Ezekiel 7:1-5

The End Arrives

7:1 The word of the Lord came to me: 7:2 “You, son of man – this is what the sovereign Lord says to the land of Israel: An end! The end is coming on the four corners of the land! ¹  7:3 The end is now upon you, and I will release my anger against you; I will judge ²  you according to your behavior, ³  I will hold you accountable for ⁴  all your abominable practices. 7:4 My eye will not pity you; I will not spare ⁵  you. ⁶  For I will hold you responsible for your behavior, ⁷  and you will suffer the consequences of your abominable practices. ⁸  Then you will know that I am the Lord!

7:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: A disaster ⁹  – a one-of-a-kind ¹⁰  disaster – is coming!

[7:2]  ¹ tn Or “earth.” Elsewhere the expression “four corners of the earth” figuratively refers to the whole earth (Isa 11:12).

[7:3]  ² tn Or “punish” (cf. BDB 1047 s.v. שָׁפַט 3.c).

[7:3]  ³ tn Heb “ways.”

[7:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will place on you.”

[7:4]  ⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term is primarily emotional: “to pity,” which in context implies an action, as in being moved by pity in order to spare them from the horror of their punishment.

[7:4]  ⁶ tn The pronoun “you” is not in the Hebrew text, but is implied.

[7:4]  ⁷ tn “I will set your behavior on your head.”

[7:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “and your abominable practices will be among you.”

[7:5]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew term often refers to moral evil (see Ezek 6:10; 14:22), but in many contexts it refers to calamity or disaster, sometimes as punishment for evil behavior.

[7:5]  ¹⁰ tc So most Hebrew mss; many Hebrew mss read “disaster after disaster” (cf. NAB, NCV, NRSV, NLT).