Ezekiel 20:17

17 " ' "Then I felt sorry for them. So I did not destroy them. I did not 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 " ' "I also raised my hand and took an oath in the desert. I told my people I would not bring them into the land I had given them. It had plenty of milk and honey. It was the most beautiful land of all.

16 But they turned their backs on my laws. They did not follow my rules. They misused my Sabbaths. Their hearts were committed to worshiping the statues of their gods.

17 " ' "Then I felt sorry for them. So I did not destroy them. I did not put an end to them in the desert.

18 I spoke to their children there. I said, 'Do not follow the rules your parents gave you. Do not obey their laws. Do not pollute yourselves by worshiping their gods.

19 I am the LORD your God. So follow my rules. Be careful to obey my laws.