Ezekiel 17:16

16 {As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{surely} in the place of the king {who made} him king, who despised his oath and who broke his covenant with him--in the midst of Babylon he will die.

Ezekiel 17:16 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 17:16

[As] I live, saith the Lord God
This is the form of an oath, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; the Lord swears, in his wrath, by himself, by his life; this shows how much he resented, what Zedekiah had done, and how sure and certain his ruin was: surely in the place [where] the king [dwelleth] that made him king;
in Babylon, where Nebuchadnezzar dwelt, that made Zedekiah king of Judah; which is mentioned, to point out the ingratitude of that prince to the king of Babylon: whose oath he despised, whose covenant he broke;
the oath of fealty and, allegiance, which Zedekiah took to Nebuchadnezzar; and the covenant entered into between them, by which the former held the kingdom of Judea of the latter: the oath he made light of, though solemn, one made by the God of Israel; and the covenant he broke, though ratified by an oath; in which things were given to him he could not claim, at least possess, but by the courtesy of the conqueror; these sins were displeasing to God: oaths and covenants, though made with conquerors, and with Heathen princes, are to be kept: [even] with him;
that is, with Nebuchadnezzar: in the midst of Babylon he shall die;
when first taken he was had to Riblah, and there his eyes were put out; and after that he was carried to Babylon, and put in prison, and there died, ( Jeremiah 52:9-11 ) .

Ezekiel 17:16 In-Context

14 so that [they would] be a humble kingdom and not lift itself up to keep his covenant {in order for it to stand}.

15 But he rebelled against him by sending his messengers [to] Egypt to give to him horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he escape doing these [things], and can he break [the] covenant and escape?

16 {As I live},' {declares} the Lord Yahweh, '{surely} in the place of the king {who made} him king, who despised his oath and who broke his covenant with him--in the midst of Babylon he will die.

17 And not with a great army and with a great crowd will Pharaoh work with him in the war, at the pouring out of a siege ramp and the building of siege works to destroy many lives.

18 And he despised [the] oath to break covenant. And, look, he gave his hand [in pledge], and [yet] he did all of these [things]. He will not escape.'

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "live I"
• [b] Literally "declaration of"
• [c] Literally "if not"
• [d] Literally "who [he was] making"