Ezekiel 9:1-7

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.

[9:1]  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.