Ezekiel 7:8-18

8 Now I will soon 1pour out my wrath upon you, and 2spend my anger against you, 3and judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations.
9 4And my eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will punish you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. 5Then you will know that I am the LORD, who strikes.
10 6"Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! 7Your doom has come; 8the rod has blossomed; pride has budded.
11 9Violence has grown up into 10a rod of wickedness. 11None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.[a]
12 12The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not 13the buyer rejoice, nor 14the seller mourn, 15for wrath is upon all their multitude.[b]
13 For 16the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. 17For 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, 18for my wrath is upon all their multitude.
15 19The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. 20He who is in the field dies by the sword, 21and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour.
16 22And if any survivors escape, they will be on the mountains, like 23doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, each one over his iniquity.
17 24All hands are feeble, and all knees turn to water.
18 25They put on sackcloth, and 26horror covers them. Shame is on all faces, and 27baldness on all their heads.

Ezekiel 7:8-18 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 27

  • 1. Ezekiel 9:8; Ezekiel 14:19; Ezekiel 20:8, 13, 21, 33, 34; Ezekiel 22:22; Ezekiel 36:18
  • 2. See Ezekiel 5:13
  • 3. [See ver. 3 above]
  • 4. [See ver. 4 above]
  • 5. [Ezekiel 6:7]
  • 6. [ver. 2]
  • 7. ver. 7
  • 8. [Isaiah 10:5; Isaiah 14:5]
  • 9. [ver. 23]
  • 10. [See ver. 10 above]
  • 11. [Ezekiel 17:13]
  • 12. [See ver. 7 above]
  • 13. [Isaiah 24:2; 1 Corinthians 7:29, 30]
  • 14. [Isaiah 24:2; 1 Corinthians 7:29, 30]
  • 15. ver. 14
  • 16. Leviticus 25:13, 14
  • 17. See Ezekiel 9:8-10
  • 18. ver. 12
  • 19. [Ezekiel 6:12; Lamentations 1:20]
  • 20. Jeremiah 14:18
  • 21. Jeremiah 14:18
  • 22. Ezekiel 6:8
  • 23. [Isaiah 38:14]
  • 24. Ezekiel 21:7; Isaiah 13:7; Jeremiah 6:24
  • 25. Isaiah 15:2, 3; Lamentations 2:10
  • 26. Psalms 55:5
  • 27. See Isaiah 3:24

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.