Ezekiel 20:21

21 But the children rebelled against me; {they did not walk in my statutes}, and {they did not observe my regulations}, which [if] a person does them, then he will live by them. My Sabbaths they desecrated, and I decided to pour out my rage on them, to finish my anger against them in the desert.

Ezekiel 20:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:21

Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me
After the death of their fathers, when they were come into the plains of Moab, and just going to enter the land; they rebelled against the Lord, and greatly provoked him, by joining themselves to Baalpeor, the idol of Moab, they worshipped, ( Numbers 25:3 ) ; they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them;
they did as their fathers before them; though they saw with their eyes the judgments of God upon them, yet this did not deter them from following their evil ways: which [if] a man do, he shall even live in them;
(See Gill on Ezekiel 20:13); they polluted my sabbaths;
just as their fathers had done, taking no warning by them, and what befell them: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish mine
anger against them in the wilderness;
twenty and four thousand died on account of the idolatry of Baalpeor, ( Numbers 25:9 ) .

Ezekiel 20:21 In-Context

19 I, Yahweh, [am] your God, [so] go in my statutes and keep my regulations and do them.

20 And treat my Sabbaths as holy, and they will be a sign between me and between you {that you may know} that I, Yahweh, [am] your God.'

21 But the children rebelled against me; {they did not walk in my statutes}, and {they did not observe my regulations}, which [if] a person does them, then he will live by them. My Sabbaths they desecrated, and I decided to pour out my rage on them, to finish my anger against them in the desert.

22 But I withheld my hand, and I acted for the sake of my name not to be profaned before the eyes of the nations [before] whom I [had] brought them out before their eyes.

23 What is more, {I swore} to them in the desert to scatter them among the nations and to disperse them in the lands,

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "in statutes my not they went"
• [b] Literally "my regulations not they kept to do them"