Translation commentary on Ezekiel 9:7

And he said to them: God continues to speak with the six executioners. Translators can make this clear by saying “Then God said to the six men.”

Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: The Jews believed that the Temple became impure and dirty in God’s eyes, if anyone was killed within its sacred area, or even if there was a dead body in it. For the Hebrew verb rendered Defile, see the comments on 4.14. Defile the house may be rendered “Make the Temple unfit for worship.” Here God commands the six men to fill the courts with the slain, that is, to pollute the Temple completely by killing many people in its courtyards. This clause may also suggest that they should bring dead bodies into the Temple courtyards and pile them up there; for example, Contemporary English Version renders this whole sentence as “Pollute the temple by piling the dead bodies in the courtyards.” This shows how unfit the Temple was for worship due to the sinful actions described in chapter 8.

Go forth is the divine command for the six men to go into the city and kill more wicked people. Good News Translation says “Get to work!” and Contemporary English Version has “Now get busy!”

So they went forth, and smote in the city: The six men obeyed God’s command. They left the Temple and began to kill the people in the city of Jerusalem. Most languages will require an object for the verb smote; for example, Good News Translation says “kill the people.” The Hebrew for this sentence is slightly unusual and some translations have taken it in a different way. They understand it as more commands of God to the six men; for example, New American Bible has “then go out and strike in the city” (similarly Revised English Bible, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch). It is better to follow Revised Standard Version here (so Hebrew Old Testament Text Project).

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 .

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