Ezekiel 5:12-17

12 1A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in your midst; 2a third part shall fall by the sword all around you; 3and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.
13 4"Thus shall my anger spend itself, and I will vent my fury upon them and satisfy myself. And they shall know that 5I am the LORD--that I have spoken in my jealousy--6when I spend my fury upon them.
14 Moreover, I will make you 7a desolation and 8an object of reproach among 9the nations all around you and in the sight of all who pass by.
15 You shall be[a] a reproach and a taunt, a warning 10and a horror, to 11the nations all around you, 12when I execute judgments on you in anger and fury, and 13with furious rebukes--I am the LORD; I have spoken--
16 when I send against you[b]14the deadly arrows of famine, arrows for destruction, which I will send to destroy you, and when I bring more and more famine upon 15you and break your supply[c] of bread.
17 I will send famine and 16wild beasts against you, 17and they will rob you of your children. Pestilence and 18blood shall pass through you, and I will bring the sword upon you. I am the LORD; I have spoken."

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.

Cross References 18

  • 1. [ver. 2; Ezekiel 6:11, 12; Jeremiah 15:2]
  • 2. [ver. 2; Ezekiel 6:11, 12; Jeremiah 15:2]
  • 3. [ver. 2; Ezekiel 6:11, 12; Jeremiah 15:2]
  • 4. Ezekiel 6:12; Ezekiel 7:8; Ezekiel 20:8, 21; Lamentations 4:11; [Ezekiel 39:25]
  • 5. Ezekiel 36:5, 6; Ezekiel 38:19
  • 6. Ezekiel 6:12; Ezekiel 7:8; Ezekiel 20:8, 21; Lamentations 4:11; [Ezekiel 39:25]
  • 7. Ezekiel 6:6; See Jeremiah 22:5
  • 8. Ezekiel 22:4; Nehemiah 2:17; Psalms 79:4; Jeremiah 24:9
  • 9. ver. 5, 6
  • 10. Ezekiel 14:8; Deuteronomy 28:37
  • 11. [See ver. 14 above]
  • 12. [Ezekiel 14:21]
  • 13. Ezekiel 25:17
  • 14. Deuteronomy 32:23, 24
  • 15. See Ezekiel 4:16
  • 16. Ezekiel 14:15; Ezekiel 33:27; Ezekiel 34:25; Deuteronomy 32:24; [2 Kings 17:25]
  • 17. [Ezekiel 36:12]
  • 18. Ezekiel 38:22

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; Masoretic Text And it shall be
  • [b]. Hebrew them
  • [c]. Hebrew staff
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.