Ezekiel 20:23

23 I also, I have lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, To scatter them among nations, And to spread them through lands.

Ezekiel 20:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 20:23

I lifted up mine hand also to them in the wilderness
Swore unto them, as in ( Ezekiel 20:5 Ezekiel 20:6 Ezekiel 20:15 ) ; that I would scatter them among the Heathen, and disperse them through
the countries;
after they came to be settled in the land of Canaan, they sinning against the Lord; which was fulfilled in the times of the Babylonish captivity, and in their destruction by the Romans; but was threatened and foretold while they were in the wilderness, ( Leviticus 26:33 ) ( Deuteronomy 32:26 ) ; with this compare ( Psalms 106:26-30 ) .

Ezekiel 20:23 In-Context

21 And -- the sons rebel against Me, In My statutes they have not walked, And My judgments they have not observed -- to do them, Which the man who doth -- liveth by them. My sabbaths they have polluted, And I say to pour out My fury upon them, To complete Mine anger against them in the wilderness.
22 And I have turned back My hand, And I do [it] for My name's sake, Not to pollute [it] before the eyes of the nations, Before whose eyes I brought them out.
23 I also, I have lifted up My hand to them in the wilderness, To scatter them among nations, And to spread them through lands.
24 Because My judgments they have not done, And My statutes they have despised, And My sabbaths they have polluted, And after idols of their fathers have their eyes been.
25 And I also, I have given to them statutes not good, And judgments by which they do not live.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.