Leviticus 26:3-13

The Benefits of Obedience

26:3 “‘If you walk in my statutes and are sure to obey my commandments, ¹  26:4 I will give you your rains in their time so that ²  the land will give its yield and the trees of the field will produce their fruit. ³  26:5 Threshing season will extend for you until the season for harvesting grapes, ⁴  and the season for harvesting grapes will extend until sowing season, so ⁵  you will eat your bread until you are satisfied, ⁶  and you will live securely in your land. 26:6 I will grant peace in the land so that ⁷  you will lie down to sleep without anyone terrifying you. ⁸  I will remove harmful animals ⁹  from the land, and no sword of war ¹⁰  will pass through your land. 26:7 You will pursue your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword. ¹¹  26:8 Five of you will pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you will pursue ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 26:9 I will turn to you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and maintain ¹²  my covenant with you. 26:10 You will still be eating stored produce from the previous year ¹³  and will have to clean out what is stored from the previous year to make room for new. ¹⁴ 

26:11 “‘I will put my tabernacle ¹⁵  in your midst and I will not abhor you. ¹⁶  26:12 I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. 26:13 I am the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, from being their slaves, ¹⁷  and I broke the bars of your yoke and caused you to walk upright. ¹⁸ 

Deuteronomy 5:28-29

5:28 When the Lord heard you speaking to me, he ¹⁹  said to me, “I have heard what these people have said to you – they have spoken well. 5:29 If only it would really be their desire to fear me and obey ²⁰  all my commandments in the future, so that it may go well with them and their descendants forever.

Deuteronomy 28:1-14

The Covenant Blessings

28:1 “If you indeed ²¹  obey the Lord your God and are careful to observe all his commandments I am giving ²²  you today, the Lord your God will elevate you above all the nations of the earth. 28:2 All these blessings will come to you in abundance ²³  if you obey the Lord your God: 28:3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. ²⁴  28:4 Your children ²⁵  will be blessed, as well as the produce of your soil, the offspring of your livestock, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks. 28:5 Your basket and your mixing bowl will be blessed. 28:6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out. ²⁶  28:7 The Lord will cause your enemies who attack ²⁷  you to be struck down before you; they will attack you from one direction ²⁸  but flee from you in seven different directions. 28:8 The Lord will decree blessing for you with respect to your barns and in everything you do – yes, he will bless you in the land he ²⁹  is giving you. 28:9 The Lord will designate you as his holy people just as he promised you, if you keep his commandments ³⁰  and obey him. ³¹  28:10 Then all the peoples of the earth will see that you belong to the Lord, ³²  and they will respect you. 28:11 The Lord will greatly multiply your children, ³³  the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil in the land which he ³⁴  promised your ancestors ³⁵  he would give you. 28:12 The Lord will open for you his good treasure house, the heavens, to give you rain for the land in its season and to bless all you do; ³⁶  you will lend to many nations but you will not borrow from any. 28:13 The Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will always end up at the top and not at the bottom, if you obey his ³⁷  commandments which I am urging ³⁸  you today to be careful to do. 28:14 But you must not turn away from all the commandments I am giving ³⁹  you today, to either the right or left, nor pursue other gods and worship ⁴⁰  them.

Joshua 23:11-13

23:11 Watch yourselves carefully! Love the Lord your God! ⁴¹  23:12 But if you ever turn away and make alliances with ⁴²  these nations that remain near you, ⁴³  and intermarry with them and establish friendly relations with them, ⁴⁴  23:13 know for certain that the Lord our God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. They will trap and ensnare you; ⁴⁵  they will be a whip that tears ⁴⁶  your sides and thorns that blind ⁴⁷  your eyes until you disappear ⁴⁸  from this good land the Lord your God gave you.

Psalms 37:3

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ⁴⁹ 

Psalms 81:11-16

81:11 But my people did not obey me; ⁵⁰ 

Israel did not submit to me. ⁵¹ 

81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; ⁵² 

they did what seemed right to them. ⁵³ 

81:13 If only my people would obey me! ⁵⁴ 

If only Israel would keep my commands! ⁵⁵ 

81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,

and attack ⁵⁶  their adversaries.”

81:15 (May those who hate the Lord ⁵⁷  cower in fear ⁵⁸  before him!

May they be permanently humiliated!) ⁵⁹ 

81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, ⁶⁰ 

and would satisfy your appetite ⁶¹  with honey from the rocky cliffs.” ⁶² 

Isaiah 1:19

1:19 If you have a willing attitude and obey, ⁶³ 

then you will again eat the good crops of the land.

Jeremiah 7:3-7

7:3 The Lord God of Israel who rules over all ⁶⁴  says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. ⁶⁵  If you do, I will allow you to continue to live in this land. ⁶⁶  7:4 Stop putting your confidence in the false belief that says, ⁶⁷  “We are safe! ⁶⁸  The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” ⁶⁹  7:5 You must change ⁷⁰  the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. ⁷¹  7:6 Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. ⁷²  Stop killing innocent people ⁷³  in this land. Stop paying allegiance to ⁷⁴  other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. ⁷⁵  7:7 If you stop doing these things, ⁷⁶  I will allow you to continue to live in this land ⁷⁷  which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. ⁷⁸ 

Jeremiah 7:23

7:23 I also explicitly commanded them: ⁷⁹  “Obey me. If you do, I ⁸⁰  will be your God and you will be my people. Live exactly the way I tell you ⁸¹  and things will go well with you.”

Jeremiah 17:20-27

17:20 As you stand in those places ⁸²  announce, ‘Listen, all you people who pass through these gates. Listen, all you kings of Judah, all you people of Judah and all you citizens of Jerusalem. Listen to what the Lord says. ⁸³  17:21 The Lord says, ‘Be very careful if you value your lives! ⁸⁴  Do not carry any loads ⁸⁵  in through ⁸⁶  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. 17:22 Do not carry any loads out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath day. ⁸⁷  But observe the Sabbath day as a day set apart to the Lord, ⁸⁸  as I commanded your ancestors. ⁸⁹  17:23 Your ancestors, ⁹⁰  however, did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They stubbornly refused ⁹¹  to pay attention or to respond to any discipline.’ 17:24 The Lord says, ⁹²  ‘You must make sure to obey me. You must not bring any loads through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day. You must set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not do any work on that day. 17:25 If you do this, ⁹³  then the kings and princes who follow in David’s succession ⁹⁴  and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to enter through these gates, as well as their officials and the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem. ⁹⁵  This city will always be filled with people. ⁹⁶  17:26 Then people will come here from the towns in Judah, from the villages surrounding Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin, from the western foothills, from the southern hill country, and from the southern part of Judah. They will come bringing offerings to the temple of the Lord: burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and incense along with their thank offerings. ⁹⁷  17:27 But you must obey me and set the Sabbath day apart to me. You must not carry any loads in through ⁹⁸  the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. If you disobey, I will set the gates of Jerusalem on fire. It will burn down all the fortified dwellings in Jerusalem and no one will be able to put it out.’”

Ezekiel 22:2-16

22:2 “As for you, son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment, ⁹⁹  are you willing to pronounce judgment on the bloody city? ¹⁰⁰  Then confront her with all her abominable deeds! 22:3 Then say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: O city, who spills blood within herself (which brings on her doom), ¹⁰¹  and who makes herself idols (which results in impurity), 22:4 you are guilty because of the blood you shed and defiled by the idols you made. You have hastened the day of your doom; ¹⁰²  the end of your years has come. ¹⁰³  Therefore I will make ¹⁰⁴  you an object of scorn to the nations, an object to be mocked by all lands. 22:5 Those both near and far from you will mock you, you with your bad reputation, ¹⁰⁵  full of turmoil.

22:6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. ¹⁰⁶  22:7 They have treated father and mother with contempt ¹⁰⁷  within you; they have oppressed the foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow ¹⁰⁸  within you. 22:8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 22:9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. ¹⁰⁹  Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; ¹¹⁰  they commit obscene acts among you. ¹¹¹  22:10 They have sex with their father’s wife within you; ¹¹²  they violate women during their menstrual period within you. ¹¹³  22:11 One ¹¹⁴  commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates ¹¹⁵  his sister – his father’s daughter ¹¹⁶  – within you. 22:12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; ¹¹⁷  you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, ¹¹⁸  declares the sovereign Lord. ¹¹⁹ 

22:13 “‘See, I strike my hands together ¹²⁰  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ¹²¹  they have done among you. 22:14 Can your heart endure, ¹²²  or can your hands be strong when I deal with you? ¹²³  I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will do it! 22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among various countries; I will remove your impurity from you. ¹²⁴  22:16 You will be profaned within yourself ¹²⁵  in the sight of the nations; then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

Ezekiel 33:25-29

33:25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, ¹²⁶  pray to ¹²⁷  your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess ¹²⁸  the land? 33:26 You rely ¹²⁹  on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ¹³⁰  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease. 33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ¹³¹ 

[26:3]  ¹ tn Heb “and my commandments you shall keep and do them.” This appears to be a kind of verbal hendiadys, where the first verb is a modifier of the action of the second verb (see GKC 386 §120.d, although שָׁמַר [shamar, “to keep”] is not cited there; cf. Lev 20:8; 25:18, etc.).

[26:4]  ² tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:4]  ³ tn Heb “the tree of the field will give its fruit.” As a collective singular this has been translated as plural.

[26:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “will reach for you the vintage season.”

[26:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “to satisfaction”; KJV, ASV, NASB “to the full.”

[26:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “and.” The Hebrew conjunction ו (vav, “and”) can be considered to have resultative force here.

[26:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and there will be no one who terrifies.” The words “to sleep” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[26:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “harmful animal,” singular, but taken here as a collective plural (so almost all English versions).

[26:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “no sword”; the words “of war” are supplied in the translation to indicate what the metaphor of the sword represents.

[26:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to the sword.”

[26:9]  ¹² tn Heb “cause to arise,” but probably used here for the Lord’s intention of confirming or maintaining the covenant commitment made at Sinai. Cf. KJV “establish”; NASB “will confirm”; NAB “carry out”; NIV “will keep.”

[26:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “old [produce] growing old.”

[26:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and old from the presence of new you will bring out.”

[26:11]  ¹⁵ tn LXX codexes Vaticanus and Alexandrinus have “my covenant” rather than “my tabernacle.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV “my dwelling.”

[26:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my soul [נֶפֶשׁ, nefesh] will not abhor you.”

[26:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “from being to them slaves.”

[26:13]  ¹⁸ tn In other words, to walk as free people and not as slaves. Cf. NIV “with (+ your CEV, NLT) heads held high”; NCV “proudly.”

[5:28]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “He” in 5:3.

[5:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew text uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis, which the translation indicates with “indeed.”

[28:1]  ²² tn Heb “commanding”; NAB “which I enjoin on you today” (likewise in v. 15).

[28:2]  ²³ tn Heb “come upon you and overtake you” (so NASB, NRSV); NIV “come upon you and accompany you.”

[28:3]  ²⁴ tn Or “in the country” (so NAB, NIV, NLT). This expression also occurs in v. 15.

[28:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

[28:6]  ²⁶ sn Come in…go out. To “come in” and “go out” is a figure of speech (merism) indicating all of life and its activities.

[28:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “who rise up against” (so NIV).

[28:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “way” (also later in this verse and in v. 25).

[28:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” Because English would not typically reintroduce the proper name following a relative pronoun (“he will bless…the Lord your God is giving”), the pronoun (“he”) has been employed here in the translation.

[28:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the commandments of the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in the previous verse.

[28:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “and walk in his ways” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[28:10]  ³² tn Heb “the name of the Lord is called over you.” The Hebrew idiom indicates ownership; see 2 Sam 12:28; Isa 4:1, as well as BDB 896 s.v. קָרָא Niph. 2.d.(4).

[28:11]  ³³ tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “will give you a lot of children.”

[28:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 36, 64).

[28:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all the work of your hands.”

[28:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the Lord your God’s.” See note on “he” in 28:8.

[28:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “commanding” (so NRSV); NASB “which I charge you today.”

[28:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “from all the words which I am commanding.”

[28:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “in order to serve.”

[23:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “Watch carefully yourselves so as to love the Lord your God.”

[23:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “and hug.”

[23:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the remnant of the these nations, these nations that are with you.”

[23:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and go into them, and they into you.”

[23:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “be a trap and a snare to you.”

[23:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in.”

[23:13]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “thorns in your eyes.”

[23:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “perish.”

[37:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

[81:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”

[81:11]  ⁵¹ tn The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (’avah liy) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).

[81:12]  ⁵² tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”

[81:12]  ⁵³ tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).

[81:13]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).

[81:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”

[81:14]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).

[81:15]  ⁵⁷ tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.

[81:15]  ⁵⁸ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.

[81:15]  ⁵⁹ tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (ba’atatam) or בִּעֻתָם (bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.

[81:16]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.

[81:16]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.

[81:16]  ⁶² sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.

[1:19]  ⁶³ tn Heb “listen”; KJV “obedient”; NASB “If you consent and obey.”

[7:3]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “Yahweh of armies, the God Israel.”

[7:3]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “Make good your ways and your actions.” J. Bright’s translation (“Reform the whole pattern of your conduct”; Jeremiah [AB], 52) is excellent.

[7:3]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “place” but this might be misunderstood to refer to the temple.

[7:4]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “Stop trusting in lying words which say.”

[7:4]  ⁶⁸ tn The words “We are safe!” are not in the text but are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:4]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these (i.e., these buildings).” Elsewhere triple repetition seems to mark a kind of emphasis (cf. Isa 6:3; Jer 22:29; Ezek 21:27 [32 HT]). The triple repetition that follows seems to be Jeremiah’s way of mocking the (false) sense of security that people had in the invincibility of Jerusalem because God dwelt in the temple. They appeared to be treating the temple as some kind of magical charm. A similar feeling had grown up around the ark in the time of the judges (cf. 1 Sam 3:3) and the temple and city of Jerusalem in Micah’s day (cf. Mic 3:11). It is reflected also in some of the Psalms (cf., e.g., Ps 46, especially v. 5).

[7:5]  ⁷⁰ tn The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:5]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “you must do justice between a person and his fellow/neighbor.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verb for emphasis.

[7:6]  ⁷² tn Heb “Stop oppressing foreigner, orphan, and widow.”

[7:6]  ⁷³ tn Heb “Stop shedding innocent blood.”

[7:6]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “going/following after.” See the translator’s note at 2:5 for an explanation of the idiom involved here.

[7:6]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “going after other gods to your ruin.”

[7:7]  ⁷⁶ tn The translation uses imperatives in vv. 5-6 followed by the phrase, “If you do all this,” to avoid the long and complex sentence structure of the Hebrew sentence which has a series of conditional clauses in vv. 5-6 followed by a main clause in v. 7.

[7:7]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “live in this place, in this land.”

[7:7]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “gave to your fathers [with reference to] from ancient times even unto forever.”

[7:23]  ⁷⁹ tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.

[7:23]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.

[7:23]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”

[17:20]  ⁸² tn The words “As you stand there” are not in the text but are implicit in the connection. They are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[17:20]  ⁸³ tn Heb “Listen to the word of the Lord, kings of Judah…Jerusalem who enter through these gates.” This sentence has been restructured to avoid a long complex English sentence and to put “Listen to what the Lord says” closer to the content of what he says.

[17:21]  ⁸⁴ tn Heb “Be careful at the risk of your lives.” The expression with the preposition בְּ (bet) is unique. Elsewhere the verb “be careful” is used with the preposition לְ (lamed) in the sense of the reflexive. Hence the word “soul” cannot be simply reflexive here. BDB 1037 s.v. שָׁמַר Niph.1 understands this as a case where the preposition בְּ introduces the cost or price (cf. BDB 90 s.v. בּ III.3.a).

[17:21]  ⁸⁵ sn Comparison with Neh 13:15-18 suggests that these loads were merchandise or agricultural produce which were being brought in for sale. The loads that were carried out of the houses in the next verse were probably goods for barter.

[17:21]  ⁸⁶ tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “Be careful…by carrying”). This is supported by the next line where only “carry out” of the houses is mentioned.

[17:22]  ⁸⁷ tn Heb “Do not carry any loads out of your houses on the Sabbath day and do not do any work.” Translating literally might give the wrong impression that they were not to work at all. The phrase “on the Sabbath day” is, of course, intended to qualify both prohibitions.

[17:22]  ⁸⁸ tn Heb “But sanctify [or set apart as sacred] the Sabbath day.” The idea of setting it apart as something sacred to the Lord is implicit in the command. See the explicit statements of this in Exod 20:10; 31:5; 35:2; Lev 24:8. For some readers the idea of treating the Sabbath day as something sacred won’t mean much without spelling the qualification out specifically. Sabbath observance was not just a matter of not working.

[17:22]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[17:23]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “They.” The antecedent is spelled out to avoid any possible confusion.

[17:23]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “They hardened [or made stiff] their neck so as not to.”

[17:24]  ⁹² tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[17:25]  ⁹³ tn Heb “If you will carefully obey me by not bringing…and by sanctifying…by not doing…, then kings will….” The structure of prohibitions and commands followed by a brief “if” clause has been used to break up a long condition and consequence relationship which is contrary to contemporary English style.

[17:25]  ⁹⁴ tn Heb “who sit [or are to sit] on David’s throne.”

[17:25]  ⁹⁵ tn Heb “There will come through the gates of this city the kings and princes…riding in chariots and on horses, they and their officials…” The structure of the original text is broken up here because of the long compound subject which would make the English sentence too long. The term “princes” is often omitted as a supposed double writing of the word that follows it and looks somewhat like it (the Hebrew reads here וְשָׂרִים יֹשְׁבִים, vÿsarim yoshÿvim) or the same word which occurs later in the verse and is translated “officials” (the word can refer to either). It is argued that “princes” are never said to sit on the throne of David (translated here “follow in the succession of David”). However, the word is in all texts and versions and the concept of sitting on the throne of someone is descriptive of both past, present, and future and is even used with the participle in a proleptic sense of “the one who is to sit on the throne” (cf. Exod 11:5; 12:29).

[17:25]  ⁹⁶ tn Heb “will be inhabited forever.”

[17:26]  ⁹⁷ tn Heb “There will come from the cities of Judah and from the environs of Jerusalem and from…those bringing…incense and those bringing thank offerings.” This sentence has been restructured from a long complex original to conform to contemporary English style.

[17:27]  ⁹⁸ tn Heb “carry loads on the Sabbath and bring [them] in through.” The translation treats the two verbs “carry” and “bring in” are an example of hendiadys (see the note on “through” in 17:21).

[22:2]  ⁹⁹ tn Heb “will you judge.” Here the imperfect form of the verb is probably used with a desiderative nuance. Addressed to the prophet, “judge” means to warn of or pronounce God’s impending judgment upon the city. See 20:4.

[22:2]  ¹⁰⁰ tn The phrase “bloody city” is used of Nineveh in Nah 3:1.

[22:3]  ¹⁰¹ tn Heb “her time”; this refers to the time of impending judgment (see the note on “doom” in v. 4).

[22:4]  ¹⁰² tn Heb “you have brought near your days.” The expression “bring near your days” appears to be an adaptation of the idiom “days draw near,” which is used to indicate that an event, such as death, is imminent (see Gen 27:41; 47:29; Deut 31:14; 1 Kgs 2:1; Ezek 12:23). Here “your days” probably refers to the days of the personified city’s life, which was about to come to an end through God’s judgment.

[22:4]  ¹⁰³ tn Heb “and you have come to your years.” This appears to mean that she has arrived at the time when her years (i.e., life) would end, though it may mean that her years of punishment will begin. Because “day” and “time” are so closely associated in the immediate context (see 21:25, 29) some prefer to emend the text and read “you have brought near your time.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:31, as well as the translator’s note on verse 3.

[22:4]  ¹⁰⁴ tn The Hebrew verb is a prophetic perfect, emphasizing that the action is as good as done from the speaker’s perspective.

[22:5]  ¹⁰⁵ tn Heb “unclean of name.”

[22:6]  ¹⁰⁶ tn Heb “Look! The princes of Israel, each according to his arm, were in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:7]  ¹⁰⁷ tn Heb “treated lightly, cursed.”

[22:7]  ¹⁰⁸ tn Widows and orphans are often coupled together in the OT (Deut 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:19-21; 26:12-13; Jer 7:6; 22:3). They represented all who were poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation.

[22:9]  ¹⁰⁹ tn Heb “men of slander are in you in order to shed blood.”

[22:9]  ¹¹⁰ tn Heb “and on the mountains they eat within you.” The mountains mentioned here were the site of pagan sacrifices. See 18:6.

[22:9]  ¹¹¹ sn This statement introduces vv. 10-11 and refers in general terms to the sexual sins described there. For the legal background of vv. 10-11, see Lev 18:7-20; 20:10-21; Deut 22:22-23, 30; 27:22.

[22:10]  ¹¹² tn Heb “the nakedness of a father one uncovers within you.” The ancient versions read the verb as plural (“they uncover”). If the singular is retained, it must be taken as indefinite and representative of the entire group. The idiomatic expression “uncover the nakedness” refers here to sexual intercourse (cf. Lev 18:6). To uncover a father’s nakedness could include sexual relations with one’s own mother (Lev 18:7), but more likely it refers to having intercourse with another wife of one’s father, such as a stepmother (Lev 18:8; cf. Gen 35:22; 49:4).

[22:10]  ¹¹³ tn Heb “(one who is) unclean due to the impurity they humble within you.” The use of the verb “to humble” suggests that these men forced themselves upon women during menstruation. Having sexual relations with a woman during her period was forbidden by the Law (Lev 18:19; 20:18).

[22:11]  ¹¹⁴ tn Heb “a man.”

[22:11]  ¹¹⁵ tn The verb is the same one used in verse 10b and suggests forcible sexual violation of the woman.

[22:11]  ¹¹⁶ sn Sexual relations with one’s half-sister may be primarily in view here. See Lev 18:9; 20:17.

[22:12]  ¹¹⁷ tn Heb “usury and interest you take.” See 18:13, 17. This kind of economic exploitation violated the law given in Lev 25:36.

[22:12]  ¹¹⁸ sn Forgetting the Lord is also addressed in Deut 6:12; 8:11, 14; Jer 3:21; 13:25; Ezek 23:35; Hos 2:15; 8:14; 13:6.

[22:12]  ¹¹⁹ tn The second person verb forms are feminine singular in Hebrew, indicating that the personified city is addressed here as representing its citizens.

[22:13]  ¹²⁰ sn This gesture apparently expresses mourning and/or anger (see 6:11; 21:14, 17).

[22:13]  ¹²¹ tn Heb “the blood which was in you.”

[22:14]  ¹²² tn Heb “stand.” The heart here stands for the emotions; Jerusalem would panic in the face of God’s judgment.

[22:14]  ¹²³ tn Heb “in the days when I act against you.”

[22:15]  ¹²⁴ sn The ultimate purpose of divine judgment is to purify the covenant community of its sins.

[22:16]  ¹²⁵ tc Several ancient versions read the verb as first person, in which case the Lord refers to how his people’s sin brings disgrace upon him. For a defense of the Hebrew text, see D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:712, n. 68, and M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:457-58.

[33:25]  ¹²⁶ sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).

[33:25]  ¹²⁷ tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”

[33:25]  ¹²⁸ tn Heb “Will you possess?”

[33:26]  ¹²⁹ tn Heb “stand.”

[33:27]  ¹³⁰ tn Heb “fall.”

[33:29]  ¹³¹ sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.