Discovery BoxEzekiel 32:17--33:20
Context32:17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, 1 the word of the Lord came to me: 32:18 “Son of man, wail 2 over the horde of Egypt. Bring it down; 3 bring 4 her 5 and the daughters of powerful nations down to the lower parts of the earth, along with those who descend to the pit. 32:19 Say to them, 6 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? 7 Go down and be laid to rest with the uncircumcised!’ 32:20 They will fall among those killed by the sword. The sword is drawn; they carry her and all her hordes away. 32:21 The bravest of the warriors will speak to him from the midst of Sheol along with his allies, saying: ‘The uncircumcised have come down; they lie still, killed by the sword.’
32:22 “Assyria is there with all her assembly around her grave, 8 all of them struck down by the sword. 9 32:23 Their 10 graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. 11 Her assembly is around her grave, all of them struck down by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
32:24 “Elam is there with all her hordes around her grave; all of them struck down by the sword. They went down uncircumcised to the lower parts of the earth, those who spread terror in the land of the living. Now they will bear their shame with those who descend to the pit. 32:25 Among the dead they have made a bed for her, along with all her hordes around her grave. 12 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for their terror had spread in the land of the living. They bear their shame along with those who descend to the pit; they are placed among the dead.
32:26 “Meshech-Tubal is there, along with all her hordes around her grave. 13 All of them are uncircumcised, killed by the sword, for they spread their terror in the land of the living. 32:27 They do not lie with the fallen warriors of ancient times, 14 who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, 15 when the terror of these warriors was in the land of the living.
32:28 “But as for you, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will be broken, and you will lie with those killed by the sword.
32:29 “Edom is there with her kings and all her princes. Despite their might they are laid with those killed by the sword; they lie with the uncircumcised and those who descend to the pit.
32:30 “All the leaders of the north are there, along with all the Sidonians; despite their might they have gone down in shameful terror with the dead. They lie uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, and bear their shame with those who descend to the pit.
32:31 “Pharaoh will see them and be consoled over all his hordes who were killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his army, declares the sovereign Lord. 32:32 Indeed, I terrified him in the land of the living, yet he will lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those killed by the sword, Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the sovereign Lord.”
33:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people, 16 and say to them, ‘Suppose I bring a sword against the land, and the people of the land take one man from their borders and make him their watchman. 33:3 He sees the sword coming against the land, blows the trumpet, 17 and warns the people, 18 33:4 but there is one who hears the sound of the trumpet yet does not heed the warning. Then the sword comes and sweeps him away. He will be responsible for his own death. 19 33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, so he is responsible for himself. 20 If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life. 33:6 But suppose the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people. Then the sword comes and takes one of their lives. He is swept away for his iniquity, 21 but I will hold the watchman accountable for that person’s death.’ 22
33:7 “As for you, son of man, I have made you a watchman 23 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must warn them on my behalf. 33:8 When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you must certainly die,’ 24 and you do not warn 25 the wicked about his behavior, 26 the wicked man will die for his iniquity, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 27 33:9 But if you warn the wicked man to change his behavior, 28 and he refuses to change, 29 he will die for his iniquity, but you have saved your own life.
33:10 “And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our rebellious acts and our sins have caught up with us, 30 and we are wasting away because of them. How then can we live?”’ 33:11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but prefer that the wicked change his behavior 31 and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil deeds! 32 Why should you die, O house of Israel?’
33:12 “And you, son of man, say to your people, 33 ‘The righteousness of the righteous will not deliver him if he rebels. 34 As for the wicked, his wickedness will not make him stumble if he turns from it. 35 The righteous will not be able to live by his righteousness 36 if he sins.’ 37 33:13 Suppose I tell the righteous that he will certainly live, but he becomes confident in his righteousness and commits iniquity. None of his righteous deeds will be remembered; because of the iniquity he has committed he will die. 33:14 Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right. 33:15 He 38 returns what was taken in pledge, pays back what he has stolen, and follows the statutes that give life, 39 committing no iniquity. He will certainly live – he will not die. 33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be counted 40 against him. He has done what is just and right; he will certainly live.
33:17 “Yet your people 41 say, ‘The behavior 42 of the Lord is not right,’ 43 when it is their behavior that is not right. 33:18 When a righteous man turns from his godliness and commits iniquity, he will die for it. 33:19 When the wicked turns from his sin and does what is just and right, he will live because of it. 33:20 Yet you say, ‘The behavior of the Lord is not right.’ House of Israel, I will judge each of you according to his behavior.” 44
[32:17] 1 tn March 17, 585
[32:18] 2 tn The Hebrew verb is used as a response to death (Jer 9:17-19; Amos 5:16).
[32:18] 3 sn Through this prophetic lament given by God himself, the prophet activates the judgment described therein. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:217, and L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:136-37.
[32:18] 4 tn Heb “Bring him down, her and the daughters of the powerful nations, to the earth below.” The verb “bring down” appears in the Hebrew text only once. Because the verb takes several objects here, the repetition of the verb in the translation improves the English style.
[32:18] 5 tn This apparently refers to personified Egypt.
[32:19] 6 tc The LXX places this verse after v. 21.
[32:19] 7 tn Heb “pleasantness.”
[32:22] 8 tn Heb “around him his graves.” The masculine pronominal suffixes are problematic; the expression is best emended to correspond to the phrase “around her grave” in v. 23. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:219.
[32:22] 9 tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.
[32:23] 11 tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.
[32:25] 12 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
[32:26] 13 tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).
[32:27] 14 tc Heb “of the uncircumcised.” The LXX reads, probably correctly, “from of old” rather than “of the uncircumcised.” The phrases are very similar in spelling. The warriors of Meshech-Tubal are described as uncircumcised, so it would be odd for them to not be buried with the uncircumcised. Verse 28 specifically says that they would lie with the uncircumcised.
[32:27] 15 tn Heb “and their iniquities were over their bones.” The meaning of this statement is unclear; in light of the parallelism (see “swords”) it is preferable to emend “their iniquities” to “their swords.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:135.
[33:2] 16 tn Heb “sons of your people.”
[33:3] 17 tn Heb “shofar,” a ram’s horn rather than a brass instrument (so throughout the chapter).
[33:3] 18 tn Sounding the trumpet was a warning of imminent danger (Neh 4:18-20; Jer 4:19; Amos 3:6).
[33:4] 19 tn Heb “his blood will be on his own head.”
[33:5] 20 tn Heb “his blood will be on him.”
[33:6] 21 tn Or “in his punishment.” The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity/punishment” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here and in vv. 8 and 9; 3:18, 19; 4:17; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment” for iniquity or “guilt” of iniquity.
[33:6] 22 tn Heb “his blood from the hand of the watchman I will seek.”
[33:7] 23 sn Jeremiah (Jer 6:17) and Habakkuk (Hab 2:1) also served in the role of a watchman.
[33:8] 24 tn The same expression occurs in Gen 2:17.
[33:8] 25 tn Heb “and you do not speak to warn.”
[33:8] 27 tn Heb “and his blood from your hand I will seek.”
[33:9] 28 tn Heb “from his way to turn from it.”
[33:9] 29 tn Heb “and he does not turn from his way.”
[33:10] 30 tn Heb “(are) upon us.”
[33:11] 31 tn Heb “turn from his way.”
[33:11] 32 tn Heb “ways.” This same word is translated “behavior” earlier in the verse.
[33:12] 33 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
[33:12] 34 tn Heb “in the day of his rebellion.” The statement envisions a godly person rejecting what is good and becoming sinful. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:247-48.
[33:12] 35 tn Heb “and the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble in it in the day of his turning from his wickedness.”
[33:12] 37 tn Heb “in the day of his sin.”
[33:15] 38 tn Heb “the wicked one.”
[33:15] 39 tn Heb “and in the statutes of life he walks.”
[33:16] 40 tn Heb “remembered.”
[33:17] 41 tn Heb “the sons of your people.”
[33:17] 43 tn The Hebrew verb translated “is (not) right” has the basic meaning of “to measure.” For a similar concept, see Ezek 18:25, 29.
