Ezekiel 14:11

11 in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from following Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God."^[a] [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

Ezekiel 14:11 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 14:11

That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me
Or from his worship, as the Targum; from the law of God, and obedience to it: sin is a going astray from God, a deviation from his commandments; it leads men out of the way of their duty into wrong paths, which issue in ruin, if grace prevent not; and sometimes the means which God makes use of for the restoring of his own people, and bringing them back to himself, are the punishments which he inflicts upon others; and which is his end in so doing, as it was here; that the false prophets, and those that followed them, being made examples of, might be a warning unto others, and caution them against falling into the same sins, that so they might not bear the same punishment; or be a means of reclaiming them from their errors, and for the future beware of going astray again: neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions;
for every transgression, as it is an aberration from the law of God, so it is of a defiling nature: it defiles the mind and conscience, yea, the whole man, from which there is no cleansing but by the blood of Christ; it is loathsome in itself, contrary to the pure and holy nature of God, and abominable to a gracious mind, and therefore to be avoided; and which may be learnt from the punishment of it on others: but that they may be my people and I may be their God, saith the Lord
God;
that is, that they may behave as such, and that it may appear that God is their God, and they are his people.

Ezekiel 14:11 In-Context

9 "But if the prophet is deceived and speaks a message, it was I, the Lord, who deceived that prophet. I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.

10 They will bear their punishment-the punishment of the one who inquires will be the same as that of the prophet-

11 in order that the house of Israel may no longer stray from following Me and no longer defile themselves with all their transgressions. Then they will be My people and I will be their God." [This is] the declaration of the Lord God .

12 The word of the Lord came to me:

13 "Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of bread, to send famine through it, and to wipe out [both] man and animal from it,

Footnotes

• [a] Ezk 11:20