19 and thou hast said unto the people of the land, Thus said the Lord Jehovah concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, concerning the land of Israel: Their bread with fear they do eat, and their water with astonishment drink, because its land is desolate, because of its fulness, because of the violence of all who are dwelling in it.
And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!
And the land hath been for a desolation, Because of its inhabitants, Because of the fruit of their doings.
In all your dwellings the cities are laid waste, And the high places are desolate, So that waste and desolate are your altars, And broken and ceased have your idols, And cut down have been your images, And blotted out have been your works. And fallen hath the wounded in your midst, And ye have known that I `am' Jehovah.
Make the chain; for the land Hath been full of bloody judgments, And the city hath been full of violence.
Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: Again there is in this place -- that is waste, Without man and beast, And in all its cities -- a habitation of shepherds, Causing the flock to lie down.
and if any one may say to you, `This is a thing sacrificed to an idol,' -- do not eat, because of that one who shewed `it', and of the conscience, for the Lord's `is' the earth and its fulness:
Building up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity. Her heads for a bribe do judge, And her priests for hire do teach, And her prophets for silver divine, And on Jehovah they lean, saying, `Is not Jehovah in our midst? Evil doth not come in upon us.' Therefore, for your sake, Zion is ploughed a field, and Jerusalem is heaps, And the mount of the house `is' for high places of a forest!
therefore, prophesy, and thou hast said: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because, even because, of desolating, And of swallowing you up from round about, For your being a possession to the remnant of the nations, And ye are taken up on the tip of the tongue, And `are' an evil report of the people.
And the earth is corrupt before God, and the earth is filled `with' violence. And God seeth the earth, and lo, it hath been corrupted, for all flesh hath corrupted its way on the earth. And God said to Noah, `An end of all flesh hath come before Me, for the earth hath been full of violence from their presence; and lo, I am destroying them with the earth.
Thus said Jehovah: Again heard in this place of which ye are saying, Waste it `is', without man and without beast, In cities of Judah, and in streets of Jerusalem, That are desolated, without man, And without inhabitant, and without beast,
To make their land become a desolation, A hissing age-during, Every passer by it is astonished, And bemoaneth with his head.
For the mountains I lift up weeping and wailing, And for the habitations of the wilderness a lamentation, For they have been burnt up without any passing over, Nor have they heard the voice of cattle, From the fowl of the heavens unto the beast they have fled, they have gone. And I make Jerusalem become heaps, A habitation of dragons, And the cities of Judah I make a desolation, Without inhabitant.
For thus said Jehovah: All the land is a desolation, but a completion I make not.
And I say, `Till when, O Lord?' And He saith, `Surely till cities have been wasted without inhabitant, And houses without man, And the ground be wasted -- a desolation,
A Psalm of David. To Jehovah `is' the earth and its fulness, The world and the inhabitants in it.
And he riseth, and goeth to Zarephath, and cometh in unto the opening of the city, and lo there, a widow woman gathering sticks, and he calleth unto her, and saith, `Bring, I pray thee, to me, a little water in a vessel, and I drink.' And she goeth to bring `it', and he calleth unto her and saith, `Bring, I pray thee, to me a morsel of bread in thy hand.' And she saith, `Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but the fulness of the hand of meal in a pitcher, and a little oil in a dish; and lo, I am gathering two sticks, and have gone in and prepared it for myself, and for my son, and we have eaten it -- and died.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 12
Commentary on Ezekiel 12 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 12
Though the vision of God's glory had gone up from the prophet, yet his word comes to him still, and is by him sent to the people, and to the same purport with that which was discovered to him in the vision, namely, to set forth the terrible judgments that were coming upon Jerusalem, by which the city and temple should be entirely laid waste. In this chapter,
Eze 12:1-16
Perhaps Ezekiel reflected with so much pleasure upon the vision he had had of the glory of God that often, since it went up from him, he was wishing it might come down to him again, and, having seen it once and a second time, he was willing to hope he might be a third time so favoured; but we do not find that he ever saw it any more, and yet the word of the Lord comes to him; for God did in divers manners speak to the fathers (Heb. 1:1) and they often heard the words of God when they did not see the visions of the Almighty. Faith comes by hearing that word of prophecy which is more sure than vision. We may keep up our communion with God without raptures and ecstasies. In these verses the prophet is directed,
Eze 12:17-20
Here again the prophet is made a sign to them of the desolations that were coming on Judah and Jerusalem.
Eze 12:21-28
Various methods had been used to awaken this secure and careless people to an expectation of the judgments coming, that they might be stirred up, by repentance and reformation, to prevent them. The prophecies of their ruin were confirmed by visions, and illustrated by signs, and all with such evidence and power that one would think they must needs be wrought upon; but here we are told how they evaded the conviction, and guarded against it, namely, by telling themselves, and one another, that though these judgments threatened should come at last yet they would not come of a long time. This suggestion, with which they bolstered themselves up in their security, is here answered, and shown to be vain and groundless, in two separate messages which God sent to them by the prophet at different times, both to the same purport; such care, such pains, must the prophet take to undeceive them, v. 21, 26. Observe,