Crossway has published an excerpt from Ezekiel from the upcoming ESV Study Bible, including notes from the opening section that I previously looked at for the NLT Study Bible.
Be sure to check out the PDF link to read the introductory material from the ESV - as with all of these new study Bibles, there is a significant amount of background scholarship to be gleaned before you even get to the study notes - in this case, seven pages of material, including sections on author and title, date, theme and purpose, occasion and background, key themes, style, influence, history of salvation summary, literary features, and outline.
Not reproducing the introductions as part of a review makes excerpting the study notes a little like comparing fish out of water, but it’s still worth getting a feel for the different approaches. As can be seen below, the ESV Study Bible is much closer in tone, approach and length to the New Oxford Annotated (NRSV) and Oxford Study Bible (REB) that I previously compared the NLT to.
Ezekiel 1:1-3 - Comparison of NLT and ESV study Bibles
| NLT Study Bible | ESV Study Bible |
| 1:1-3:27 OT prophetic books often begin with a “call narrative” that gives details of the prophet’s commissioning to his office (e.g., Jer 1:4-19). The prophetic call narrative demonstrated that the prophet’s words were legitimate, showing that he spoke as the Lord’s ambassador. It often introduced themes that his prophecy would address in greater detail, just as the overture to a symphony introduces the musical motifs that form the basis for the composition that follows. The focus of Ezekiel’s call narrative is the Lord’s impending judgment of his people. | 1:1–3:27 Inaugural Vision. The opening sequence of Ezekiel is the most elaborate and complex of the prophetic call narratives in the OT, and also one of the most carefully structured. In a vision, Ezekiel witnesses the awesome approach of the glory of God (1:1–28). Ezekiel receives his prophetic commission through swallowing the scroll God offers (2:1–3:11), thus both fortifying him and training him in obedience. After the glory of God withdraws (3:12–15), Ezekiel’s role is further refined by his appointment as a “watchman” (3:16–21). The sequence concludes with a further encounter with God’s glory (3:22–27). |
| 1:1-3 The opening verses locate the prophet’s ministry among the exiles from Judah who had been carried off to Babylon. | 1:1–3 Setting. Unusually, Ezekiel opens with an autobiographical note (v. 1) and some accompanying explanation (vv. 2–3). These verses have echoes in 3:14–15; together they frame the book’s opening vision |
| 1:1 On July 31: Literally On the fifth day of the fourth month of the ancient Hebew lunar calendar. A number of dates in Ezekiel can be cross-checked with dates in surviving Babylonian records and related accurately to our modern calendar. This event occurred on July 31, 593 BC. of my thirtieth year (or in the thirtieth year): Priests begain to minister in the Jerusalem Temple when they were thirty years old. Ezekiel was a priest (see 1:3), but he was with the Judean exiles … in Babylon and was therefore unable to serve in the usual ways. Ezekiel’s identity as a priest in exile is significant to the message that follows. The exiles felt cut off from God and from conventional ways of appealing to him in the Temple. In the ancient world, most gods were closely tied to particular lands, so it was easy for those who were removed from the Promised Land to assume that the Lord was no longer interested in them. That God’s word had come to a prophet among the exiles in Babylon showed that God had not forgotten them and still had a future for them.
The Kebar River was probably a large irrigation canal in the Nippur region southeast of Babylon. The Babylonians had deported the previous occupants because of their Assyrian sympathies and replaced them with exiles from elsewhere in their empire, including Judah. The Babylonians generally resettled peoples by ethnic groups and allowed them to retain their identity, unlike the Assyrians, whose policy of exile was to disperse and scatter populations. This difference later made it possible for the remnant of the exiles of Judah to return to their homeland. Those who had been exiled from the northern kingdom by thte Assyrians were not able to return in the same way. |
1:1 What the thirtieth year signifies is obscure, as it does not follow the usual pattern for dates in Ezekiel. It may refer to the prophet’s age. Reference to the Chebar canal locates the prophet near ancient Nippur (or, in modern terms, halfway between Baghdad and Basra) and thus not in the city of Babylon itself. Visions of God links this vision with 8:3 and 40:2; the other great vision in the book (37:1–14) does not use this language. |
| 1:2 This happened during the fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity: The word of the Lord first came to Ezekiel in 593 BC, while Judah was still a semi-independent state (see Ezekiel Introduction, “Setting,” p. 1310). Judah had been subjugated by the Babylonians in 597 BC, and King Jehoiachin had been carried into exile in Babylon at that time. Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, ruled Judah as a Babylonian vassal (597-586 BC). Ezekiel dates his prophecy with reference to Jehoiachin’s captivity rather than to Zedekiah’s reign because he seems to have viewed Zedekiah as a stand-in for the lawful king, Jehoiachin. Zedekiah later rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs 24:20), who besieged the city of Jerusalem (588 BC), destroyed it, and burned the Temple (586 BC). | 1:2 Probably the “thirtieth year” of v. 1 should be linked with the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin (i.e., 593 b.c.). Jehoiachin’s exile is the regular chronological marker for dates given throughout the book. Jehoiachin was only 18 at the time of exile in 597 b.c., and had then been king for only three months (see 2 Kings 24:8). |
| 1:3 Ezekiel was a priest by descent and a prophet because the hand of the Lord was upon him. Priests offered sacrifices in the Temple and explained God’s law. Prophets delivered God’s words of blessing or curse to the people and interceded with God for them. Ezekiel’s ministry included aspects of both priestly and prophetic mediation between God and the Israelites. Babylonians: Or Chaldeans. | |
9 Comments
ElShaddai, I appreciate your comparing the two study Bibles like this. It allows people to see for themselves how the two books compare before they buy. I continue to appreciate the irenic way you approach comparison of Bible versions and Bible helps.
I just linked this post from a post on the BBB.
I suppose you know that there is now a blog for the ESV Study Bible.
ElShaddai, you’re my favoritest! This is so very interesting; I’ll have to mull it over for a bit.
@Wayne: I continue to appreciate the irenic way you approach comparison of Bible versions and Bible helps. I just linked this post from a post on the BBB.
Thank you for the link! I really do appreciate that and am trying hard to avoid caustic commentary.
@Esteban: glad to oblige! I had the post drafted, just needed to jot down a few final thoughts. Thanks for reminding me with the link…
Thank you very much.
I updated the reviews page and will continue to do so. You guys are making me work hard (a good thing).
Jeff
Jeff, thanks for your work maintaining that great one-stop resource!
I’d love to see a comparison of the two intro maps. The ESV map is very attractive with the full color. On the other hand the NLTSB maps I’ve seen are extremely informative and have great focus on details. I haven’t seen the Ezekiel one though.
I’d also be curious about Ez1:10 in the NLTSB. In the ESV they go with the rather questionable domains idea (man, domestic, wild, birds) of the Reformation study bible and don’t address the more common: strength, speed, fertility, reason; and/or intelligence, royalty, strength, mobility.
seems to me like the NLT has some pretty solid notes.
The NLT is an enjoyable translation, but I wonder if it’s one I would use with a study Bible. Does anyone have any pros or cons? I tend to think of versions like the RSV, NRSV, ESV as more appropriate as study bibles, and the NLT (and even more so the Message) as versions that can shed light on something or provide a different way of presenting the scripture to folks in Bible studies or during sermons. In general, when I’ve used the NLT, I’ve been happy at the translation choices they’ve made–so perhaps it wouldn’t be bad to use it for a study bible. And the notes do seem solid.
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