Ezekiel 5:12-17

12 One third of your people will die by plague and be consumed by famine within you; one third will fall by the sword all around you; and I will scatter one third to every direction of the wind, and I will draw a sword [to chase] after them.

13 When My anger is spent and I have vented My wrath on them, I will be appeased. Then, after I have spent My wrath on them, they will know that I, the Lord, have spoken in My jealousy.

14 "I will make you a ruin and a disgrace among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.

15 So you^[a] will be a disgrace and a taunt, a warning and a horror, to the nations around you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath, and furious rebukes. I, the Lord, have spoken.

16 When I shoot deadly arrows of famine at them, arrows for destruction that I will send to destroy you, [inhabitants of Jerusalem], I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of bread.

17 I will send famine and dangerous animals against you. They will leave you childless, [Jerusalem]. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken."^[b]

Ezekiel 5:12-17 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 5

This chapter is of the same argument with the former; and contains a type of Jerusalem's destruction; an explanation of that type; what were the reasons of God's judgments on that city; and the nature, rise, and end of them. The type is in Eze 5:1-4; the explanation of that type is in Eze 5:5; the reasons of the severe judgments threatened are changing the statutes of the Lord, and not walking in them, and defiling the sanctuary with their abominations, Eze 5:6-11; an account of the judgments of God, answerable to each of the parts in the type, Eze 5:12; the ends of these judgments are, with respect to God, the accomplishment of his anger, and the satisfaction of his justice; with respect to the Jews, bringing them to an acknowledgment that he had spoken in his zeal; and, with respect to the nations, their instruction and astonishment, Eze 5:13-15; and the chapter is concluded with an assurance that these judgments would be sent, Eze 5:16,17.

Footnotes

• [a] DSS, LXX, Syr, Tg, Vg; MT reads she
• [b] Lv 26:6; Dt 32:23-25