Ezekiel 12:16

16 But I will spare from them {a few men} from [the] sword, from [the] famine and from [the] plague, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations [to] which they will go, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh."

Ezekiel 12:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 12:16

But I will leave a few men of them
Or, "men of number" {x}; of a small number, such as are easily reckoned up; which will require no great skill in numbers, nor trouble to count them: from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence;
during the siege of Jerusalem, and at the breaking of it up; but then they should be carried captive into other countries: that they may declare all their abominations among the Heathen whither
they come;
who, observing their calamities, and distresses, would read their sin in their punishment; and conclude they must have been guilty of great enormities, who were punished in such a manner; so that their punishment was a visible and standing declaration to the Heathens of the abominable sins they had been guilty of: or else the end of reserving a few of them from the above capital judgments was, that they being brought to a sense of their sins by their afflictions, might freely confess them, express their repentance for them, and justify God in his proceedings towards them: and they shall know that I [am] the Lord;
not the Heathens, among whom this declaration would be made; but the Jews, brought under a conviction of their sin, and of the justice of God in his dealings with them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (rpom yvna) "viros numeri", Montanus, Vatablus; "homines numero", Starckius.

Ezekiel 12:16 In-Context

14 And all who [are] around him, his help and all of his troops I will scatter {in every direction}, and I will draw [the] sword behind them.

15 And they will know that I [am] Yahweh {when I scatter them} among the nations and I scatter them in the countries.

16 But I will spare from them {a few men} from [the] sword, from [the] famine and from [the] plague, so that they may tell of all their abominations among the nations [to] which they will go, and they will know that I [am] Yahweh."

17 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me, {saying},

18 "Son of man, you must eat your food with trembling, and your water with shuddering, and with anxiety you must drink.

Footnotes

• [a] Or "And"
• [b] Literally "men of number"