of conquered populations, in order to stifle rebellions. The task of uniting groups of deportees, gaining freedom from one’s overlords and returning to retake one’s own country would be considerably more complicated than living in one’s homeland and waiting for an opportune moment to drive out the enemy’s soldiers. The Babylonians adopted this practice also, after defeating the Assyrians. The Babylonians deported Judeans on three occasions. The practice of deportation was reversed by the Persian conquerors of Babylon, who gained favor from their subjects for allowing them to return to their homeland and, as polytheists, sought the favor of the gods of the various countries which had come under their control.

[1:1]  ³ sn The Kebar River is mentioned in Babylonian texts from the city of Nippur in the fifth century b.c. It provided artificial irrigation from the Euphrates.

[1:1]  ⁴ sn For the concept of the heavens opened in later literature, see 3 Macc 6:18; 2 Bar. 22:1; T. Levi 5:1; Matt 3:16; Acts 7:56; Rev 19:11.

[1:1]  ⁵ tn Or “saw visions from God.” References to divine visions occur also in Ezek 8:3; 40:2

[24:27]  ¹ tn Heb “your mouth will open.”

[25:9]  ¹ tn Heb “shoulder.”

[25:9]  ² tn Heb “from the cities.” The verb “eliminating” has been added in the translation to reflect the privative use of the preposition (see BDB 583 s.v. מִן 7.b).

[25:9]  ³ tn Heb “from its cities, from its end.”

[3:27]  ¹ tn Heb “open your mouth.”

[3:27]  ² tn Heb “the listener will listen, the refuser will refuse.” Because the word for listening can also mean obeying, the nuance may be that the obedient will listen, or that the one who listens will obey. Also, although the verbs are not jussive as pointed in the MT, some translate them with a volitive sense: “the one who listens – let that one listen, the one who refuses – let that one refuse.”

[21:22]  ¹ tn Or “on the right side,” i.e., the omen mark on the right side of the liver.

[21:22]  ² tn Heb “to open the mouth” for slaughter.

[21:22]  ³ tn Heb “to raise up a voice in a battle cry.”

[21:28]  ¹ tn Heb “their reproach.”

[21:28]  ² tn Heb “to contain, endure.” Since the Hebrew text as it stands makes little, if any, sense, most emend the text to read either “to consume” or “for destruction.” For discussion of options see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:693.

[46:12]  ¹ tn Heb “he shall shut the gate after he goes out.”