Ezekiel 14

The original text was written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 23 verses.

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), Codex Leningradensis (1008).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=35-37}}

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^B; 4th century), Codex Alexandrinus (A; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^A; 5th century) and Codex Marchalianus (Q; $\backslash mathfrak\{G\}$^Q; 6th century).{{sfn|Würthwein|1995|pp=73-74}}{{efn|Ezekiel is missing from the extant Codex Sinaiticus.{{cite book| last= Shepherd|first= Michael |title= A Commentary on the Book of the Twelve: The Minor Prophets | series= Kregel Exegetical Library | publisher= Kregel Academic | year= 2018 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=_iNZDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA13|isbn= 978-0825444593 | page= 13}}}}

A group of elders approached Ezekiel (cf. Ezekiel 8:1 and 20:1) to 'enquire' of YHWH, which is a traditional practice of using the prophet as mediator to convey specific questions to YHWH (cf. {{bibleverse|Judges|18:5|HE}}). YHWH told Ezekiel that he refuses to hear in the enquiry 'because of the seriousness of the elders' idolatry' (cf. 20:3–4) and 'the elders are not condemned simply for idolatry, but for 'lifting up' their idols 'into their hearts' (cf. the Jerusalem elders in 8:9–12, who maintained secret 'picture rooms' inside the temple itself).{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=544}} YHWH only responded by warning the elders 'to turn back from idolatry or suffer death at his hands' (verses 6–8), and if a prophet should deliver a response to the idolater's enquiry, YHWH would then destroy the prophet as well as the enquirer.{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=544}}

: Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart,

:: and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face:

: should I be enquired of at all by them?{{bibleref2|Ezekiel|14:3|NKJV}} NKJV

• "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם {{Strong-number|ḇen|H|01121}}-{{Strong-number|’ā-ḏām|H|00120}}): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.{{sfn|Bromiley|1995|p=574}}
• "Idols" (Hebrew: גִּלּוּלִ {{Strong-number|gillul|H|01544}}; plural: גִּלּוּלִים gillulim): found 39 times in the Book of Ezekiel and in {{bibleref2|Leviticus|26:30|he}}. Originally means "trunks, logs, blocks," that can be "rolled", it could denote "the primitive stone menhir or construct.{{sfn|Brown|Briggs|Driver|1994|ps={{sp}}"גִּלּוּלִ"}}{{sfn|Gesenius|1979|ps={{sp}}"גִּלּוּלִ"}}{{sfn|Coogan|2007|p=1188 Hebrew Bible}}
• "Set up their idols in their heart": Rashi interprets this as "Their heart is toward their idols to worship [them]."Rashi's commentary on Ezekiel 14:3.
• "The stumbling block of their iniquity": from Hebrew: {{Lang|he|מִכְשֹׁ֣ול עֲוֹנָ֔ם}}, {{Strong-number|miḵ-šō-wl|H|4383}} {{Strong-number|‘ă-wō-nām|H|5771}},[https://biblehub.com/text/ezekiel/14-3.htm Hebrew Text Analysis: Ezekiel 14:3]. Biblehub is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 7:19; 14:3, {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|14:4|KJV|4}}, {{bibleverse|Ezekiel|14:7|KJV|7}}; {{bibleverse-nb|Ezekiel|18:30|KJV}}; {{bibleverse-nb|Ezekiel|44:12|KJV}}).Note [c] on Ezekiel 7:19 in NET

In this section YHWH addresses the question of individual responsibility for sin, which was mentioned in chapter 9 when the righteous people in Jerusalem were 'marked so as to escape the city's destruction' (Ezekiel 9:4; cf. {{bibleverse-nb|Ezekiel|18:1–30|9}}), and whether a few righteous individuals might suffice to save an entire city (cf. Abraham in {{bibleverse|Genesis|18:22—33|9}}) or at least members of their own family (cf. Abraham for Lot in Genesis 19:29).{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=544}} The number of citizens to be spared was apparently quite small, as Ezekiel protests that YHWH is destroying the last remnant of Israel ({{bibleverse-nb|Ezekiel|9:8|9}}). YHWH posits that should the three 'legendary paragons of virtue': Noah, Dan'el, and Job, inhabit this land, even 'they would be helpless to save their own children from YHWH's punishment of famine, wild beasts, sword, and plague', which recalls the scenario in chapter 5 and 7 that YHWH is about to bring 'four levitically prescribed punishments against Jerusalem and Israel'.{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=545}} The conclusion of this chapter is clear: Jerusalem ('which is patently not inhabited by Noah, Dan'el, or Job') will not be spared, even 'for the sake of some few righteous citizens, or by the righteousness of those exiles whose children will now share in the city's doom' ({{bibleverse|Ezekiel|9:21|9|verse 21}}).{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=545}} YHWH adds an ironic note that there will be survivors of the city's destruction who will be brought into exile to show the exiles of 'their obvious wickedness', so people will know that 'YHWH did not destroy the city without reason' ({{bibleverse|Ezekiel|9:22–23|9|verses 22–23}}).{{sfn|Galambush|2007|p=545}}

: Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it,

:: they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness,

: saith the Lord God.{{bibleverse|Ezekiel|14:14|KJV}} KJV

• "Three men": These three men are selected as they had pled in different "worlds", according to Rashi, that is Noah witnesses the world destroyed and rebuilt, Daniel the temple destroyed and rebuilt, Job the prosperity/"greatness" destroyed and rebuilt.Rashi's Commentary on Ezekiel 14:14. These three Israel's righteous spiritual heroes "could not have prevailed with God in prayer to save the people" from the coming disasters.{{sfn|Clements|1996|p=64}}

: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God,

:: they shall deliver neither son nor daughter;

: they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.{{bibleverse|Ezekiel|14:20|KJV}} KJV

• "They shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness": The city of Sodom could be saved with a minimum number of righteous people ({{bibleverse|Genesis|18:22-23|9}}), but the righteous people can only save one's own soul in the case of determined judgment on Jerusalem.{{sfn|Coogan|2007|pp=1197-1198 Hebrew Bible}}

• Daniel
• Daniel in rabbinic literature
• Job
• Noah
• Related Bible parts: Genesis 6, Job 1, Jeremiah 15, Daniel 6, Hebrews 11

{{notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book

| last = Bromiley

| first = Geoffrey W.

| title = International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: vol. iv, Q-Z

| year = 1995

| publisher = Eerdmans

| isbn = 9780802837844

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6OJvO2jMCr8C&q=%22an+awkward+and+an+ambiguous+expression+in+Greek%22&pg=PA574

}}

• {{cite book

| last1 = Brown

| first1 = Francis

| last2 = Briggs

| first2 = Charles A.

| last3 = Driver

| first3 = S. R.

| title = The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon

| year = 1994

| edition = reprint

| publisher = Hendrickson Publishers

| isbn = 978-1565632066}}

• {{Cite book

|last = Clements

|first = Ronald E

|title = Ezekiel

|publisher = Westminster John Knox Press

|year = 1996

|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=cB5WoWI3FRAC&q=Ezekiel++By+Ronald+Ernest+Clements&pg=PA216

|isbn = 9780664252724

}}

• {{cite book|last= Coogan|first = Michael David| author-link= Michael D. Coogan |title = The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books: New Revised Standard Version, Issue 48 |editor-last1=Coogan |editor-first1=Michael David |editor-first2=Marc Zvi |editor-last2= Brettler |editor-first3=Carol Ann |editor-last3= Newsom |editor-first4= Pheme |editor-last4= Perkins |edition= Augmented 3rd |publisher = Oxford University Press |year =2007 |isbn = 9780195288810 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=HmpMPgAACAAJ}}
• {{cite book|last= Galambush| first= J. | chapter = 25. Ezekiel | title=The Oxford Bible Commentary | editor-first1=John| editor-last1=Barton |editor1-link = John Barton (theologian) | editor-first2=John| editor-last2= Muddiman |editor2-link = John Muddiman | publisher = Oxford University Press |edition= first (paperback) | date = 2007 | pages = 533–562 | isbn = 978-0199277186 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZJdVkgEACAAJ| access-date=February 6, 2019}}
• {{cite book

| last = Gesenius

| first = H. W. F.

| title = Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index.

| translator-last = Tregelles

| translator-first = Samuel Prideaux

| year = 1979

| edition = 7th

| publisher = Baker Book House}}

• {{Cite book

|last =Joyce

|first =Paul M.

|title =Ezekiel: A Commentary

|publisher =Continuum

|year =2009

|url =https://books.google.com/books?id=LRepfsso2p0C&q=commentary+Ezekiel

|isbn =9780567483614

}}

• {{cite book | last = Würthwein | first = Ernst | author-link = Ernst Würthwein | title = The Text of the Old Testament | publisher = Wm. B. Eerdmans |location = Grand Rapids, MI | year= 1995 | translator-first1 = Erroll F.| translator-last1 = Rhodes |isbn = 0-8028-0788-7 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FSNKSBObCYwC | access-date= January 26, 2019}}

• [http://www.mechon-mamre.org/p/pt/pt1214.htm Ezekiel 14 Hebrew with Parallel English]
• [http://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16112 Ezekiel 14 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary]

• [http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=0&b=31&c=14 Ezekiel 14 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314064642/http://www.latinvulgate.com/lv/verse.aspx?t=0&b=31&c=14 |date=2017-03-14 }}

{{Book of Ezekiel}}

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Category:Hebrew Bible chapters about Noah

Category:Job (biblical figure)

category:Daniel (biblical figure)

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