Ezekiel 7:11-21

11 1Violence has grown up into 2a rod of wickedness. 3None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.[a]
12 4The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not 5the buyer rejoice, nor 6the seller mourn, 7for wrath is upon all their multitude.[b]
13 For 8the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. 9For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.[c]
14 "They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, 10for my wrath is upon all their multitude.
15 11The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. 12He who is in the field dies by the sword, 13and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour.
16 14And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like 15doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity.
17 16All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water.
18 17They put on sackcloth, and 18horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and 19baldness on all their heads.
19 They cast their silver into the streets, and their gold is like an unclean thing. 20Their silver and gold are not able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with it. 21For it was 22the stumbling block of their iniquity.
20 23His beautiful ornament they used for pride, and 24they made their abominable images and their detestable things of it. Therefore 25I make it an unclean thing to them.
21 And I will give it into the hands of 26foreigners for prey, 27and to the wicked of the earth for spoil, and 28they shall profane it.

Ezekiel 7:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 7

This chapter contains a prophecy of the speedy destruction of the Jews, as being just at hand; of the particular judgments that should come upon them; of the horror that should seize them, and the distress that all ranks of men among them should be in, a few only escaping, who are described as in mournful circumstances. The destruction in general is denounced as being very near; the end being come, which is often repeated; and as it is represented as sudden, so without mercy; which is declared, Eze 7:1-14; the particular judgments, sword, pestilence, and famine, are mentioned in Eze 7:15, and the few that should escape are compared to mourning doves, Eze 7:16; the trembling, horror, and shame that should be upon all, are intimated in Eze 7:17,18; the unprofitableness of their gold and silver to deliver them, and the unsatisfying nature of these things, are expressed, Eze 7:19; the profanation and destruction of their temple are prophesied of, Eze 7:20-22; and for their murder, rapine, and oppression, it is threatened that their houses should be possessed by the worst of Heathens, and their holy places defiled; and one calamity should come upon another; when their application to prophets, priests, and ancient men for counsel, would be in, vain, Eze 7:23-26; and king, prince, and people, should be in the most melancholy and distressed circumstances, Eze 7:27.

Cross References 28

  • 1. [ver. 23]
  • 2. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 3. [Ezekiel 17:13]
  • 4. [See ver. 7 above]
  • 5. [Isaiah 24:2; 1 Corinthians 7:29, 30]
  • 6. [Isaiah 24:2; 1 Corinthians 7:29, 30]
  • 7. ver. 14
  • 8. Leviticus 25:13, 14
  • 9. See Ezekiel 9:8-10
  • 10. ver. 12
  • 11. [Ezekiel 6:12; Lamentations 1:20]
  • 12. Jeremiah 14:18
  • 13. Jeremiah 14:18
  • 14. Ezekiel 6:8
  • 15. [Isaiah 38:14]
  • 16. Ezekiel 21:7; Isaiah 13:7; Jeremiah 6:24
  • 17. Isaiah 15:2, 3; Lamentations 2:10
  • 18. Psalms 55:5
  • 19. See Isaiah 3:24
  • 20. Proverbs 11:4; Zephaniah 1:18
  • 21. [1 Timothy 6:10]
  • 22. Ezekiel 14:3, 4, 7; Ezekiel 44:12
  • 23. [Isaiah 64:11]
  • 24. [Ezekiel 16:17]; See Ezekiel 8:5-16
  • 25. [Ezekiel 9:7; Ezekiel 24:21; Ezekiel 25:3]
  • 26. See Ezekiel 28:7
  • 27. [ver. 24; Ezekiel 23:46]
  • 28. [See ver. 20 above]

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain
  • [b]. Or abundance; also verses 13, 14
  • [c]. The meaning of this last Hebrew sentence is uncertain
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.