Ezekiel 14:21

21 “Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—destroying all her people and animals.

Ezekiel 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 14:21

For thus saith the Lord God, how much more
If the Lord would not be entreated by such good men as those mentioned, for a land that had sinned against him, to whom he only sends some one of the above judgments, either famine, or noisome beasts, or the sword, or the pestilence, how much more inexorable and deaf to all entreaties must he be; or if anyone of those judgments makes so great a desolation in the land, then how much greater must that detraction be, when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem:
or "evil" ^F1 ones; as they are to men, though righteously inflicted by the Lord; when all these four are sent together, what a devastation must they make! namely, the sword, and the famine, and the, noisome beast, and the pestilence,
to cut off from it man and beast;
three of them, it is evident, were sent upon Jerusalem at the time of its siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the sword, famine, and pestilence; and no doubt the other, even the noisome beasts; and if not literally, yet figuratively, for Nebuchadnezzar himself is compared to a lion, ( Jeremiah 4:7 ) ( 50:17 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Myerh) "mala", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius; "pessima", Junius & Tremellius, Vatablus.

Ezekiel 14:21 In-Context

19 “Or suppose I were to pour out my fury by sending an epidemic into the land, and the disease killed people and animals alike.

20 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were there, they wouldn’t be able to save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved by their righteousness.

21 “Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How terrible it will be when all four of these dreadful punishments fall upon Jerusalem—war, famine, wild animals, and disease—destroying all her people and animals.

22 Yet there will be survivors, and they will come here to join you as exiles in Babylon. You will see with your own eyes how wicked they are, and then you will feel better about what I have done to Jerusalem.

23 When you meet them and see their behavior, you will understand that these things are not being done to Israel without cause. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”