Discovery BoxEzekiel 38:2-3
Context38:2 “Son of man, turn toward 1 Gog, 2 of the land of Magog, 3 the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. 4 Prophesy against him 38:3 and say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, 5 I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
Ezekiel 38:1
Context38:1 The word of the Lord came to me:
Ezekiel 3:1-27
Context3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you see in front of you 6 – eat this scroll – and then go and speak to the house of Israel.” 3:2 So I opened my mouth and he fed me the scroll.
3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, 7 and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.
3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them. 3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unintelligible speech 8 and difficult language, 9 but 10 to the house of Israel – 3:6 not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand 11 – surely if 12 I had sent you to them, they would listen to you! 3:7 But the house of Israel is unwilling to listen to you, 13 because they are not willing to listen to me, 14 for the whole house of Israel is hard-headed and hard-hearted. 15
3:8 “I have made your face adamant 16 to match their faces, and your forehead hard to match their foreheads. 3:9 I have made your forehead harder than flint – like diamond! 17 Do not fear them or be terrified of the looks they give you, 18 for they are a rebellious house.”
3:10 And he said to me, “Son of man, take all my words that I speak to you to heart and listen carefully. 3:11 Go to the exiles, to your fellow countrymen, 19 and speak to them – say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says,’ whether they pay attention or not.”
3:12 Then a wind lifted me up 20 and I heard a great rumbling sound behind me as the glory of the Lord rose from its place, 21 3:13 and the sound of the living beings’ wings brushing against each other, and the sound of the wheels alongside them, a great rumbling sound. 3:14 A wind lifted me up and carried me away. I went bitterly, 22 my spirit full of fury, and the hand of the Lord rested powerfully 23 on me. 3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel Abib, 24 who lived by the Kebar River. 25 I sat dumbfounded among them there, where they were living, for seven days. 26
3:16 At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: 27 3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman 28 for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you must give them a warning from me. 3:18 When I say to the wicked, “You will certainly die,” 29 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, 30 but I will hold you accountable for his death. 31 3:19 But as for you, if you warn the wicked and he does not turn from his wicked deed and from his wicked lifestyle, he will die for his iniquity but you will have saved your own life. 32
3:20 “When a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I set an obstacle 33 before him, he will die. If you have not warned him, he will die for his sin. The righteous deeds he performed will not be considered, but I will hold you accountable for his death. 3:21 However, if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he 34 does not sin, he will certainly live because he was warned, and you will have saved your own life.”
3:22 The hand 35 of the Lord rested on me there, and he said to me, “Get up, go out to the valley, 36 and I will speak with you there.” 3:23 So I got up and went out to the valley, and the glory of the Lord was standing there, just like the glory I had seen by the Kebar River, 37 and I threw myself face down.
3:24 Then a wind 38 came into me and stood me on my feet. The Lord 39 spoke to me and said, “Go shut yourself in your house. 3:25 As for you, son of man, they will put ropes on you and tie you up with them, so you cannot go out among them. 3:26 I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent and unable to reprove 40 them, for they are a rebellious house. 3:27 But when I speak with you, I will loosen your tongue 41 and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ Those who listen will listen, but the indifferent will refuse, 42 for they are a rebellious house.
Ezekiel 6:1-14
Context6:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 6:2 “Son of man, turn toward 43 the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them: 6:3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, 44 Hear the word of the sovereign Lord! 45 This is what the sovereign Lord says to the mountains and the hills, to the ravines and the valleys: I am bringing 46 a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. 47 6:4 Your altars will be ruined and your incense altars will be broken. I will throw down your slain in front of your idols. 48 6:5 I will place the corpses of the people of Israel in front of their idols, 49 and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6:6 In all your dwellings, the cities will be laid waste and the high places ruined so that your altars will be laid waste and ruined, your idols will be shattered and demolished, your incense altars will be broken down, and your works wiped out. 50 6:7 The slain will fall among you and then you will know that I am the Lord. 51
6:8 “‘But I will spare some of you. Some will escape the sword when you are scattered in foreign lands. 52 6:9 Then your survivors will remember me among the nations where they are exiled. They will realize 53 how I was crushed by their unfaithful 54 heart which turned from me and by their eyes which lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves 55 because of the evil they have done and because of all their abominable practices. 6:10 They will know that I am the Lord; my threats to bring this catastrophe on them were not empty.’ 56
6:11 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Clap your hands, stamp your feet, and say, “Ah!” because of all the evil, abominable practices of the house of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine, and pestilence. 57 6:12 The one far away will die by pestilence, the one close by will fall by the sword, and whoever is left and has escaped these 58 will die by famine. I will fully vent my rage against them. 6:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord – when their dead lie among their idols around their altars, on every high hill and all the mountaintops, under every green tree and every leafy oak, 59 the places where they have offered fragrant incense to all their idols. 6:14 I will stretch out my hand against them 60 and make the land a desolate waste from the wilderness to Riblah, 61 in all the places where they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord!”
[38:2] 1 tn Heb “set your face against.”
[38:2] 2 sn This may refer to a Lydian king in western Asia Minor in the seventh century
[38:2] 3 sn One of the sons of Japheth according to Gen 10:2; 1 Chr 1:5.
[38:2] 4 tn Heb “the prince, the chief of Meshech and Tubal.” Some translate “the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal,” but it is more likely that the Hebrew noun in question is a common noun in apposition to “prince,” rather than a proper name. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 2:434-35. As Block demonstrates, attempts by some popular writers to identify these proper names with later geographical sites in Russia are anachronistic. See as well E. Yamauchi, Foes From the Northern Frontier, 19-27.
[38:3] 5 tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8.
[3:1] 9 tn Heb “eat what you find.”
[3:3] 13 tc Heb “I ate,” a first common singular preterite plus paragogic he (ה). The ancient versions read “I ate it,” which is certainly the meaning in the context, and indicates they read the he as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix. The Masoretes typically wrote a mappiq in the he for the pronominal suffix but apparently missed this one.
[3:5] 17 tn Heb “deep of lip” (in the sense of incomprehensible).
[3:5] 18 tn Heb “heavy of tongue.” Similar language occurs in Exod 4:10; Isa 33:19.
[3:5] 19 tn The conjunction “but” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied from the context.
[3:6] 22 tc The MT reads “if not” but most ancient versions translate only “if.” The expression occurs with this sense in Isa 5:9; 14:24. See also Ezek 34:8; 36:5; 38:19.
[3:7] 25 sn Moses (Exod 3:19) and Isaiah (Isa 6:9-10) were also told that their messages would not be received.
[3:7] 26 sn A similar description of Israel’s disobedience is given in 1 Sam 8:7.
[3:7] 27 tn Heb “hard of forehead and stiff of heart.”
[3:8] 29 tn Heb “strong, resolute.”
[3:9] 33 tn The Hebrew term translated “diamond” is parallel to “iron” in Jer 17:1. The Hebrew uses two terms which are both translated at times as “flint,” but here one is clearly harder than the other. The translation “diamond” attempts to reflect this distinction in English.
[3:9] 34 tn Heb “of their faces.”
[3:11] 37 tn Heb “to the sons of your people.”
[3:12] 41 sn See note on “wind” in 2:2.
[3:12] 42 tc This translation accepts the emendation suggested in BHS of בְּרוּם (bÿrum) for בָּרוּךְ (barukh). The letters mem (מ) and kaph (כ) were easily confused in the old script while בָּרוּךְ (“blessed be”) both implies a quotation which is out of place here and also does not fit the later phrase, “from its place,” which requires a verb of motion.
[3:14] 45 tn The traditional interpretation is that Ezekiel embarked on his mission with bitterness and anger, either reflecting God’s attitude toward the sinful people or his own feelings about having to carry out such an unpleasant task. L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:13) takes “bitterly” as a misplaced marginal note and understands the following word, normally translated “anger,” in the sense of fervor or passion. He translates, “I was passionately moved” (p. 4). Another option is to take the word translated “bitterly” as a verb meaning “strengthened” (attested in Ugaritic). See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 152.
[3:14] 46 tn Heb “the hand of the Lord was on me heavily.” The “hand of the Lord” is a metaphor for his power or influence; the modifier conveys intensity.
[3:15] 49 sn The name “Tel Abib” is a transliteration of an Akkadian term meaning “mound of the flood,” i.e., an ancient mound. It is not to be confused with the modern city of Tel Aviv in Israel.
[3:15] 51 sn A similar response to a divine encounter is found in Acts 9:8-9.
[3:16] 53 sn This phrase occurs about fifty times in the book of Ezekiel.
[3:17] 57 tn The literal role of a watchman is described in 2 Sam 18:24; 2 Kgs 9:17.
[3:18] 61 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] 62 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] 63 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).
[3:19] 65 tn Verses 17-19 are repeated in Ezek 33:7-9.
[3:20] 69 tn Or “stumbling block.” The Hebrew term refers to an obstacle in the road in Lev 19:14.
[3:21] 73 tn Heb “the righteous man.”
[3:22] 78 sn Ezekiel had another vision at this location, recounted in Ezek 37.
[3:24] 85 tn See the note on “wind” in 2:2.
[3:26] 89 tn Heb “you will not be to them a reprover.” In Isa 29:21 and Amos 5:10 “a reprover” issued rebuke at the city gate.
[3:27] 93 tn Heb “open your mouth.”
[3:27] 94 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.”
[6:2] 97 tn Heb “set your face against.” The expression occurs at the beginning of Ezekiel’s prophetic oracles in Ezek 13:17; 20:46; 21:2; 25:2; 28:21; 29:2; 35:2; 38:2.
[6:3] 101 tn The phrase “mountains of Israel” occurs only in the book of Ezekiel (6:2, 3; 19:9; 33:28; 34:13, 14; 35:12; 36:1, 4, 8; 37:22; 38:8; 39:2, 4, 17). The expression refers to the whole land of Israel.
[6:3] 102 tn The introductory formula “Hear the word of the sovereign
[6:3] 103 tn Heb “Look I, I am bringing.” The repetition of the pronoun draws attention to the speaker. The construction also indicates that the action is soon to come; the Lord is “about to bring a sword against” them.
[6:3] 104 tn The Hebrew term refers to elevated platforms where pagan sacrifices were performed.
[6:4] 105 tn Thirty-nine of the forty-eight biblical occurrences of this Hebrew word are found in the book of Ezekiel.
[6:5] 109 tc This first sentence, which explains the meaning of the last sentence of the previous verse, does not appear in the LXX and may be an instance of a marginal explanatory note making its way into the text.
[6:6] 113 tn The Hebrew verb translated “wiped out” is used to describe the judgment of the Flood (Gen 6:7; 7:4, 23).
[6:7] 117 sn The phrase you will know that I am the
[6:8] 121 tn Heb “when you have fugitives from the sword among the nations, when you are scattered among the lands.”
[6:9] 125 tn The words “they will realize” are not in the Hebrew text; they are added here for stylistic reasons since this clause assumes the previous verb “to remember” or “to take into account.”
[6:9] 126 tn Heb “how I was broken by their adulterous heart.” The image of God being “broken” is startling, but perfectly natural within the metaphorical framework of God as offended husband. The idiom must refer to the intense grief that Israel’s unfaithfulness caused God. For a discussion of the syntax and semantics of the Hebrew text, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 1:134.
[6:9] 127 tn Heb adds “in their faces.”
[6:10] 129 tn Heb “not in vain did I speak to do to them this catastrophe.” The wording of the last half of v. 10 parallels God’s declaration after the sin of the golden calf (Exod 32:14).
[6:11] 133 sn By the sword and by famine and by pestilence. A similar trilogy of punishments is mentioned in Lev 26:25-26. See also Jer 14:12; 21:9; 27:8, 13; 29:18).
[6:12] 137 tn Heb “the one who is left, the one who is spared.”
[6:13] 141 sn By referring to every high hill…all the mountaintops…under every green tree and every leafy oak Ezekiel may be expanding on the phraseology of Deut 12:2 (see 1 Kgs 14:23; 2 Kgs 16:4; 17:10; Jer 2:20; 3:6, 13; 2 Chr 28:4).
[6:14] 145 sn I will stretch out my hand against them is a common expression in the book of Ezekiel (14:9, 13; 16:27; 25:7; 35:3).
[6:14] 146 tc The Vulgate reads the name as “Riblah,” a city north of Damascus. The MT reads Diblah, a city otherwise unknown. The letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) may have been confused in the Hebrew text. The town of Riblah was in the land of Hamath (2 Kgs 23:33) which represented the northern border of Israel (Ezek 47:14).
