Discovery BoxEzekiel 9:1--11:25
Context9:1 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.”
10:1 As I watched, I saw 15 on the platform 16 above the top of the cherubim something like a sapphire, resembling the shape of a throne, appearing above them. 10:2 The Lord 17 said to the man dressed in linen, “Go between the wheelwork 18 underneath the cherubim. 19 Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went as I watched.
10:3 (The cherubim were standing on the south side 20 of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court.) 10:4 Then the glory of the Lord arose from the cherub and moved to the threshold of the temple. The temple was filled with the cloud while the court was filled with the brightness of the Lord’s glory. 10:5 The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard from the outer court, like the sound of the sovereign God 21 when he speaks.
10:6 When the Lord 22 commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from within the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man 23 went in and stood by one of the wheels. 24 10:7 Then one of the cherubim 25 stretched out his hand 26 toward the fire which was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and left. 10:8 (The cherubim appeared to have the form 27 of human hands under their wings.)
10:9 As I watched, I noticed 28 four wheels by the cherubim, one wheel beside each cherub; 29 the wheels gleamed like jasper. 30 10:10 As for their appearance, all four of them looked the same, something like a wheel within a wheel. 31 10:11 When they 32 moved, they would go in any of the four directions they faced without turning as they moved; in the direction the head would turn they would follow 33 without turning as they moved, 10:12 along with their entire bodies, 34 their backs, their hands, and their wings. The wheels of the four of them were full of eyes all around. 10:13 As for their wheels, they were called “the wheelwork” 35 as I listened. 10:14 Each of the cherubim 36 had four faces: The first was the face of a cherub, 37 the second that of a man, the third that of a lion, and the fourth that of an eagle.
10:15 The cherubim rose up; these were the living beings 38 I saw at the Kebar River. 10:16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them; when the cherubim spread 39 their wings to rise from the ground, the wheels did not move from their side. 10:17 When the cherubim 40 stood still, the wheels 41 stood still, and when they rose up, the wheels 42 rose up with them, for the spirit 43 of the living beings 44 was in the wheels. 45
10:18 Then the glory of the Lord moved away from the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim. 10:19 The cherubim spread 46 their wings, and they rose up from the earth 47 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.
10:20 These were the living creatures 48 which I saw at the Kebar River underneath the God of Israel; I knew that they were cherubim. 10:21 Each had four faces; each had four wings and the form of human hands under the wings. 10:22 As for the form of their faces, they were the faces whose appearance I had seen at the Kebar River. Each one moved straight ahead.
11:1 A wind 49 lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the Lord’s temple that faces the east. There, at the entrance of the gate, I noticed twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, officials of the people. 50 11:2 The Lord 51 said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked advice in this city. 11:3 They say, 52 ‘The time is not near to build houses; 53 the city 54 is a cooking pot 55 and we are the meat in it.’ 11:4 Therefore, prophesy against them! Prophesy, son of man!”
11:5 Then the Spirit of the Lord came 56 upon me and said to me, “Say: This is what the Lord says: ‘This is what you are thinking, 57 O house of Israel; I know what goes through your minds. 58 11:6 You have killed many people in this city; you have filled its streets with corpses.’ 11:7 Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: ‘The corpses you have dumped 59 in the midst of the city 60 are the meat, and this city 61 is the cooking pot, but I will take you out of it. 62 11:8 You fear the sword, so the sword I will bring against you,’ declares the sovereign Lord. 11:9 ‘But I will take you out of the city. 63 And I will hand you over to foreigners. I will execute judgments on you. 11:10 You will die by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 11:11 This city will not be a cooking pot for you, and you will not 64 be meat within it; I will judge you at the border of Israel. 11:12 Then you will know that I am the Lord, whose statutes you have not followed and whose regulations you have not carried out. Instead you have behaved according to the regulations of the nations around you!’”
11:13 Now, while I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. Then I threw myself face down and cried out with a loud voice, “Alas, sovereign Lord! You are completely wiping out the remnant of Israel!” 65
11:14 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 11:15 “Son of man, your brothers, 66 your relatives, 67 and the whole house of Israel, all of them are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem 68 have said, ‘They have gone 69 far away from the Lord; to us this land has been given as a possession.’
11:16 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Although I have removed them far away among the nations and have dispersed them among the countries, I have been a little 70 sanctuary for them among the lands where they have gone.’
11:17 “Therefore say: ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather you from the peoples and assemble you from the lands where you have been dispersed, I will give you back the country of Israel.’
11:18 “When they return to it, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations. 11:19 I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within them; 71 I will remove the hearts of stone from their bodies 72 and I will give them tender hearts, 73 11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and observe my regulations and carry them out. Then they will be my people, and I will be their God. 74 11:21 But those whose hearts are devoted to detestable things and abominations, I hereby repay them for what they have done, 75 says the sovereign Lord.”
11:22 Then the cherubim spread 76 their wings with their wheels alongside them while the glory of the God of Israel hovered above them. 11:23 The glory of the Lord rose up from within the city and stopped 77 over the mountain east of it. 11:24 Then a wind 78 lifted me up and carried me to the exiles in Babylonia, 79 in the vision given to me by the Spirit of God.
Then the vision I had seen went up from me. 11:25 So I told the exiles everything 80 the Lord had shown 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.
[9:4] 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.
[10:1] 15 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[10:1] 16 tn Or “like a dome.” See 1:22-26.
[10:2] 17 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[10:2] 18 tn The Hebrew term often refers to chariot wheels (Isa 28:28; Ezek 23:24; 26:10).
[10:2] 19 tc The LXX, Syriac, Vulgate, and Targum
[10:3] 20 tn Heb “right side.”
[10:5] 21 tn The name (“El Shaddai”) has often been translated “God Almighty,” primarily because Jerome translated it omnipotens (“all powerful”) in the Latin Vulgate. There has been much debate over the meaning of the name. For discussion see W. F. Albright, “The Names Shaddai and Abram,” JBL 54 (1935): 173-210; R. Gordis, “The Biblical Root sdy-sd,” JTS 41 (1940): 34-43; and especially T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 69-72.
[10:6] 22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[10:6] 23 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man dressed in linen) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:7] 25 tn Heb “the cherub.”
[10:7] 26 tn The Hebrew text adds, “from among the cherubim.”
[10:8] 27 tn The Hebrew term is normally used as an architectural term in describing the plan or pattern of the tabernacle or temple or a representation of it (see Exod 25:8; 1 Chr 28:11).
[10:9] 28 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
[10:9] 29 tn The MT repeats this phrase, a clear case of dittography.
[10:9] 30 tn Heb “Tarshish stone.” The meaning is uncertain. The term has also been translated “topaz” (NEB), “beryl” (KJV, NASB, NRSV), and “chrysolite” (RSV, NIV).
[10:10] 31 tn Or “like a wheel at right angles to another wheel.” Some envision concentric wheels here, while others propose “a globe-like structure in which two wheels stand at right angles” (L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:33-34). See also 1:16.
[10:11] 32 sn That is, the cherubim.
[10:11] 33 tn Many interpreters assume that the human face of each cherub was the one that looked forward.
[10:12] 34 tc The phrase “along with their entire bodies” is absent from the LXX and may be a gloss explaining the following words.
[10:13] 35 tn Or “the whirling wheels.”
[10:14] 36 tn Heb “each one”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:14] 37 sn The living creature described here is thus slightly different from the one described in Ezek 1:10, where a bull’s face appeared instead of a cherub’s. Note that some English versions harmonize the two descriptions and read the same here as in 1:10 (cf. NAB, NLT “an ox”; TEV, CEV “a bull”). This may be justified based on v. 22, which states the creatures’ appearance was the same.
[10:15] 38 tn Heb “it was the living creature.”
[10:17] 40 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 41 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 42 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:17] 44 tn Heb “living creature.”
[10:17] 45 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[10:19] 47 tn Or “the ground” (NIV, NCV).
[10:20] 48 tn Heb “That was the living creature.”
[11:1] 49 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
[11:1] 50 sn The phrase officials of the people occurs in Neh 11:1; 1 Chr 21:2; 2 Chr 24:23.
[11:2] 51 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the
[11:3] 52 tn The Hebrew verb may mean “think” in this context. This content of what they say (or think) represents their point of view.
[11:3] 53 sn The expression build houses may mean “establish families” (Deut 25:9; Ruth 4:11; Prov 24:27).
[11:3] 54 tn Heb “she” or “it”; the feminine pronoun refers here to Jerusalem.
[11:3] 55 sn Jerusalem is also compared to a pot in Ezek 24:3-8. The siege of the city is pictured as heating up the pot.
[11:5] 57 tn The Hebrew verb commonly means “to say,” but may also mean “to think” (see also v. 3).
[11:5] 58 tn Heb “I know the steps of your spirits.”
[11:7] 60 tn Heb “in its midst.”
[11:7] 61 tn Heb “she/it.” See v. 3.
[11:7] 62 tc Many of the versions read “I will bring you out” (active) rather than “he brought out” (the reading of MT).
[11:11] 64 tn The Hebrew text does not have the negative particle, but it is implied. The negative particle in the previous line does double duty here.
[11:13] 65 tc The LXX reads this statement as a question. Compare this to the question in 9:8. It is possible that the interrogative particle has been omitted by haplography. However, an exclamatory statement as in the MT also makes sense and the LXX may have simply tried to harmonize this passage with 9:8.
[11:15] 66 tc The MT reads “your brothers, your brothers” either for empahsis (D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:341, n. 1; 346) or as a result of dittography.
[11:15] 67 tc The MT reads גְאֻלָּתֶךָ (gÿ’ullatekha, “your redemption-men”), referring to the relatives responsible for deliverance in times of hardship (see Lev 25:25-55). The LXX and Syriac read “your fellow exiles,” assuming an underlying Hebrew text of גָלוּתֶךָ (galutekha) or having read the א (aleph) as an internal mater lectionis for holem.
[11:15] 68 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[11:15] 69 tc The MT has an imperative form (“go far!”), but it may be read with different vowels as a perfect verb (“they have gone far”).
[11:16] 70 tn Or “have been partially a sanctuary”; others take this as temporal (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV “a little while”).
[11:19] 71 tc The MT reads “you”; many Hebrew
[11:19] 72 tn Heb “their flesh.”
[11:19] 73 tn Heb “heart of flesh.”
[11:20] 74 sn The expression They will be my people, and I will be their God occurs as a promise to Abraham (Gen 17:8), Moses (Exod 6:7), and the nation (Exod 29:45).
[11:21] 75 tn Heb “their way on their head I have placed.”
[11:24] 78 tn Or “spirit.” See note on “wind” in 2:2.
