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Ezekiel 21:30-32
New English Translation
Ezekiel 21:30-32
New English Translation
30 Return it to its sheath![a]
In the place where you were created,[b]
in your native land, I will judge you.
31 I will pour out my anger on you;
the fire of my fury I will blow on you.
I will hand you over to brutal men,
who are skilled in destruction.[c]
32 You will become fuel for the fire—
your blood will stain the middle of the land;[d]
you will no longer be remembered,
for I, the Lord, have spoken.’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 21:30 sn Once the Babylonian king’s sword (vv. 19-20) has carried out its assigned task, the Lord commands a halt. The resheathed sword will return to the land where it was created, and there itself face judgment. The pronouns continue to be second person feminine singular. The sword figuratively represents the Babylonian nation, whose land is the locus of judgment.
- Ezekiel 21:30 tn In the Hebrew text of vv. 30-32 the second person verbal and pronominal forms are generally feminine singular. This continues the address of the personified Babylonian sword from verse 29 (the Hebrew word for “sword” is feminine). “Return” is masculine, either due to the Hebrew preference for the masculine gender, or to the fact that soldiers were men.
- Ezekiel 21:31 sn The imagery of blowing on the sword with fire and putting it in the hands of skillful men can evoke the work of smithies.
- Ezekiel 21:32 tn Heb “your blood will be in the middle of the land.” sn This can be the blood that covered the sword in its great slaughter (v. 14), figuratively representing the end of Babylon. The pronouns are still second person feminine singular.
New English Translation (NET)
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