Hosea 3:1

An Illustration of God’s Love for Idolatrous Israel

3:1 The Lord said to me, “Go, show love to ¹  your wife ²  again, even though she loves ³  another man ⁴  and continually commits adultery. ⁵  Likewise, the Lord loves ⁶  the Israelites ⁷  although they turn to other gods and love to offer raisin cakes to idols.” ⁸ 

Isaiah 20:2-3

20:2 At that time the Lord announced through ⁹  Isaiah son of Amoz: “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments ¹⁰  and barefoot. 20:3 Later the Lord explained, “In the same way that my servant Isaiah has walked around in undergarments and barefoot for the past three years, as an object lesson and omen pertaining to Egypt and Cush,

Jeremiah 13:1-11

An Object Lesson from Ruined Linen Shorts

13:1 The Lord said to me, “Go and buy some linen shorts ¹¹  and put them on. ¹²  Do not put them in water.” ¹³  13:2 So I bought the shorts as the Lord had told me to do ¹⁴  and put them on. ¹⁵  13:3 Then the Lord spoke to me again and said, ¹⁶  13:4 “Take the shorts that you bought and are wearing ¹⁷  and go at once ¹⁸  to Perath. ¹⁹  Bury the shorts there ²⁰  in a crack in the rocks.” 13:5 So I went and buried them at Perath ²¹  as the Lord had ordered me to do. 13:6 Many days later the Lord said to me, “Go at once to Perath and get ²²  the shorts I ordered you to bury there.” 13:7 So I went to Perath and dug up ²³  the shorts from the place where I had buried them. I found ²⁴  that they were ruined; they were good for nothing.

13:8 Then the Lord said to me, ²⁵  13:9 “I, the Lord, say: ²⁶  ‘This shows how ²⁷  I will ruin the highly exalted position ²⁸  in which Judah and Jerusalem ²⁹  take pride. 13:10 These wicked people refuse to obey what I have said. ³⁰  They follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts and pay allegiance ³¹  to other gods by worshiping and serving them. So ³²  they will become just like these linen shorts which are good for nothing. 13:11 For,’ I say, ³³  ‘just as shorts cling tightly to a person’s body, so I bound the whole nation of Israel and the whole nation of Judah ³⁴  tightly ³⁵  to me.’ I intended for them to be my special people and to bring me fame, honor, and praise. ³⁶  But they would not obey me.

Ezekiel 4:1--5:17

Ominous Object Lessons

4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick ³⁷  and set it in front of you. Inscribe ³⁸  a city on it – Jerusalem. 4:2 Lay siege to it! Build siege works against it. Erect a siege ramp ³⁹  against it! Post soldiers outside it ⁴⁰  and station battering rams around it. 4:3 Then for your part take an iron frying pan ⁴¹  and set it up as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It is to be under siege; you are to besiege it. This is a sign ⁴²  for the house of Israel.

4:4 “Also for your part lie on your left side and place the iniquity ⁴³  of the house of Israel on it. For the number of days you lie on your side you will bear their iniquity. 4:5 I have determined that the number of the years of their iniquity are to be the number of days ⁴⁴  for you – 390 days. ⁴⁵  So bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. ⁴⁶ 

4:6 “When you have completed these days, then lie down a second time, but on your right side, and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah 40 days ⁴⁷  – I have assigned one day for each year. 4:7 You must turn your face toward the siege of Jerusalem with your arm bared and prophesy against it. 4:8 Look here, I will tie you up with ropes, so you cannot turn from one side to the other until you complete the days of your siege. ⁴⁸ 

4:9 “As for you, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt, ⁴⁹  put them in a single container, and make food ⁵⁰  from them for yourself. For the same number of days that you lie on your side – 390 days ⁵¹  – you will eat it. 4:10 The food you eat will be eight ounces ⁵²  a day by weight; you must eat it at fixed ⁵³  times. 4:11 And you must drink water by measure, a pint and a half; ⁵⁴  you must drink it at fixed times. 4:12 And you must eat the food like you would a barley cake. You must bake it in front of them over a fire made with dried human excrement.” ⁵⁵  4:13 And the Lord said, “This is how the people of Israel will eat their unclean food among the nations ⁵⁶  where I will banish them.”

4:14 And I said, “Ah, sovereign Lord, I have never been ceremonially defiled before. I have never eaten a carcass or an animal torn by wild beasts; from my youth up, unclean meat ⁵⁷  has never entered my mouth.”

4:15 So he said to me, “All right then, I will substitute cow’s manure instead of human excrement. You will cook your food over it.”

4:16 Then he said to me, “Son of man, I am about to remove the bread supply ⁵⁸  in Jerusalem. ⁵⁹  They will eat their bread ration anxiously, and they will drink their water ration in terror 4:17 because they will lack bread and water. Each one will be terrified, and they will rot for their iniquity. ⁶⁰ 

5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. ⁶¹  Shave off some of the hair from your head and your beard. ⁶²  Then take scales and divide up the hair you cut off. 5:2 Burn a third of it in the fire inside the city when the days of your siege are completed. Take a third and slash it with a sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:3 But take a few strands of hair ⁶³  from those and tie them in the ends of your garment. ⁶⁴  5:4 Again, take more of them and throw them into the fire, ⁶⁵  and burn them up. From there a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.

5:5 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem; I placed her in the center of the nations with countries all around her. 5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations ⁶⁶  and the countries around her. ⁶⁷  Indeed, they ⁶⁸  have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

5:7 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you are more arrogant ⁶⁹  than the nations around you, ⁷⁰  you have not followed my statutes and have not carried out my regulations. You have not even ⁷¹  carried out the regulations of the nations around you!

5:8 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, ⁷²  and I will execute judgment ⁷³  among you while the nations watch. ⁷⁴  5:9 I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again because of all your abominable practices. ⁷⁵  5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons within you, Jerusalem, ⁷⁶  and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments on you, and I will scatter any survivors ⁷⁷  to the winds. ⁷⁸ 

5:11 “Therefore, as surely as I live, says the sovereign Lord, because you defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominable practices, I will withdraw; my eye will not pity you, nor will I spare ⁷⁹  you. 5:12 A third of your people will die of plague or be overcome by the famine within you. ⁸⁰  A third of your people will fall by the sword surrounding you, ⁸¹  and a third I will scatter to the winds. I will unleash a sword behind them. 5:13 Then my anger will be fully vented; I will exhaust my rage on them, and I will be appeased. ⁸²  Then they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in my jealousy ⁸³  when I have fully vented my rage against them.

5:14 “I will make you desolate and an object of scorn among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by. 5:15 You will be ⁸⁴  an object of scorn and taunting, ⁸⁵  a prime example of destruction ⁸⁶  among the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger and raging fury. ⁸⁷  I, the Lord, have spoken! 5:16 I will shoot against them deadly, ⁸⁸  destructive ⁸⁹  arrows of famine, ⁹⁰  which I will shoot to destroy you. ⁹¹  I will prolong a famine on you and will remove the bread supply. ⁹²  5:17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. ⁹³  Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, ⁹⁴  and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “Go again! Love!” Cf. NAB “Give your love to.”

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “a woman.” The probable referent is Gomer. Some English translations (e.g., NIV, NLT) specify the referent as “your wife.”

[3:1]  ³ tc The MT vocalizes אֲהֻבַת (’ahuvat) as a construct form of the Qal passive participle and takes רֵעַ (rea’) as a genitive of agent: “who is loved by רֵעַ.” However, the ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Vulgate) all vocalize אֲהֻבַת as an absolute form of the Qal active participle, and take רֵעַ as the accusative direct object: “who loves רֵעַ.” The English translations consistently follow the MT. The editors of BHS suggest the revocalization but with some reservation. For discussion of the vocalization, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:230.

[3:1]  ⁴ tn The meaning of the noun רֵעַ (rea’) is debated because it has a broad range of meanings: (1) “friend,” (2) “lover,” (3) “companion,” (4) “neighbor,” and (5) “another” (HALOT 1253-55 s.v. II רֵעַ; BDB 945-46 s.v. II רֵעַ). The Hebrew lexicons favor the nuance “lover; paramour” here (HALOT 1255 s.v. 2; BDB 946 s.v. 1). Most scholars adopt the same approach; however, a few suggest that רֵעַ does not refer to another man, but to her husband (Hosea). Both approaches are reflected in English translations: NASB “a woman who is loved by her husband”; NIV “though she is loved by another”; NAB “a woman beloved of a paramour”; KJV “a woman beloved of her friend”; NJPS “a woman who, while befriended by a companion”; TEV “a woman who is committing adultery with a lover”; CEV “an unfaithful woman who has a lover.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “love a woman who is loved of a lover and is an adulteress.”

[3:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “like the love of the Lord.” The genitive after the construct functions as a subjective genitive.

[3:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “sons of Israel” (so NASB); KJV “children of Israel”; NAB “people of Israel.”

[3:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “they are lovers of cakes of raisins.” A number of English translations render this literally (e.g., ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[20:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “spoke by the hand of.”

[20:2]  ¹⁰ tn The word used here (עָרוֹם, ’arom) sometimes means “naked,” but here it appears to mean simply “lightly dressed,” i.e., stripped to one’s undergarments. See HALOT 883 s.v. עָרוֹם. The term also occurs in vv. 3, 4.

[13:1]  ¹¹ tn The term here (אֵזוֹר, ’ezor) has been rendered in various ways: “girdle” (KJV, ASV), “waistband” (NASB), “waistcloth” (RSV), “sash” (NKJV), “belt” (NIV, NCV, NLT), and “loincloth” (NAB, NRSV, NJPS, REB). The latter is more accurate according to J. M. Myers, “Dress and Ornaments,” IDB 1:870, and W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:399. It was a short, skirt-like garment reaching from the waist to the knees and worn next to the body (cf. v. 9). The modern equivalent is “shorts” as in TEV/GNB, CEV.

[13:1]  ¹² tn Heb “upon your loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion including the figurative uses see, IDB, “Loins,” 3:149.

[13:1]  ¹³ tn Or “Do not ever put them in water,” i.e., “Do not even wash them.”

[13:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “according to the word of the Lord.”

[13:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “upon your loins.” The “loins” were the midriff of the body from the waist to the knees. For a further discussion including the figurative uses see R. C. Dentan, “Loins,” IDB 3:149-50.

[13:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “The word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying.”

[13:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “which are upon your loins.” See further the notes on v. 1.

[13:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Get up and go.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action.

[13:4]  ¹⁹ tn There has been a great deal of debate about whether the place referred to here is a place (Parah [= Perath] mentioned in Josh 18:23, modern Khirbet Farah, near a spring ’ain Farah) about three and a half miles from Anathoth which was Jeremiah’s home town or the Euphrates River. Elsewhere the word “Perath” always refers to the Euphrates but it is either preceded by the word “river of” or there is contextual indication that the Euphrates is being referred to. Because a journey to the Euphrates and back would involve a journey of more than 700 miles (1,100 km) and take some months, scholars both ancient and modern have questioned whether “Perath” refers to the Euphrates here and if it does whether a real journey was involved. Most of the attempts to identify the place with the Euphrates involve misguided assumptions that this action was a symbolic message to Israel about exile or the corrupting influence of Assyria and Babylon. However, unlike the other symbolic acts in Jeremiah (and in Isaiah and Ezekiel) the symbolism is not part of a message to the people but to Jeremiah; the message is explained to him (vv. 9-11) not the people. In keeping with some of the wordplays that are somewhat common in Jeremiah it is likely that the reference here is to a place, Parah, which was near Jeremiah’s hometown, but whose name would naturally suggest to Jeremiah later in the Lord’s explanation in vv. 9-11 Assyria-Babylon as a place connected with Judah’s corruption (see the notes on vv. 9-10). For further discussion the reader should consult the commentaries, especially W. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:396 and W. McKane, Jeremiah (ICC), 1:285-92 who take opposite positions on this issue.

[13:4]  ²⁰ sn The significance of this act is explained in vv. 9-10. See the notes there for explanation.

[13:5]  ²¹ tc The translation reads בִּפְרָתָה (bifratah) with 4QJer^a as noted in W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:393 instead of בִּפְרָת (bifrat) in the MT.

[13:6]  ²² tn Heb “Get from there.” The words “from there” are not necessary to the English sentence. They would lead to a redundancy later in the verse, i.e., “from there…bury there.”

[13:7]  ²³ tn Heb “dug and took.”

[13:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “And behold.”

[13:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying.”

[13:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.”

[13:9]  ²⁷ tn In a sense this phrase which is literally “according to thus” or simply “thus” points both backward and forward: backward to the acted out parable and forward to the explanation which follows.

[13:9]  ²⁸ tn Many of the English versions have erred in rendering this word “pride” or “arrogance” with the resultant implication that the Lord is going to destroy Israel’s pride, i.e., humble them through the punishment of exile. However, BDB 144-45 s.v. גָּאוֹן 1 is more probably correct when they classify this passage among those that deal with the “‘majesty, excellence’ of nations, their wealth, power, magnificence of buildings….” The closest parallels to the usage here are in Zech 10:11 (parallel to scepter of Egypt); Ps 47:4 (47:5 HT; parallel to “our heritage” = “our land”); Isa 14:11; and Amos 8:7. The term is further defined in v. 11 where it refers to their special relationship and calling. To translate it “pride” or “arrogance” also ruins the wordplay on “ruin” (נִשְׁחַת [nishkhat] in v. 7 and אַשְׁחִית [’ashkhit] in v. 9).

[13:9]  ²⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to listen to my words.”

[13:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “and [they follow] after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for the idiom.

[13:10]  ³² tn The structure of this verse is a little unusual. It consists of a subject, “this wicked people” qualified by several “which” clauses preceding a conjunction and a form which would normally be taken as a third person imperative (a Hebrew jussive; וִיהִי, vihi). This construction, called casus pendens by Hebrew grammarians, lays focus on the subject, here calling attention to the nature of Israel’s corruption which makes it rotten and useless to God. See GKC 458 §143.d for other examples of this construction.

[13:11]  ³³ tn The words “I say” are “Oracle of the Lord” in Hebrew, and are located at the end of this statement in the Hebrew text rather than the beginning. However, they are rendered in the first person and placed at the beginning for smoother English style.

[13:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “all the house of Israel and all the house of Judah.”

[13:11]  ³⁵ tn It would be somewhat unnatural in English to render the play on the word translated here “cling tightly” and “bound tightly” in a literal way. They are from the same root word in Hebrew (דָּבַק, davaq), a word that emphasizes the closest of personal relationships and the loyalty connected with them. It is used, for example, of the relationship of a husband and a wife and the loyalty expected of them (cf. Gen 2:24; for other similar uses see Ruth 1:14; 2 Sam 20:2; Deut 11:22).

[13:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “I bound them…in order that they might be to me for a people and for a name and for praise and for honor.” The sentence has been separated from the preceding and an equivalent idea expressed which is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[4:1]  ³⁷ sn Ancient Near Eastern bricks were 10 to 24 inches long and 6 to 13 1/2 inches wide.

[4:1]  ³⁸ tn Or perhaps “draw.”

[4:2]  ³⁹ tn Or “a barricade.”

[4:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “set camps against it.”

[4:3]  ⁴¹ tn Or “a griddle,” that is, some sort of plate for cooking.

[4:3]  ⁴² tn That is, a symbolic object lesson.

[4:4]  ⁴³ tn Or “punishment” (also in vv. 5, 6).

[4:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “I have assigned for you that the years of their iniquity be the number of days.” Num 14:33-34 is an example of the reverse, where the days were converted into years, the number of days spying out the land becoming the number of years of the wilderness wanderings.

[4:5]  ⁴⁵ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “When you have carried the iniquity of the house of Israel,” and continuing on to the next verse.

[4:6]  ⁴⁷ sn The number 40 may refer in general to the period of Judah’s exile using the number of years Israel was punished in the wilderness. In this case, however, one would need to translate, “you will bear the punishment of the house of Judah.”

[4:8]  ⁴⁸ sn The action surely refers to a series of daily acts rather than to a continuous period.

[4:9]  ⁴⁹ sn Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. All these foods were common in Mesopotamia where Ezekiel was exiled.

[4:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “bread.”

[4:9]  ⁵¹ tc The LXX reads “190 days.”

[4:10]  ⁵² sn Eight ounces (Heb “twenty shekels”). The standards for weighing money varied considerably in the ancient Near East, but the generally accepted weight for the shekel is 11.5 grams (0.4 ounce). This makes the weight of grain about 230 grams here (8 ounces).

[4:10]  ⁵³ tn Heb “from time to time.”

[4:11]  ⁵⁴ sn A pint and a half [Heb “one-sixth of a hin”]. One-sixth of a hin was a quantity of liquid equal to about 1.3 pints or 0.6 liters.

[4:12]  ⁵⁵ sn Human waste was to remain outside the camp of the Israelites according to Deut 23:15.

[4:13]  ⁵⁶ sn Unclean food among the nations. Lands outside of Israel were considered unclean (Josh 22:19; Amos 7:17).

[4:14]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew term refers to sacrificial meat not eaten by the appropriate time (Lev 7:18; 19:7).

[4:16]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support.

[4:16]  ⁵⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “in their punishment.” Ezek 4:16-17 alludes to Lev 26:26, 39. The phrase “in/for [a person’s] iniquity” occurs fourteen times in Ezekiel: here, 3:18, 19; 7:13, 16; 18: 17, 18, 19, 20; 24:23; 33:6, 8, 9; 39:23. The Hebrew word for “iniquity” may also mean the “punishment for iniquity.”

[5:1]  ⁶¹ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[5:1]  ⁶² tn Heb, “pass (it) over your head and your beard.”

[5:3]  ⁶³ tn Heb “from there a few in number.” The word “strands” has been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ⁶⁴ sn Objects could be carried in the end of a garment (Hag 2:12).

[5:4]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “into the midst of” (so KJV, ASV). This phrase has been left untranslated for stylistic reasons.

[5:6]  ⁶⁶ sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.

[5:6]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”

[5:6]  ⁶⁸ sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.

[5:7]  ⁶⁹ tn Traditionally this difficult form has been derived from a hypothetical root הָמוֹן (hamon), supposedly meaning “be in tumult/uproar,” but such a verb occurs nowhere else. It is more likely that it is to be derived from a root מָנוֹן (manon), meaning “disdain” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:52). A derivative from this root is used in Prov 29:21 of a rebellious servant. See HALOT 600 s.v. מָנוֹן.

[5:7]  ⁷⁰ sn You are more arrogant than the nations around you. Israel is accused of being worse than the nations in Ezek 16:27; 2 Kgs 21:11; Jer 2:11.

[5:7]  ⁷¹ tc Some Hebrew mss and the Syriac omit the words “not even.” In this case they are being accused of following the practices of the surrounding nations. See Ezek 11:12.

[5:8]  ⁷² tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201-2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘h!nn#n' ?l?K>,’” ZAW 45 (1933): 101-8. The Hebrew text switches to a second feminine singular form here, indicating that personified Jerusalem is addressed (see vv. 5-6a). The address to Jerusalem continues through v. 15. In vv. 16-17 the second masculine plural is used, as the people are addressed.

[5:8]  ⁷³ tn The Hebrew text uses wordplay here to bring out the appropriate nature of God’s judgment. “Execute” translates the same Hebrew verb translated “carried out” (literally meaning “do”) in v. 7, while “judgment” in v. 8 and “regulations” in v. 7 translate the same Hebrew noun (meaning “regulations” or in some cases “judgments” executed on those who break laws). The point seems to be this: God would “carry out judgments” against those who refused to “carry out” his “laws.”

[5:8]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “in the sight of the nations.”

[5:9]  ⁷⁵ tn Or “abominable idols.”

[5:10]  ⁷⁶ tn In context “you” refers to the city of Jerusalem. To make this clear for the modern reader, “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation in apposition to “you.”

[5:10]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “all of your survivors.”

[5:10]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “to every wind.”

[5:11]  ⁷⁹ 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.

[5:12]  ⁸⁰ sn The judgment of plague and famine comes from the covenant curse (Lev 26:25-26). As in v. 10, the city of Jerusalem is figuratively addressed here.

[5:12]  ⁸¹ sn Judgment by plague, famine, and sword occurs in Jer 21:9; 27:13; Ezek 6:11, 12; 7:15.

[5:13]  ⁸² tn Or “calm myself.”

[5:13]  ⁸³ tn The Hebrew noun translated “jealousy” is used in the human realm to describe suspicion of adultery (Num 5:14ff.; Prov 6:34). Since Israel’s relationship with God was often compared to a marriage this term is appropriate here. The term occurs elsewhere in Ezekiel in 8:3, 5; 16:38, 42; 23:25.

[5:15]  ⁸⁴ tc This reading is supported by the versions and by the Dead Sea Scrolls (11QEzek). Most Masoretic Hebrew mss read “it will be,” but if the final he (ה) is read as a mater lectionis, as it can be with the second masculine singular perfect, then they are in agreement. In either case the subject refers to Jerusalem.

[5:15]  ⁸⁵ tn The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT. A related verb means “revile, taunt” (see Ps 44:16).

[5:15]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “discipline and devastation.” These words are omitted in the Old Greek. The first term pictures Jerusalem as a recipient or example of divine discipline; the second depicts her as a desolate ruin (see Ezek 6:14).

[5:15]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “in anger and in fury and in rebukes of fury.” The heaping up of synonyms emphasizes the degree of God’s anger.

[5:16]  ⁸⁸ tn The Hebrew word carries the basic idea of “bad, displeasing, injurious,” but when used of weapons has the nuance “deadly” (see Ps 144:10).

[5:16]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “which are/were to destroy.”

[5:16]  ⁹⁰ tn The language of this verse may have been influenced by Deut 32:23.

[5:16]  ⁹¹ tn Or “which were to destroy those whom I will send to destroy you” (cf. NASB).

[5:16]  ⁹² tn Heb, “break the staff of bread.” The bread supply is compared to a staff that one uses for support. See 4:16, as well as the covenant curse in Lev 26:26.

[5:17]  ⁹³ tn Heb “will bereave you.”

[5:17]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “will pass through you.” This threat recalls the warning of Lev 26:22, 25 and Deut 32:24-25.