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] 14}the 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

• 1. 5:12 [ver. 2; ch. 6:11, 12; Jer. 15:2]
• 2. 5:12 [ver. 2; ch. 6:11, 12; Jer. 15:2]
• 3. 5:12 [ver. 2; ch. 6:11, 12; Jer. 15:2]
• 4. 5:13 ch. 6:12; 7:8; 20:8, 21; Lam. 4:11; [ch. 39:25]
• 5. 5:13 ch. 36:5, 6; 38:19
• 6. 5:13 ch. 6:12; 7:8; 20:8, 21; Lam. 4:11; [ch. 39:25]
• 7. 5:14 ch. 6:6; See Jer. 22:5
• 8. 5:14 ch. 22:4; Neh. 2:17; Ps. 79:4; Jer. 24:9
• 9. 5:14 ver. 5, 6
• 10. 5:15 ch. 14:8; Deut. 28:37
• 11. 5:15 [See ver. 14 above]
• 12. 5:15 [ch. 14:21]
• 13. 5:15 ch. 25:17
• 14. 5:16 Deut. 32:23, 24
• 15. 5:16 See ch. 4:16
• 16. 5:17 ch. 14:15; 33:27; 34:25; Deut. 32:24; [2 Kgs. 17:25]
• 17. 5:17 [ch. 36:12]
• 18. 5:17 ch. 38:22

Footnotes

• [a] 5:15 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; Masoretic Text 'And it shall be'
• [b] 5:16 Hebrew 'them'
• [c] 5:16 Hebrew 'staff'