Ezekiel 9:5

5 To the others he said in my hearing, Go you through the city after him, and strike: don't let your eye spare, neither have you pity;

Ezekiel 9:5 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 9:5

And, to the others he said in mine hearing
To the other six men that had the slaughter weapons in their hands: go ye after him through the city;
that is, after the man clothed with linen; for he was sent out first to take care of the righteous, and preserve them; and the rest were not suffered to stir till he was gone; and then they are bid to go after him. The Syriac version is,

``to them that were with him he said to them before me, go through the city after me;''

as if these were the words of the man clothed with linen to the other six; and so the Arabic version; of it the other is the true reading, and gives the right sense, as the following words show: and smite;
the inhabitants of the city: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity;
not that the Chaldeans were inclined to mercy and pity, for they were a cruel and barbarous people; but this is said to show the resentment of God against the sins of the Jews; and that it was his will they should act the severe part they did.

Ezekiel 9:5 In-Context

3 The glory of the God of Yisra'el was gone up from the Keruv, whereupon it was, to the threshold of the house: and he called to the man clothed in linen, who had the writer's inkhorn by his side.

4 The LORD said to him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Yerushalayim, and set a mark on the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry over all the abominations that are done in the midst of it.

5 To the others he said in my hearing, Go you through the city after him, and strike: don't let your eye spare, neither have you pity;

6 kill utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but don't come near any man on whom is the mark: and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the old men that were before the house.

7 He said to them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go you forth. They went forth, and struck in the city.