Ezekiel 36:20

20 But wherever they went among the nations, they dishonored my holy name. People said about them, 'These are the LORD's people, yet they had to leave his land.'

Ezekiel 36:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:20

And when they entered unto the Heathen, whither they went,
&c.] When the Jews went into the Heathen countries, whither they were carried captive, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans: they profaned my holy name;
by their irreligion and immorality; by their violation of both tables of the law; by their wicked lives and conversations, whereby they gave the enemy an occasion to reproach them, their religion, and their God, ( Romans 2:24 ) : when they said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone
forth out of his land;
these are the men that boast they are the people of the Lord, whom he has chosen above all people, and see what a wicked people they are; for their sins they are driven out of the land, and become our captives: or though they were the Lord's people, as they pretend, and were under his care and protection; yet he was not able to keep them in their own land, and deliver them out of our hands, but they are carried captive by us; and thus the name of God, his being and perfections, were blasphemed, and his word, worship, and worshippers, were ridiculed by them. The Targum is,

``if these are the people of the Lord, how is it that they are gone out of the land of the house of his majesty?''

Ezekiel 36:20 In-Context

18 So I poured out my fury on them because they poured out blood on the land and they dishonored the land with their idols.

19 I forced them into other nations, and they became scattered among the nations. I judged them based on the way that they lived and based on everything that they had done.

20 But wherever they went among the nations, they dishonored my holy name. People said about them, 'These are the LORD's people, yet they had to leave his land.'

21 I became concerned about my holy name because my people dishonored it among the nations wherever they went.

22 "So tell the people of Israel, 'This is what the Almighty LORD says: I am about to do something, people of Israel. I will not do this for your sake but for the sake of my holy name, which you have dishonored among the nations wherever you have gone.