^12:3“Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand,³ although they are a rebellious house. ^12:4Bring out your belongings packed for exile during the day while they are watching. And go out at evening, while they are watching, as if for exile. ^12:5While they are watching, dig a hole in the wall and carry your belongings out through it. ^12:6While they are watching, raise your baggage onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark.⁴ You must cover your face so that you cannot see the ground⁵ because I have made you an object lesson⁶ to the house of Israel.”

^12:7So I did just as I was commanded. I carried out my belongings packed for exile during the day, and at evening I dug myself a hole through the wall with my hands. I went out in the darkness, carrying my baggage⁷ on my shoulder while they watched.

^12:8The word of the Lord came to me in the morning: ^12:9“Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, said to you, ‘What are you doing?’ ^12:10Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: The prince will raise this burden in Jerusalem,⁸ and all the house of Israel within it.’⁹^12:11Say, ‘I am an object lesson for you. Just as I have done, it will be done to them; they will go into exile and captivity.’

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Footnotes

3 Heb “see.” This plays on the uses of “see” in v. 2. They will see his actions with their eyes and perhaps they will “see” with their mind, that is, understand or grasp the point.
4 Apart from this context the Hebrew term occurs only in Gen 15:17 in reference to the darkness after sunset. It may mean twilight.
5 Or “land” (, , , , ).
6 See also Ezek 12:11, 24:24, 27.
7 The words “my baggage” are not in the Hebrew text, but are implied from the context.
8 The nearly incoherent Hebrew reads “The prince is this burden (prophetic oracle?) in Jerusalem.” The , which may only be trying to make sense of a very difficult text, says “Concerning the prince is this oracle,” assuming the addition of a preposition. This would be the only case where Ezekiel uses this term for a prophetic oracle. The reads the word for “burden” as a synonym for leader, as both words are built on the same root (נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but the verse is still incoherent because it is only a phrase with no verb. The current translation assumes that the verb יִשָּׂא (yisa’) from the root נָשִׂיא has dropped out due to homoioteleuton. If indeed the verb has dropped out (the syntax of the verbless clause being the problem), then context clearly suggests that it be a form of נָשִׂיא (see vv. 7 and 12). Placing the verb between the subject and object would result in three consecutive words based on the root נָשִׂיא and an environment conducive to an omission in copying: הַנָּשִׂיא יִשָּׁא הַמַּשָּׂא הַזֶּה (hannasi’ yisha’ hammasa’ hazzeh, “the Prince will raise this burden”). The prince in Jerusalem refers to King Zedekiah. For location see ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; .
9 The reads “within them.” Possibly a scribe copied this form from the following verse “among them,” but only “within it” makes sense in this context.