^28:20The word of the Lord came to me: ^28:21“Son of man, turn toward²⁴ Sidon²⁵ and prophesy against it. ^28:22Say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“ ‘Look, I am against you,²⁶ Sidon,

and I will magnify myself in your midst.

Then they will know that I am the Lord

when I execute judgments on her

and reveal my sovereign power²⁷ in her.

^28:23I will send a plague into the city²⁸ and bloodshed into its streets;

the slain will fall within it, by the sword that attacks it²⁹ from every side.

Then they will know that I am the Lord.

^28:24“ ‘No longer will Israel suffer from the sharp briers³⁰ or painful thorns of all who surround and scorn them.³¹ Then they will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

^28:25“ ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When I regather the house of Israel from the peoples where they are dispersed, I will reveal my sovereign power³² over them in the sight of the nations, and they will live in their land that I gave to my servant Jacob. ^28:26They will live securely in it; they will build houses and plant vineyards. They will live securely³³ when I execute my judgments on all those who scorn them and surround them. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.’ ”

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Footnotes

24 Heb “set your face against.”
25 Sidon was located 25 miles north of Tyre. For location see ; ; .
26 Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (), 1:, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî êlêkâ,’ ” 45 (1933): 101–8.
27 Or “reveal my holiness.” God’s “holiness” is fundamentally his transcendence as sovereign ruler of the world. The revelation of his authority and power through judgment is in view in this context.
28 Heb “into it”; the referent of the feminine pronoun has been specified in the translation for clarity.
29 Heb “by a sword against it.”
30 Similar language is used in reference to Israel’s adversaries in Num 33:55; Josh 23:13.
31 Heb “and there will not be for the house of Israel a brier that pricks and a thorn that inflicts pain from all the ones who surround them, the ones who scorn them.”
32 Or “reveal my holiness.” See verse 22.
33 This promise was given in Lev 25:18–19.