Ezekiel 9:2

9:2 Next, I noticed ¹  six men ²  coming from the direction of the upper gate ³  which faces north, each with his war club in his hand. Among them was a man dressed in linen with a writing kit ⁴  at his side. They came and stood beside the bronze altar.

Ezekiel 10:19

10:19 The cherubim spread ⁵  their wings, and they rose up from the earth ⁶  while I watched (when they went the wheels went alongside them). They stopped at the entrance to the east gate of the Lord’s temple as the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them.

Ezekiel 21:21

21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork ⁷  in the road at the head of the two routes. He looks for omens: ⁸  He shakes arrows, he consults idols, ⁹  he examines ¹⁰  animal livers. ¹¹ 

Ezekiel 44:11

44:11 Yet they will be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple, and serving the temple. They will slaughter the burnt offerings and the sacrifices for the people, and they will stand before them to minister to them.

Ezekiel 44:15

The Levitical Priests

44:15 “‘But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok ¹²  who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, will approach me to minister to me; they will stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the sovereign Lord.

Ezekiel 46:2

46:2 The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from the outside, and will stand by the doorpost of the gate. The priests will provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he will bow down at the threshold of the gate and then go out. But the gate will not be closed until evening.

Ezekiel 47:10

47:10 Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. ¹³ 

[9:2]  ¹ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.

[9:2]  ² 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]  ³ sn The upper gate was built by Jotham (2 Kgs 15:35).

[9:2]  ⁴ 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.

[10:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “lifted.”

[10:19]  ⁶ tn Or “the ground” (NIV, NCV).

[21:21]  ⁹ tn Heb “mother.”

[21:21]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn This word refers to personal idols that were apparently used for divination purposes (Gen 31:19; 1 Sam 19:13, 16).

[21:21]  ¹² tn Heb “sees.”

[21:21]  ¹³ tn Heb “the liver.”

[44:15]  ¹³ sn Zadok was a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar (1 Chr 6:50-53), who served as a priest during David’s reign (2 Sam 8:17).

[47:10]  ¹⁷ sn The Great Sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea (also in vv. 15, 19, 20).