Ezekiel 12:6

6 Before their eyes, on your shoulder, you must lift up [the baggage] in the dusk, [and] your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you [as] a sign to the house of Israel."

Ezekiel 12:6 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 12:6

In their sight shall thou bear [it] upon [thy] shoulders
The bundle, packed up for his use and service, carried out through the wall dug by him. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions render it, as if he himself was to be carried out upon the shoulders of another, thus: "in their sight, upon the shoulders, thou shall be carried"; but the former sense is best: [and] carry [it] forth in the twilight;
signifying the same as before: thou shall cover thy face, that thou see not the ground;
or "land"; not the land of Israel, but the land of Chaldea, where the prophet was: this shows that great shame and confusion which should attend the king of Judah when he fled, and great fear and terror also; and likewise his regard to his eyes being put out by the king of Babylon; so that he saw not the land into which he was carried captive, ( Jeremiah 52:11 ) ; for I have set thee [for] a sign unto the house of Israel;
to show unto them by deeds, as well as by words, what should befall them; see ( Isaiah 8:18 ) ( 20:2-4 ) .

Ezekiel 12:6 In-Context

4 And you must bring out your baggage like [the] baggage of an exile by day before their eyes, and you must go out in the evening before their eyes like {those who go into exile}.

5 Before their eyes dig through for yourself, through the wall, and you must bring [the baggage] out through it.

6 Before their eyes, on your shoulder, you must lift up [the baggage] in the dusk, [and] your face you must cover, so that you may not see the land, for I make you [as] a sign to the house of Israel."

7 And I did {just as} I was commanded; my baggage, like [the] baggage of an exile, I brought out by day, and in the evening I dug through for myself into the wall with my hand in the dusk; I brought [the baggage] on [my] shoulder; I carried [it] before their eyes.

8 And the word of Yahweh {came} to me in the morning, {saying},

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the"