Ezekiel 24

The useless pot

1 In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the LORD's word came to me:

2 Human one, write down today's date, because today the king of Babylon has set up camp at Jerusalem—today!

3 Compose a parable for the rebels' household and say to them, The LORD God proclaims: Put on the pot, set it on, and fill it with water.

4 Add meat to it, every good piece. With shoulder and thigh, the meatiest bones, fill it up.

5 Take the flock's best animal; arrange the wood beneath it. Bring it to a rolling boil, and cook its bones in it.

6 The LORD God proclaims: Horror! You bloody city, you corroded pot; pot whose corrosion can't be removed! Empty it piece by piece. She is rejected

7 because her blood is still with her. She didn't pour it out on the ground so that it could be covered with dirt, but she spread it out on a bare rock.

8 In order to arouse wrath, to guarantee vengeance, I will spread her blood on a bare rock, never to be covered.

9 So now the LORD God proclaims: Horror! You bloody city! I myself will add fuel to the fire!

10 Pile on the wood, light the fire, and cook the meat. Season it well and let the bones be charred.

11 Let the pot stand empty on its coals until it's so hot that its copper glows, its impurities melt in it, and its corrosion is consumed.

12 It's a worthless task. Even by fire its great corrosion isn't removed.

13 How your betrayals defile you! I cleansed you, but you didn't come clean from your impurities. You won't be clean again until I have exhausted my anger against you.

14 I, the LORD, have spoken! It's coming, and I'll do it. I won't relent or have any pity or compassion. Your punishments will fit your ways and your deeds! This is what the LORD God says.

Ezekiel’s wife dies

15 The LORD's word came to me:

16 Human one, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you in a single stroke. Don't mourn or weep. Don't even let your tears well up.

17 Sigh inwardly; be deathly still. Don't perform mourning rites, but bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet. And don't cover your upper lip or eat in human company.

18 I spoke with the people in the morning, and by evening my wife was dead. The next morning I did as I was commanded.

19 The people asked, "Won't you tell us what your actions mean for us?"

20 So I said to them, The LORD's word came to me:

21 Say to the house of Israel, the LORD God proclaims: I'm about to make my sanctuary impure, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes. Your heart's desire, the sons and daughters you left behind, will fall by the sword.

22 You will do as I have done. You will neither cover your upper lip nor eat in human company.

23 Your turbans will be on your heads, your sandals on your feet. You won't mourn or weep. You will waste away in your guilt, all of you groaning to each other.

24 Ezekiel is your sign. You will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the LORD God.

25 And you, human one: On the day that I take from them their proud stronghold—their crowning joy, the delight of their eyes—and their sons and daughters, whose fate weighs on them,

26 on that day, a refugee will come to you so that you yourself will hear the news.

27 On that day your mouth will be opened to the refugee, and you will speak and no longer be silent. You will be their sign, and they will know that I am the LORD.

Ezekiel 24 Commentary

Chapter 24

The fate of Jerusalem. (1-14) The extent of the sufferings of the Jews. (15-27)

Verses 1-14 The pot on the fire represented Jerusalem besieged by the Chaldeans: all orders and ranks were within the walls, prepared as a prey for the enemy. They ought to have put away their transgressions, as the scum, which rises by the heat of the fire, is taken from the top of the pot. But they grew worse, and their miseries increased. Jerusalem was to be levelled with the ground. The time appointed for the punishment of wicked men may seem to come slowly, but it will come surely. It is sad to think how many there are, on whom ordinances and providences are all lost.

Verses 15-27 Though mourning for the dead is a duty, yet it must be kept under by religion and right reason: we must not sorrow as men that have no hope. Believers must not copy the language and expressions of those who know not God. The people asked the meaning of the sign. God takes from them all that was dearest to them. And as Ezekiel wept not for his affliction, so neither should they weep for theirs. Blessed be God, we need not pine away under our afflictions; for should all comforts fail, and all sorrows be united, yet the broken heart and the mourner's prayer are always acceptable before God.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or bones
• [b]. Or the lot did not fall to her

Chapter Summary

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.