Ezekiel 20:23

23 I lifted up my hand unto them also in the wilderness with an oath that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them through the countries

Ezekiel 20:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:23

I lifted up mine hand also to them in the wilderness
Swore unto them, as in ( Ezekiel 20:5 Ezekiel 20:6 Ezekiel 20:15 ) ; that I would scatter them among the Heathen, and disperse them through
the countries;
after they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, they sinning against the Lord; which was fulfilled in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and in their destruction by the Romans; but was threatened and foretold while they were in the wilderness, ( Leviticus 26:33 ) ( Deuteronomy 32:26 ) ; with this compare ( Psalms 106:26-30 ) .

Ezekiel 20:23 In-Context

21 Notwithstanding, the sons rebelled against me: they did not walk in my statutes, nor keep my rights to do them, by which the man that does them shall live by them; they polluted my Sabbaths; then I said: I would pour out my fury upon them to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

22 Nevertheless, I withdrew my hand and intervened for my name’s sake that it should not be polluted in the sight of the Gentiles in whose sight I brought them forth.

23 I lifted up my hand unto them also in the wilderness with an oath that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them through the countries

24 because they had not executed my rights and had despised my statutes and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

25 For this reason I also gave them statutes that were not good and rights by which they could not live,