Yechezkel 36:20

20 And when they entered unto the Goyim, to where they went, they profaned Shem Kodshi (Name of My Holiness, Holy Name), when they said to them, These are the Am Hashem, and are gone forth out of His land.

Yechezkel 36:20 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 36:20

And when they entered unto the Heathen, whither they went,
&c.] When the Jews went into the Heathen countries, whither they were carried captive, either by the Chaldeans, or by the Romans: they profaned my holy name;
by their irreligion and immorality; by their violation of both tables of the law; by their wicked lives and conversations, whereby they gave the enemy an occasion to reproach them, their religion, and their God, ( Romans 2:24 ) : when they said to them, these are the people of the Lord, and are gone
forth out of his land;
these are the men that boast they are the people of the Lord, whom he has chosen above all people, and see what a wicked people they are; for their sins they are driven out of the land, and become our captives: or though they were the Lord's people, as they pretend, and were under his care and protection; yet he was not able to keep them in their own land, and deliver them out of our hands, but they are carried captive by us; and thus the name of God, his being and perfections, were blasphemed, and his word, worship, and worshippers, were ridiculed by them. The Targum is,

``if these are the people of the Lord, how is it that they are gone out of the land of the house of his majesty?''

Yechezkel 36:20 In-Context

18 Therefore I poured My chemah upon them for their shefach dahm upon ha’aretz, for their gillulim wherewith they had made it tameh;

19 And I scattered them among the Goyim, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their derech and according to their doings I judged them.

20 And when they entered unto the Goyim, to where they went, they profaned Shem Kodshi (Name of My Holiness, Holy Name), when they said to them, These are the Am Hashem, and are gone forth out of His land.

21 But I had concern for Shem Kodshi (Name of My Holiness, Holy Name), which Bais Yisroel had profaned among the Goyim, where they went.

22 Therefore say unto Bais Yisroel, thus saith Adonoi Hashem: I do not this for your sakes, O Bais Yisroel, but for the sake of Shem Kodshi, which ye have profaned among Goyim where ye went.