Ezekiel 22:1-16

Israel's Shedding of Blood

1 And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 "And you, ¹son of man, ²will you judge, will you judge ³the bloody city? ⁴Then declare to her all her abominations.

3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ⁵her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself!

4 You have become guilty ⁶by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ⁷your days near, the appointed time of^[a] your years has come. ⁸Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries.

5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ⁹your name is defiled; ¹⁰you are full of tumult.

6 "Behold, ¹¹the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood.

7 Father and mother ¹²are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ¹³suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ¹⁴are wronged in you.

8 ¹⁵You have despised my holy things and ¹⁶profaned my Sabbaths.

9 ¹⁷There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ¹⁸who eat on the mountains; ¹⁹they commit lewdness in your midst.

10 In you ²⁰men uncover their fathers' nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity.

11 ²¹One commits abomination with his neighbor's wife; ²²another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ²³another in you violates his sister, his father's daughter.

12 In you ²⁴they take bribes to shed blood; ²⁵you take interest and profit^[b] and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ²⁶me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

13 "Behold, ²⁷I strike my hand at ²⁸the dishonest gain that you have made, and at ²⁹the blood that has been in your midst.

14 ³⁰Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ³¹I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it.

15 ³²I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ³³I will consume your uncleanness out of you.

16 And ³⁴you shall be profaned by your own doing ³⁵in the sight of the nations, ³⁶and you shall know that I am the LORD."

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Ezekiel 22:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 22

In this chapter a catalogue or list of the sins of the Jews is given; a comparison of them to dross is made, and they are dealt with accordingly; and a complaint is lodged against all ranks and orders of men for their sins; on account of which, there being no intercessor for them, they are threatened with captivity and destruction. The prophet is ordered to judge them, and lay before them their abominable sins, Eze 22:1,2, of which a long list is given, as murder, idolatry; contempt of parents; oppression of the stranger, fatherless, and widow; negligence of holy things; profanation of the sabbath; tale bearing, lewdness and uncleanness of various sorts; bribery, usury, extortion, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:3-13 for which the Lord threatens to deal with them in a manner that would be intolerable to them; that he would carry them captive, and scatter them among the Heathen, Eze 22:14-16, they are compared to dross, and as such should be gathered into a furnace, and melted down, Eze 22:17-21, all ranks and orders of men are complained of, because of their sins, and threatened, Eze 22:23,24, the prophets for their voraciousness, rapine, murder, and lies, Eze 22:25,28, the priests, for their violation of the law, neglect of holy things, and profanation of the sabbath, Eze 22:26, the princes, for their cruelty, murder, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:27, the people of the land, for their oppression and robbery, Eze 22:29, and there being none to stand in the gap for them, the Lord threatens to pour out his wrath upon them, and consume them, Eze 22:30,31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 36

1. See Ezekiel 2:1
2. See Ezekiel 20:4
3. [Ezekiel 16:38; Ezekiel 23:37; Ezekiel 24:6; 2 Kings 21:16]; See Ezekiel 7:23
4. Ezekiel 16:2; Ezekiel 20:4
5. Ezekiel 21:25, 29
6. [See ver. 2 above]
7. [See ver. 3 above]
8. See Ezekiel 5:14
9. [Isaiah 1:21]
10. Isaiah 22:2
11. ver. 27
12. Deuteronomy 27:16; [Ephesians 6:2]; See Exodus 20:12
13. Exodus 22:21, 22
14. Exodus 22:21, 22
15. [ver. 26]
16. See Ezekiel 20:13
17. Leviticus 19:16; [1 Samuel 22:9-19]
18. See Ezekiel 18:6
19. Ezekiel 16:43
20. Leviticus 18:7, 8; Leviticus 20:11
21. Leviticus 18:20; Jeremiah 5:8; [Ezekiel 18:6]
22. Leviticus 18:15; Leviticus 20:12; [Amos 2:7]
23. Leviticus 18:9; Leviticus 20:17
24. Deuteronomy 27:25
25. See Ezekiel 18:8
26. Ezekiel 23:35; See Jeremiah 2:32
27. Ezekiel 21:14, 17
28. ver. 27
29. See ver. 2
30. [Ezekiel 21:7]
31. See Ezekiel 17:24
32. See Ezekiel 5:10
33. Ezekiel 24:11; [ver. 21, 22]
34. [ver. 26; Ezekiel 7:24]
35. Ezekiel 5:8
36. See Ezekiel 6:7

Footnotes 2

[a]. Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts until
[b]. That is, profit that comes from charging interest to the poor (compare Leviticus 25:36)

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.