Ezekiel 24:2-12

2 Son of man, put down in writing this very day: The king of Babylon let loose the weight of his attack against Jerusalem on this very day.
3 And make a comparison for this uncontrolled people, and say to them, This is what the Lord has said: Put on the cooking-pot, put it on the fire and put water in it:
4 And get the bits together, the fat tail, every good part, the leg and the top part of it: make it full of the best bones.
5 Take the best of the flock, put much wood under it: see that its bits are boiling well; let the bones be cooked inside it.
6 For this is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood, the cooking-pot which is unclean inside, which has never been made clean! take out its bits; its fate is still to come on it.
7 For her blood is in her; she has put it on the open rock not draining it on to the earth so that it might be covered with dust;
8 In order that it might make wrath come up to give punishment, she has put her blood on the open rock, so that it may not be covered.
9 For this cause the Lord has said: A curse is on the town of blood! and I will make great the burning mass.
10 Put on much wood, heating up the fire, boiling the flesh well, and making the soup thick, and let the bones be burned.
11 And I will put her on the coals so that she may be heated and her brass burned, so that what is unclean in her may become soft and her waste be completely taken away.
12 I have made myself tired to no purpose: still all the waste which is in her has not come out, it has an evil smell.

Ezekiel 24:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 24

Is this chapter the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem is prophesied of; the former under the parable of a boiling pot; the latter is represented by the sudden death of Ezekiel's wife. The time of this prophecy was that very day the king of Babylon began the siege of Jerusalem, Eze 24:1,2, the parable of the boiling pot, Eze 24:3-5, the explanation and application of it to the city of Jerusalem, Eze 24:6-14, the prophet is told of the death of his wife, and bid not to mourn on that account, which accordingly came to pass, Eze 24:15-18, upon the people's inquiring what these things meant, he informs them that hereby was signified the profanation of the temple; and that their distress should be so great, that they should not use any set forms of mourning, but pine away and die, Eze 24:19-24, and the chapter is closed with assuring the prophet, that the day these things should come to pass, a messenger should be sent him, to whom he should open his mouth, and be no more dumb, Eze 24:25-27.

The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.