Ezekiel 5:4-14

4 "Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
5 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'This is 1Jerusalem; I have set her at the 2center of the nations, with lands around her.
6 'But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes 3more than the lands which surround her; for they have 4rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.'
7 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have 5more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,'
8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I, even I, am 6against you, and I will 7execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
9 'And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have 8not done, and the like of which I will never do again.
10 'Therefore, 9fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and 10scatter all your remnant to every wind.
11 'So as I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'surely *, because you have 11defiled My sanctuary with all your 12detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare.
12 'One third of you will die by 13plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will 14scatter to every wind, and I will 15unsheathe a sword behind them.
13 'Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be 16appeased; then they will know that I, the LORD, have 17spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them.
14 'Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a 18reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by.

Ezekiel 5:4-14 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 18

  • 1. Jeremiah 6:6; Ezekiel 4:1
  • 2. Deuteronomy 4:6; Lamentations 1:1; Ezekiel 16:14
  • 3. 2 Kings 17:8-20; Ezek 16:47, 48, 51
  • 4. Nehemiah 9:16, 17; Psalms 78:10; Jeremiah 11:10; Zechariah 7:11
  • 5. 2 Kings 21:9-11; 2 Chronicles 33:9; Jeremiah 2:10, 11
  • 6. Jeremiah 21:5, 13; Ezekiel 15:7; Ezekiel 21:3; Zechariah 14:2
  • 7. Jeremiah 24:9; Ezekiel 5:15; Ezekiel 11:9
  • 8. Daniel 9:12; Amos 3:2; Matthew 24:21
  • 9. Leviticus 26:29; Jeremiah 19:9; Lamentations 4:10
  • 10. Psalms 44:11; Ezekiel 5:2, 12; Ezekiel 6:8; Ezekiel 12:14; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 2:6; Zechariah 7:14
  • 11. Jeremiah 7:9-11; Ezek 8:5, 6, 16
  • 12. Jeremiah 16:18; Ezekiel 7:20
  • 13. Jeremiah 15:2; Jeremiah 21:9; Ezekiel 5:17; Ezekiel 6:11, 12
  • 14. Ezekiel 5:2, 10; Amos 9:9; Zechariah 2:6
  • 15. Jeremiah 43:10, 11; Jeremiah 44:27; Ezekiel 5:2; Ezekiel 12:14
  • 16. Isaiah 1:24
  • 17. Isaiah 59:17; Ezekiel 36:5, 6; Ezekiel 38:19
  • 18. Psalms 74:3-10; Psalms 79:1-4; Ezekiel 22:4

Footnotes 5

  • [a]. Lit "go out"
  • [b]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
  • [c]. Lit "in them, My statutes"
  • [d]. Lit "cause to rest"
  • [e]. Lit "comforted"
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