Ezekiel 3:25

25 And thou, son of man, lo! bonds be given on thee (And thou, son of man, lo! bonds be put upon thee), and they shall bind thee with those, and thou shalt not go out in(to) the midst of them.

Ezekiel 3:25 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 3:25

But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon
thee
Or, "bands shall be put upon thee"; either visionally, or really; not by angels, but by the Jews, who, taking the prophet for a madman by his motions and gestures; would bind him, and keep him within doors: or figuratively this may be understood of the sins of the people, their rebellion and obstinacy, which hindered the prophet from prophesying among them as yet; and so this is observed to conciliate his mind to the divine order, to shut up himself for a while in his own house, and be silent: or else by these bonds may be meant the divine order itself, which restrained him from doing his office as yet. So the Targum,

``behold, I have appointed the words of my mouth upon thee, as a band of ropes with which they bind;''
and shall bind thee with them;
which some think is emblematical of the Jews being bound by the Chaldeans: and thou shall not go out among them;
to converse with them, or prophesy unto them. The Septuagint version renders it, "shall not go out from the midst of them"; as if he should be taken out of his own house by the Jews, and be bound by them, and kept among them, and not able to get away from them; but it is to be understood of his being bound in his own house, and not able to go out of that to them; and may signify, that in like manner the Jews should not be able to go out of Jerusalem when besieged by the Chaldeans.

Ezekiel 3:25 In-Context

23 And I rose (up), and went out into the field. And lo! the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw beside the flood Chebar (And lo! the glory of the Lord stood there, like the glory which I saw by the Chebar River); and I fell down on my face.
24 And the spirit entered into me, and setted me on my feet. And he spake to me, and said to me, Enter thou, and be thou (en)closed in the midst of thine house.
25 And thou, son of man, lo! bonds be given on thee (And thou, son of man, lo! bonds be put upon thee), and they shall bind thee with those, and thou shalt not go out in(to) the midst of them.
26 And I shall make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not be as a man rebuking; for it is an house stirring to wrath. (And I shall make thy tongue to cleave to the roof of thy mouth, and thou shalt be dumb, and thou shalt not rebuke them; though it is a house stirring me to anger.)
27 But when I shall speak to thee, I shall open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, He that heareth, hear, and he that resteth, rest; for it is an house stirring to wrath. (But when I shall speak to thee, I shall open thy mouth, and thou shalt say to them, The Lord saith these things, He who shall listen, listen, and he who shall not listen, do not listen; for it is a house stirring me to anger.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.