Ezekiel 20:32

Israel's Restoration

32 "When you say: Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of [other] countries, worshiping wood and stone, what you have in mind will never happen.

Ezekiel 20:32 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:32

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all
What they had contrived in their own breasts, and laid a plan of, and would gladly have brought about, should be frustrated, take no effect, and come to nothing: that ye say, we will be as the Heathen;
live without God; not be in subjection to him, or under his government, or be called by his name, or attend to his word, worship, and ordinances; but join ourselves to them; enter into alliance, and intermarry with them; carry on trade and commerce with them, and embrace the same religion; and then we shall prosper as they do, as well as no more incur the reproach of singularity or preciseness in religion: as the families of the countries:
being incorporated into them, dwelling with them, and joining with them in the same exercises of religious worship: to serve wood and stone;
images made of wood and stone. Strange! that a people that had a revelation from God, and such an experience of his power and goodness, should ever form such a scheme, or once think of entering into such measures, so grossly absurd and scandalous.

Ezekiel 20:32 In-Context

30 "Therefore say to the house of Israel: This is what the Lord God says: Are you defiling yourselves the way your fathers did, and prostituting yourselves with their detestable things?
31 When you offer your gifts, making your children pass through the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, house of Israel? As I live"-[this is] the declaration of the Lord God -"I will not be consulted by you!
32 "When you say: Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of [other] countries, worshiping wood and stone, what you have in mind will never happen.
33 As I live"-the declaration of the Lord God -"I will rule over you with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath.
34 I will bring you from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you were scattered, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath.
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.