Ezekiel 14:21

21 For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!

Ezekiel 14:21 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 14:21

For thus saith the Lord God, how much more
If the Lord would not be entreated by such good men as those mentioned, for a land that had sinned against him, to whom he only sends some one of the above judgments, either famine, or noisome beasts, or the sword, or the pestilence, how much more inexorable and deaf to all entreaties must he be; or if anyone of those judgments makes so great a desolation in the land, then how much greater must that detraction be, when I send my four sore judgments on Jerusalem:
or "evil" F1 ones; as they are to men, though righteously inflicted by the Lord; when all these four are sent together, what a devastation must they make! namely, the sword, and the famine, and the, noisome beast, and the pestilence,
to cut off from it man and beast;
three of them, it is evident, were sent upon Jerusalem at the time of its siege by Nebuchadnezzar, the sword, famine, and pestilence; and no doubt the other, even the noisome beasts; and if not literally, yet figuratively, for Nebuchadnezzar himself is compared to a lion, ( Jeremiah 4:7 ) ( 50:17 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F1 (Myerh) "mala", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius; "pessima", Junius & Tremellius, Vatablus.

Ezekiel 14:21 In-Context

19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off humans and animals from it;
20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, says the Lord God, they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save only their own lives by their righteousness.
21 For thus says the Lord God: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four deadly acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild animals, and pestilence, to cut off humans and animals from it!
22 Yet, survivors shall be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; they will come out to you. When you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it.
23 They shall console you, when you see their ways and their deeds; and you shall know that it was not without cause that I did all that I have done in it, says the Lord God.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.