Ezekiel 22:1-16

Indictment of Sinful Jerusalem

1 The word of the Lord came to me:

2 "Now, son of man, will you pass judgment? Will you pass judgment against the city of blood? Then explain all her abominations to her.

3 You are to say: This is what the Lord God says: A city that sheds blood within her [walls] so that her time of judgment has come and who makes idols for herself so that she is defiled!

4 You are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled from the idols you have made. You have brought your [judgment] days near and have come to your years [of punishment]. Therefore, I have made you a disgrace to the nations and a mockery to all the lands.

5 Those who are near and those far away from you will mock you, you infamous one full of turmoil.

6 "Look, every prince of Israel within you has used his strength to shed blood.

7 Father and mother are treated with contempt, and the foreign resident is exploited within you. The fatherless and widow are oppressed in you.

8 You despise My holy things and profane My Sabbaths.^[a]

9 There are men within you who slander in order to shed blood.^[b] People who [live] in you eat at the mountain [shrines]; they commit immoral acts within you.

10 Men within you have sexual intercourse with [their] father's wife, and violate women during their menstrual impurity.^[c]

11 One man within you commits an abomination with his neighbor's wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and [yet] another violates his sister, his father's daughter.

12 People who [live] in you accept bribes in order to shed blood. You take interest and profit [on a loan] and brutally extort your neighbors. You have forgotten Me." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

13 "Now look, I clap My hands together against the unjust gain you have made and against the blood shed among you.

14 Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the days when I deal with you? I, the Lord, have spoken, and I will act.

15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you among the countries; I will purge your uncleanness.

16 You^[d] will be profaned in the sight of the nations. Then you will know that I am the Lord."

Ezekiel 22:1-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 22

In this chapter a catalogue or list of the sins of the Jews is given; a comparison of them to dross is made, and they are dealt with accordingly; and a complaint is lodged against all ranks and orders of men for their sins; on account of which, there being no intercessor for them, they are threatened with captivity and destruction. The prophet is ordered to judge them, and lay before them their abominable sins, Eze 22:1,2, of which a long list is given, as murder, idolatry; contempt of parents; oppression of the stranger, fatherless, and widow; negligence of holy things; profanation of the sabbath; tale bearing, lewdness and uncleanness of various sorts; bribery, usury, extortion, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:3-13 for which the Lord threatens to deal with them in a manner that would be intolerable to them; that he would carry them captive, and scatter them among the Heathen, Eze 22:14-16, they are compared to dross, and as such should be gathered into a furnace, and melted down, Eze 22:17-21, all ranks and orders of men are complained of, because of their sins, and threatened, Eze 22:23,24, the prophets for their voraciousness, rapine, murder, and lies, Eze 22:25,28, the priests, for their violation of the law, neglect of holy things, and profanation of the sabbath, Eze 22:26, the princes, for their cruelty, murder, and dishonest gain, Eze 22:27, the people of the land, for their oppression and robbery, Eze 22:29, and there being none to stand in the gap for them, the Lord threatens to pour out his wrath upon them, and consume them, Eze 22:30,31.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lv 19:30
• [b]. Lv 19:16
• [c]. Lv 18:7-8,19
• [d]. One Hb ms, LXX, Syr, Vg read I