Ezekiel 8:11

8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel ¹  (with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them) were standing in front of them, each with a censer in his hand, and fragrant ²  vapors from a cloud of incense were swirling upward.

Ezekiel 21:21

21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ³  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ⁴  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ⁵  he examines ⁶  animal livers. ⁷ 

[8:11]  ¹ sn Note the contrast between these seventy men who represented Israel and the seventy elders who ate the covenant meal before God, inaugurating the covenant relationship (Exod 24:1, 9).

[8:11]  ² tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[21:21]  ³ tn Heb “mother.”

[21:21]  ⁴ sn Mesopotamian kings believed that the gods revealed the future through omens. They employed various divination techniques, some of which are included in the list that follows. A particularly popular technique was the examination and interpretation of the livers of animals. See R. R. Wilson, Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 90-110.

[21:21]  ⁵ tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).

[21:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “sees.”

[21:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “the liver.”