Ezekiel 7:8,9

Ezekiel 7:8-9 are virtually Ezekiel 7:3 repeated, except that Ezekiel 7:9 ends with the words: that I am Jehovah that smiteth. The order of Ezekiel 7:1 in LXX. differs from the Heb. thus: Ezekiel 7:1; Ezekiel 7:6the end is come, 7 unto thee O inhabitant of the land, &c., 8, 9, 3, 4. This order is certainly not original, because Ezekiel 7:3, being virtually the same as 8, 9 cannot have followed these verses immediately. It is probable that 3, 4 and 8, 9 are duplicates and that they should stand only once. On the other hand they might be regarded as a kind of refrain, first to the judgment on the land (Ezekiel 7:3) and then to the judgment on the inhabitants (Ezekiel 7:8); if so the pronouns in 8, 9 should possibly be read in the masculine.