Ezekiel 36:20

20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, ¹they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land. ’

Ezekiel 36:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:20

And when they entered unto the Heathen, whither they went,
&c.] When the Jews went into the Heathen countries, whither they were carried captive, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans: they profaned my holy name;
by their irreligion and immorality; by their violation of both tables of the law; by their wicked lives and conversations, whereby they gave the enemy an occasion to reproach them, their religion, and their God, ( Romans 2:24 ) : when they said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone
forth out of his land;
these are the men that boast they are the people of the Lord, whom he has chosen above all people, and see what a wicked people they are; for their sins they are driven out of the land, and become our captives: or though they were the Lord's people, as they pretend, and were under his care and protection; yet he was not able to keep them in their own land, and deliver them out of our hands, but they are carried captive by us; and thus the name of God, his being and perfections, were blasphemed, and his word, worship, and worshippers, were ridiculed by them. The Targum is,

``if these are the people of the Lord, how is it that they are gone out of the land of the house of his majesty?''

Ezekiel 36:20 In-Context

18 So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed in the land, for the idols with which they had defiled it.

19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed through the countries. In accordance with their ways and their deeds I judged them.

20 But when they came to the nations, wherever they came, they profaned my holy name, in that people said of them, ‘These are the people of the Lord, and yet they had to go out of his land. ’

21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Cross References

• 1. 36:20 Isa. 52:5; [ch. 22:26; Rom. 2:24]