Ezekiel 6:2

6:2 “Son of man, turn toward ¹  the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them:

Ezekiel 6:1

Judgment on the Mountains of Israel

6:1 The word of the Lord came to me:

Ezekiel 2:1-10

Ezekiel’s Commission

2:1 He said to me, “Son of man, ²  stand on your feet and I will speak with you.” 2:2 As he spoke to me, ³  a wind ⁴  came into me and stood me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.

2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the house ⁵  of Israel, to rebellious nations ⁶  who have rebelled against me; both they and their fathers have revolted ⁷  against me to this very day. 2:4 The people ⁸  to whom I am sending you are obstinate and hard-hearted, ⁹  and you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’ ¹⁰  2:5 And as for them, ¹¹  whether they listen ¹²  or not – for they are a rebellious ¹³  house ¹⁴  – they will know that a prophet has been among them. 2:6 But you, son of man, do not fear them, and do not fear their words – even though briers ¹⁵  and thorns ¹⁶  surround you and you live among scorpions – do not fear their words and do not be terrified of the looks they give you, ¹⁷  for they are a rebellious house! 2:7 You must speak my words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious. 2:8 As for you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you: Do not rebel like that rebellious house! Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”

2:9 Then I looked and realized a hand was stretched out to me, and in it was a written scroll. 2:10 He unrolled it before me, and it had writing on the front ¹⁸  and back; ¹⁹  written on it were laments, mourning, and woe.

Ezekiel 4:1-17

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ²⁰  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ²¹  a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp ²²  against it! Post soldiers outside it ²³  and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then for your part take an iron frying pan ²⁴  and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign ²⁵  for the house of Israel.

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ²⁶  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. 4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ²⁷  for you – 390 days. ²⁸  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ²⁹ 

4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days ³⁰  – I have assigned one day for each year. 4:7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 4:8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege. ³¹ 

4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, ³²  put them in a single container, and make food ³³  from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days ³⁴  – you will eat it. 4:10 The food you eat will be eight ounces ³⁵  a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed ³⁶  times. 4:11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; ³⁷  you must drink it at fixed times. 4:12 And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.” ³⁸  4:13 And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations ³⁹  where I will banish them.”

4:14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ⁴⁰  has never entered my mouth.”

4:15 So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply ⁴¹  in Jerusalem. ⁴²  They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror 4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity. ⁴³ 

Ezekiel 17:1-24

A Parable of Two Eagles and a Vine

17:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 17:2 “Son of man, offer a riddle, ⁴⁴  and tell a parable to the house of Israel. 17:3 Say to them: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: ⁴⁵ 

“‘A great eagle ⁴⁶  with broad wings, long feathers, ⁴⁷ 

with full plumage which was multi-hued, ⁴⁸ 

came to Lebanon ⁴⁹  and took the top of the cedar.

17:4 He plucked off its topmost shoot;

he brought it to a land of merchants

and planted it in a city of traders.

17:5 He took one of the seedlings ⁵⁰  of the land,

placed it in a cultivated plot; ⁵¹ 

a shoot by abundant water,

like a willow he planted it.

17:6 It sprouted and became a vine,

spreading low to the ground; ⁵² 

its branches turning toward him, ⁵³  its roots were under itself. ⁵⁴ 

So it became a vine; it produced shoots and sent out branches.

17:7 “‘There was another great eagle ⁵⁵ 

with broad wings and thick plumage.

Now this vine twisted its roots toward him

and sent its branches toward him

to be watered from the soil where it was planted.

17:8 In a good field, by abundant waters, it was planted

to grow branches, bear fruit, and become a beautiful vine.

17:9 “‘Say to them: This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Will it prosper?

Will he not rip out its roots

and cause its fruit to rot ⁵⁶  and wither?

All its foliage ⁵⁷  will wither.

No strong arm or large army

will be needed to pull it out by its roots. ⁵⁸ 

17:10 Consider! It is planted, but will it prosper?

Will it not wither completely when the east wind blows on it?

Will it not wither in the soil where it sprouted?’”

17:11 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 17:12 “Say to the rebellious house of Israel: ⁵⁹  ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ ⁶⁰  Say: ‘See here, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem ⁶¹  and took her king and her officials prisoner and brought them to himself in Babylon. 17:13 He took one from the royal family, ⁶²  made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. ⁶³  He then took the leaders of the land 17:14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 17:15 But this one from Israel’s royal family ⁶⁴  rebelled against the king of Babylon ⁶⁵  by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape?

17:16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, surely in the city ⁶⁶  of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke – in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17:17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help ⁶⁷  him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note ⁶⁸  – he gave his promise ⁶⁹  and did all these things – he will not escape!

17:19 “‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him ⁷⁰  for despising my oath and breaking my covenant! 17:20 I will throw my net over him and he will be caught in my snare; I will bring him to Babylon and judge him there because of the unfaithfulness he committed against me. 17:21 All the choice men ⁷¹  among his troops will die ⁷²  by the sword and the survivors will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the Lord, have spoken!

17:22 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘I will take a sprig ⁷³  from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. ⁷⁴ 

I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs;

I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

17:23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,

and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.

Every bird will live under it;

Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.

17:24 All the trees of the field will know that I am the Lord.

I make the high tree low; I raise up the low tree.

I make the green tree wither, and I make the dry tree sprout.

I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it!’”

[6:2]  ¹ 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.

[2:1]  ² sn The phrase son of man occurs ninety-three times in the book of Ezekiel. It simply means “human one,” and distinguishes the prophet from the nonhuman beings that are present in the world of his vision.

[2:2]  ³ tc The phrase “as he spoke to me” is absent from the LXX.

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Or “spirit.” NIV has “the Spirit,” but the absence of the article in the Hebrew text makes this unlikely. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the Lord’s Spirit is referred to as “the Spirit of the Lord” (11:5; 37:1), “the Spirit of God” (11:24), or “my (that is, the Lord’s) Spirit” (36:27; 37:14; 39:29). Some identify the “spirit” of 2:2 as the spirit that energized the living beings, however, that “spirit” is called “the spirit” (1:12, 20) or “the spirit of the living beings” (1:20-21; 10:17). Still others see the term as referring to an impersonal “spirit” of strength or courage, that is, the term may also be understood as a disposition or attitude. The Hebrew word often refers to a wind in Ezekiel (1:4; 5:10, 12; 12:4; 13:11, 13; 17:10, 21; 19:12; 27:26; 37:9). In 37:5-10 a “breath” originates in the “four winds” and is associated with the Lord’s life-giving breath (see v. 14). This breath enters into the dry bones and gives them life. In a similar fashion the breath of 2:2 (see also 3:24) energizes paralyzed Ezekiel. Breath and wind are related. On the one hand it is a more normal picture to think of breath rather than wind entering someone, but since wind represents an external force it seems more likely for wind rather than breath to stand someone up (unless we should understand it as a disposition). It may be that one should envision the breath of the speaker moving like a wind to revive Ezekiel, helping him to regain his breath and invigorating him to stand. A wind also transports the prophet from one place to another (3:12, 14; 8:3; 11:1, 24; 43:5).

[2:3]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew reads “sons of,” while the LXX reads “house,” implying the more common phrase in Ezekiel. Either could be abbreviated with the first letter ב (bet). In preparation for the characterization “house of rebellion,” in vv. 5, 6, and 8, “house” is preferred (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:10 and W. Zimmerli, Ezekiel [Hermeneia], 2:564-65).

[2:3]  ⁵ tc Heb “to the rebellious nations.” The phrase “to the rebellious nations” is omitted in the LXX. Elsewhere in Ezekiel the singular word “nation” is used for Israel (36:13-15; 37:22). Here “nations” may have the meaning of “tribes” or refer to the two nations of Israel and Judah.

[2:3]  ⁶ tc This word is omitted from the LXX.

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “sons.” The word choice may reflect treaty idiom, where the relationship between an overlord and his subjects can be described as that of father and son.

[2:4]  ⁶ tc Heb “stern of face and hard of heart.” The phrases “stern of face” and “hard of heart” are lacking in the LXX.

[2:4]  ⁷ tn The phrase “thus says [the Lord]” occurs 129 times in Ezekiel; the announcement is identical to the way messengers often introduced their messages (Gen 32:5; 45:9; Exod 5:10; Num 20:14; Judg 11:15).

[2:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the phrase “And as for them” has been used in the translation for clarity.

[2:5]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew word implies obedience rather than mere hearing or paying attention.

[2:5]  ⁸ tn This Hebrew adjective is also used to describe the Israelites in Num 17:25 and Isa 30:9.

[2:5]  ⁹ sn The book of Ezekiel frequently refers to the Israelites as a rebellious house (Ezek 2:5, 6, 8; 3:9, 26-27; 12:2-3, 9, 25; 17:12; 24:3).

[2:6]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term occurs only here in the OT.

[2:6]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term is found elsewhere in the OT only in Ezek 28:24.

[2:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “of their faces.”

[2:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “on the face.”

[2:10]  ⁹ sn Written on the front and back. While it was common for papyrus scrolls to have writing on both sides the same was not true for leather scrolls.

[4:1]  ⁹ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

[4:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or perhaps “draw.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “a barricade.”

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “set camps against it.”

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.

[4:3]  ¹² tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.

[4:4]  ¹² tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[4:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

[4:5]  ¹⁴ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

[4:6]  ¹⁴ sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”

[4:8]  ¹⁵ sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.

[4:9]  ¹⁶ sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.

[4:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “bread.”

[4:9]  ¹⁸ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:10]  ¹⁷ sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).

[4:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from time to time.”

[4:11]  ¹⁸ sn A pint and a half [Heb “one-sixth of a hin”]. One-sixth of a hin was a quantity of liquid equal to about 1.3 pints or 0.6 liters.

[4:12]  ¹⁹ sn Human waste was to remain outside the camp of the Israelites according to Deut 23:15.

[4:13]  ²⁰ sn Unclean food among the nations. Lands outside of Israel were considered unclean (Josh 22:19; Amos 7:17).

[4:14]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).

[4:16]  ²² tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.

[4:16]  ²³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:17]  ²³ tn Or “in their punishment.” Ezek 4:16-17 alludes to Lev 26:26, 39. The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here, 3:18, 19; 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.”

[17:2]  ²⁴ sn The verb occurs elsewhere in the OT only in Judg 14:12-19, where Samson supplies a riddle.

[17:3]  ²⁵ tn The parable assumes the defection of Zedekiah to Egypt and his rejection of Babylonian lordship.

[17:3]  ²⁶ sn The great eagle symbolizes Nebuchadnezzar (17:12).

[17:3]  ²⁷ tn Hebrew has two words for wings; it is unknown whether they are fully synonymous or whether one term distinguishes a particular part of the wing such as the wing coverts (nearest the shoulder), secondaries (mid-feathers of the wing) or primaries (last and longest section of the wing).

[17:3]  ²⁸ tn This term was used in 16:10, 13, and 18 of embroidered cloth.

[17:3]  ²⁹ sn In the parable Lebanon apparently refers to Jerusalem (17:12).

[17:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “took of the seed of the land.” For the vine imagery, “seedling” is a better translation, though in its subsequent interpretation the “seed” refers to Zedekiah through its common application to offspring.

[17:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a field for seed.”

[17:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “short of stature.”

[17:6]  ²⁸ tn That is, the eagle.

[17:6]  ²⁹ tn Or “him,” i.e., the eagle.

[17:7]  ²⁸ sn The phrase another great eagle refers to Pharaoh Hophra.

[17:9]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew root occurs only here in the OT and appears to have the meaning of “strip off.” In application to fruit the meaning may be “cause to rot.”

[17:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “all the טַרְפֵּי (tarpey) of branches.” The word טַרְפֵּי occurs only here in the Bible; its precise meaning is uncertain.

[17:9]  ³¹ tn Or “there will be no strong arm or large army when it is pulled up by the roots.”

[17:12]  ³⁰ tn The words “of Israel” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation as a clarification of the referent.

[17:12]  ³¹ sn The narrative description of this interpretation of the riddle is given in 2 Kgs 24:11-15.

[17:12]  ³² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[17:13]  ³¹ tn Or “descendants”; Heb “seed” (cf. v. 5).

[17:13]  ³² tn Heb “caused him to enter into an oath.”

[17:15]  ³² tn Heb “he”; the referent (the member of the royal family, v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:15]  ³³ tn Heb “him”; the referent (the king of Babylon) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:16]  ³³ tn Heb “place.”

[17:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “deal with” or “work with.”

[17:18]  ³⁵ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates being aware of or taking notice of something.

[17:18]  ³⁶ sn Heb “hand.” “Giving one’s hand” is a gesture of promise (2 Kgs 10:15).

[17:19]  ³⁶ tn Heb “place it on his head.”

[17:21]  ³⁷ tc Some manuscripts and versions read “choice men,” while most manuscripts read “fugitives”; the difference arises from the reversal, or metathesis, of two letters, מִבְרָחָיו (mivrakhyv) for מִבְחָריו (mivkharyv).

[17:21]  ³⁸ tn Heb “fall.”

[17:22]  ³⁸ sn The language is analogous to messianic imagery in Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8; 6:4 although the technical terminology is not the same.

[17:22]  ³⁹ tc The LXX lacks “and plant it.”