Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves tearing the prey …: The third group attacked by God are Israel’s princes (compare “judges” in Zeph 3.3). For those who made the change to “princes” in verse 25, this verse appears to be repetitious, but some scholars think it talks about the nobles who were not part of the royal family—they were lower on the social scale. In any case, there is no doubt that this verse refers to community “leaders” (New Living Translation, New Century Version, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible) or “officials” (New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh) of some sort. God compares these officials to wolves (compare Zeph 3.3). These wolves are tearing the prey, that is, ripping apart the bodies of the animals they have just killed and eating them. Wolves are dog-like animals that hunt for their food at night and kill other animals. In cultures where wolves are unknown, translators may say “wild dogs” or “wild animals called wolves.”
Shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain: The actions of these officials who were like wolves are almost the same as the actions of the princes (or prophets) in verse 25 who were like lions. Shedding blood means they killed people, and destroying lives to get dishonest gain means they murdered people to confiscate their wealth. Good News Translation says “They commit murder in order to get rich.” For dishonest gain, see verse 13.
Models for this verse are:
• The leaders of the people are like wolves ripping apart and feeding on the animals they have killed. They are killing people and destroying them in order to get money dishonestly.
• The leaders of the people are like wolves. Just as wolves rip apart and eat the animals they have killed, the leaders are killing people and destroying them in order to gain wealth dishonestly.
Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .