Ezekiel 22:3

3 Tell her, 'This is what God, the Master, says: You're a city murderous at the core, just asking for punishment. You're a city obsessed with no-god idols, making yourself filthy.

Ezekiel 22:3 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 22:3

Then say thou, thus saith the Lord God
For though the prophet was to sit as judge, yet in the name of the King of kings, under whose authority he acted: the city sheddeth blood in the midst of it;
openly and impudently, in the face of all, and in great abundance; even innocent blood, as the Targum has it: murders were frequent and common, either through quarrels, or through unrighteous judgments in courts of judicature: that her time may come;
to fill up the measure of her iniquity, and to receive the just punishment of her sins. So the Targum,

``the time of her destruction:''

and maketh idols against herself, to defile herself;
being guilty, not only of murder, but of idolatry; she was an idol maker and an idol worshipper; and which was against herself, as well as against God; to her own ruin and destruction, as well as to his dishonour; and it is no wonder she should be defiled with such dunghill gods as these were, as the word used signifies. The Targum renders it, "in the midst of her"; and Kimchi interprets it, by "her", or "above her", upon the mountains and hills.

Ezekiel 22:3 In-Context

1 God's Message came to me:

2 "Son of man, are you going to judge this bloody city or not? Come now, are you going to judge her? Do it! Face her with all her outrageous obscenities.

3 Tell her, 'This is what God, the Master, says: You're a city murderous at the core, just asking for punishment. You're a city obsessed with no-god idols, making yourself filthy.

4 In all your killing, you've piled up guilt. In all your idol-making, you've become filthy. You've forced a premature end to your existence. I'll put you on exhibit as the scarecrow of the nations, the world's worst joke.

5 From far and near they'll deride you as infamous in filth, notorious for chaos.