Ezekiel 5:8

5:8 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, ¹  and I will execute judgment ²  among you while the nations watch. ³ 

Ezekiel 17:17

17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ⁴  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people.

Ezekiel 19:10

19:10 “‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, ⁵  planted by water.

It was fruitful and full of branches because it was well-watered.

Ezekiel 22:2

22:2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, ⁶  are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? ⁷  Then confront her with all her abominable deeds!

Ezekiel 23:17

23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. ⁸  They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she ⁹  became disgusted with them.

Ezekiel 24:11

24:11 Set the empty pot on the coals, ¹⁰ 

until it becomes hot and its copper glows,

until its uncleanness melts within it and its rot ¹¹  is consumed.

[5:8]  ¹ 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. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.

[5:8]  ² tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”

[17:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[19:10]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew text reads “in your blood,” but most emend to “in your vineyard,” assuming a ב-כ (beth-kaph) confusion. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:284. Another attractive emendation assumes a faulty word division and yields the reading “like a vine full of tendrils, which/because…”; see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:607, n. 68.

[22:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.

[22:2]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.

[23:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”

[23:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “her soul.”

[24:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “set it upon its coals, empty.”

[24:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “rust” (so also in v. 12).