Ezekiel 20:32

32 And {what you are planning}, surely it will not be--that you are saying, 'Let us be like the nations, like the clans of the lands, {serving wood and stone}!'

Ezekiel 20:32 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:32

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all
What they had contrived in their own breasts, and laid a plan of, and would gladly have brought about, should be frustrated, take no effect, and come to nothing: that ye say, we will be as the Heathen;
live without God; not be in subjection to him, or under his government, or be called by his name, or attend to his word, worship, and ordinances; but join ourselves to them; enter into alliance, and intermarry with them; carry on trade and commerce with them, and embrace the same religion; and then we shall prosper as they do, as well as no more incur the reproach of singularity or preciseness in religion: as the families of the countries:
being incorporated into them, dwelling with them, and joining with them in the same exercises of religious worship: to serve wood and stone;
images made of wood and stone. Strange! that a people that had a revelation from God, and such an experience of his power and goodness, should ever form such a scheme, or once think of entering into such measures, so grossly absurd and scandalous.

Ezekiel 20:32 In-Context

30 Therefore thus say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord Yahweh: "In the way of your ancestors [will] you defile yourself, and after their vile idols [will] you prostitute [yourselves]?

31 And {when you lift up your gifts, sacrificing your children} through the fire, you are defiling yourself through all of your idols until {today}, and will I let myself be consulted by you, house of Israel?" ' {As I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "I will not let myself be consulted by you!

32 And {what you are planning}, surely it will not be--that you are saying, 'Let us be like the nations, like the clans of the lands, {serving wood and stone}!'

33 "{As I live}," {declares} the Lord Yahweh, "{surely} with [a] strong hand and with [an] outstretched arm and with {rage pouring forth} I will reign as king over you!

34 And I will bring you from the peoples, and I will gather you from the countries [to] which you were scattered with [a] strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with rage poured out.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "what is going up on your spirit"
• [b] Or "tribes"
• [c] Literally "to serve wood and stone"