Ezekiel 33:31

31 Et ils viennent vers toi en grande foule; mon peuple s'assied devant toi, et ils écoutent tes paroles, mais ne les mettent point en pratique. Ils en font dans leur bouche un objet de moquerie, et leur cœur se livre à la cupidité.

Ezekiel 33:31 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 33:31

And they come unto thee as the people cometh
As the people of God, who came to the prophets's house to hear him preach the word, and explain it for their spiritual profit and edification these came when they did, and as early and constantly, and with seeming pleasure: and they sit before thee as my people;
with great decency and reverence, and very gravely and demurely, and with seeming devotion, and stay the time out till the whole service is over; as scholars sit at the feet of their masters, to hear and learn their doctrines. So the Targum,

``and they come unto thee as the men the disciples come:''

and they hear thy words, but they will not do them;
they gave him the hearing, and seemed attentive, but did not understand what they heard, at least did not put it in practice; they were only hearers, and not doers of the word, and like to the foolish man in ( Matthew 7:26 Matthew 7:27 ) : for with their mouth they show much love:
by the motions of their lips while hearing, and other gestures, as well as by what they said afterwards, they seemed pleased and delighted with what they heard; made huge encomiums upon it, and spoke much in the praise of the preacher. The Targum is the reverse,

``they made game with their mouth.''

But their heart goeth after their covetousness;

``after the money they had taken away by force,''

as the Targum; after the world, and the things of it; after their secular affairs, so that they wished the sermon over, that they might be at them; or, however, did not so diligently attend to what was said, but the cares of the world choked the word, and made it unfruitful to them; these were like the seed that fell among thorns, the thorny ground hearers, ( Matthew 13:22 ) ( Amos 8:5 ) .

Ezekiel 33:31 In-Context

29 Et ils sauront que je suis l'Éternel, quand je réduirai le pays en désolation et en désert, à cause de toutes les abominations qu'ils ont commises.

30 Et toi, fils de l'homme, les enfants de ton peuple s'entretiennent à ton sujet, près des murs et aux portes des maisons. Ils conversent ensemble, chacun avec son frère, et ils disent: Allons écouter quelle est la parole qui est procédée de l'Éternel!

31 Et ils viennent vers toi en grande foule; mon peuple s'assied devant toi, et ils écoutent tes paroles, mais ne les mettent point en pratique. Ils en font dans leur bouche un objet de moquerie, et leur cœur se livre à la cupidité.

32 Voici, tu es pour eux une belle mélodie, un excellent musicien; ils écoutent tes paroles, mais ne les mettent point en pratique.

33 Mais quand ces choses arriveront, et voici qu'elles arrivent, ils sauront qu'il y avait un prophète au milieu d'eux.