Ezekiel 9:1-11

The Execution of Idolaters

9:1 Then he shouted in my ears, “Approach, ¹  you who are to visit destruction on the city, each with his destructive weapon in his hand!” 9:2 Next, I noticed ²  six men ³  coming from the direction of the upper gate ⁴  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁵  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

9:3 Then the glory of the God of Israel went up from the cherub where it had rested to the threshold of the temple. ⁶  He called to the man dressed in linen who had the writing kit at his side. 9:4 The Lord said to him, “Go through the city of Jerusalem ⁷  and put a mark ⁸  on the foreheads of the people who moan and groan over all the abominations practiced in it.”

9:5 While I listened, he said to the others, ⁹  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ¹⁰  anyone! 9:6 Old men, young men, young women, little children, and women – wipe them out! But do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary!” So they began with the elders who were at the front of the temple.

9:7 He said to them, “Defile the temple and fill the courtyards with corpses. Go!” So they went out and struck people down throughout the city. 9:8 While they were striking them down, I was left alone, and I threw myself face down and cried out, “Ah, sovereign Lord! Will you destroy the entire remnant of Israel when you pour out your fury on Jerusalem?”

9:9 He said to me, “The sin of the house of Israel and Judah is extremely great; the land is full of murder, and the city is full of corruption, ¹¹  for they say, ‘The Lord has abandoned the land, and the Lord does not see!’ ¹²  9:10 But as for me, my eye will not pity them nor will I spare ¹³  them; I hereby repay them for what they have done.” ¹⁴ 

9:11 Next I noticed the man dressed in linen with the writing kit at his side bringing back word: “I have done just as you commanded me.”

[9:1]  ¹ tc Heb “they approached.” Reading the imperative assumes the same consonantal text but different vowels.

[9:2]  ² tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[9:2]  ³ sn The six men plus the scribe would equal seven, which was believed by the Babylonians to be the number of planetary deities.

[9:2]  ⁴ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

[9:2]  ⁵ tn Or “a scribe’s inkhorn.” The Hebrew term occurs in the OT only in Ezek 9 and is believed to be an Egyptian loanword.

[9:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[9:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem.”

[9:4]  ⁸ tn The word translated “mark” is in Hebrew the letter ת (tav). Outside this context the only other occurrence of the word is in Job 31:35. In ancient Hebrew script this letter was written like the letter X.

[9:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “to these he said in my ears.”

[9:5]  ¹⁰ 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.

[9:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “lawlessness” (NAB); “perversity” (NRSV). The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT, and its meaning is uncertain. The similar phrase in 7:23 has a common word for “violence.”

[9:9]  ¹² sn The saying is virtually identical to that of the elders in Ezek 8:12.

[9:10]  ¹³ 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.

[9:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.” The same expression occurs in 1 Kgs 8:32; Ezek 11:21; 16:43; 22:31.