Ezekiel 20:17

17 But I had too much compassion to destroy them, so I didn't put an end to them in the desert.

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 So in the desert I swore another solemn pledge, that I wouldn't bring them to the land that I had given to them, a land full of milk and honey, a land more splendid than any other,

16 because they rejected my case laws, didn't follow my regulations, and degraded my sabbaths. They had their hearts set on their idols.

17 But I had too much compassion to destroy them, so I didn't put an end to them in the desert.

18 In the desert, I said to their children, Don't follow your parents' regulations or observe their case laws or become defiled by their idols.

19 I am the LORD your God! Follow my regulations! Observe my case laws and do them!