Ezekiel 32:20-30

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, ¹  all of them struck down by the sword. ²  32:23 Their ³  graves are located in the remote slopes of the pit. ⁴  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. ⁵  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. ⁶  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, ⁷  who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war, having their swords placed under their heads and their shields on their bones, ⁸  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.

Psalms 9:17

9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; ⁹ 

this is the destiny of ¹⁰  all the nations that ignore ¹¹  God,

Isaiah 14:9

14:9 Sheol ¹²  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ¹³  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ¹⁴ 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ¹⁵ 

[32:22]  ¹ 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]  ² tn Heb “all of them slain, the ones felled by the sword.” See as well vv. 23-24.

[32:23]  ³ tn Heb “whose.”

[32:23]  ⁴ tn The only other occurrence of the phrase “remote slopes of the pit” is in Isa 14:15.

[32:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

[32:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “around him her graves,” but the expression is best emended to read “around her grave” (see vv. 23-24).

[32:27]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[9:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the Lord’s victory over the psalmist’s enemies. See v. 3.

[9:17]  ¹⁰ tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[9:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.

[14:9]  ¹² sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.