Ezekiel 20:17

17 But I had pity on them. I did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert.

Ezekiel 20:17 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:17

Nevertheless, mine eye spared them from destroying them
Utterly, so as to leave neither root nor branch; for though the whole generation died excepting two, either by the immediate hand of God in wrath, or else by ordinary deaths; yet there was a generation raised up in their stead, to whom mercy was shown: neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness;
that they should be no more a nation and people; though the carcasses of them that believed not fell in the wilderness, and never saw the good land, yet their posterity was spared to see it, and did.

Ezekiel 20:17 In-Context

15 And in the desert I swore to the Israelites that I would not bring them into the land I had given them. It is a fertile land, the best land in the world.

16 This was because they rejected my laws and did not follow my rules. They dishonored my Sabbaths and wanted to worship their idols.

17 But I had pity on them. I did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert.

18 I said to their children in the desert, "Don't live by the rules of your parents, or obey their laws. Don't make yourselves unclean with their idols.

19 I am the Lord your God. Live by my rules, obey my laws, and follow them.