Ezekiel 20:17

17 Nevertheless, I took pity on them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:17

Nevertheless, mine eye spared them from destroying them
Utterly, so as to leave neither root nor branch; for though the whole generation died excepting two, either by the immediate hand of God in wrath, or else by ordinary deaths; yet there was a generation raised up in their stead, to whom mercy was shown: neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness;
that they should be no more a nation and people; though the carcasses of them that believed not fell in the wilderness, and never saw the good land, yet their posterity was spared to see it, and did.

Ezekiel 20:17 In-Context

15 But I took a solemn oath against them in the wilderness. I swore I would not bring them into the land I had given them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful place on earth.

16 For they had rejected my regulations, refused to follow my decrees, and violated my Sabbath days. Their hearts were given to their idols.

17 Nevertheless, I took pity on them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.

18 “Then I warned their children not to follow in their parents’ footsteps, defiling themselves with their idols.

19 ‘I am the LORD your God,’ I told them. ‘Follow my decrees, pay attention to my regulations,