translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: EZK

label: NET translator note

text: Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).


text: Heb “lifted up.” sn See Prov 16:5 .


text: Or “I am divine.”


text: Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”


text: Or “wisdom.”


text: Heb “because of your making your heart like the heart of gods.”


text: Heb “they will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom.”


text: Heb “you will die the death of the slain.”


text: Heb “lift up.”


text: For a discussion of possible nuances of this phrase, see M. Greenberg, Ezekiel (AB), 2:580-81.


text: The exact identification of each gemstone is uncertain. The list should be compared to that of the priest in Exod 28:17-20 , which lists twelve stones in rows of three. The LXX apparently imports the list. See reference to the types of stones in L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.


text: Or “winged”; see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.


text: The meaning of this phrase in Hebrew is uncertain. The word translated here “guards” occurs in Exod 25:20 in reference to the cherubim “covering” the ark.


text: Heb “you (were) an anointed cherub that covers and I placed you.” In the Hebrew text the ruler of Tyre is equated with a cherub, and the verb “I placed you” is taken with what follows (“on the holy mountain of God”). However, this reading is problematic. The pronoun “you” at the beginning of verse 14 is feminine singular in the Hebrew text; elsewhere in this passage the ruler of Tyre is addressed with masculine singular forms. It is possible that the pronoun is a rare (see Deut 5:24 ; Num 11:15 ) or defectively written (see 1 Sam 24:19 ; Neh 9:6 ; Job 1:10 ; Ps 6:3 ; Eccl 7:22 ) masculine form, but it is more likely that the form should be repointed as the preposition “with” (see the LXX). In this case the ruler of Tyre is compared to the first man, not to a cherub. If this emendation is accepted, then the verb “I placed you” belongs with what precedes and concludes the first sentence in the verse. It is noteworthy that the verbs in the second and third lines of the verse also appear at the end of the sentence in the Hebrew text. The presence of a conjunction at the beginning of “I placed you” is problematic for the proposal, but it may reflect a later misunderstanding of the syntax of the verse. For a defense of the proposed emendation, see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.


text: Heb “ways.”


text: Heb “they filled your midst with violence.”


text: Heb “I defiled you.” The presence of the preposition “from” following the verb indicates that a verb of motion is implied as well. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.


text: Heb “and I expelled you, O guardian cherub.” The Hebrew text takes the verb as first person and understands “guardian cherub” as a vocative, in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the verb. However, if the emendation in verse 14 a is accepted (see the note above), then one may follow the LXX here as well and emend the verb to a third person perfect. In this case the subject of the verb is the guardian cherub. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:91.


text: Heb “set your face against.”


text: 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.


text: Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.


text: Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “by a sword against it.”


text: Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”


text: Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22 .