Ezekiel 20

In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to ask the LORD for a message, and they sat down in front of me.

1And it came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, the tenth day of the month, that certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the LORD, and sat before me.

NoteThe date is counted from the deportation of King Jehoiachin to Babylon in 597 BC, the system Ezekiel uses throughout the book; this is roughly August 591 BC. The "elders" are the heads of families and clans among the exiles, the community's recognized leaders. To "ask the LORD for a message" was a formal procedure: you went to a prophet with a question and expected an oracle in reply, and sitting down in front of him was the posture of waiting for that answer.

2Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said:

2Then came the word of the LORD unto me, saying,

3“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel. Tell them this is what the Lord GOD says: Have you come to ask me for a message? As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not let you ask me anything.

3Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

Note"Son of man" is a Hebrew idiom meaning simply "human being" or "mortal." It is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book, over ninety times, and it marks the distance between the speaker and the man spoken to. "As surely as I live" is a standard oath formula: the speaker stakes his own life on the truth of what follows.

4Will you judge them, son of man? Will you judge them? Then make them face the disgusting things their ancestors did.

4Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

Note"Disgusting things" translates a Hebrew word for practices regarded as detestable, used above all for the worship of other gods and the rites that went with it. It is a word of revulsion, not a description of the acts themselves.

5Say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says. On the day I chose Israel, I raised my hand and swore an oath to the descendants of the family of Jacob. I made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. With my hand raised I said to them, ‘I am the LORD your God.’

5And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the LORD your God;

NoteRaising the hand was the ordinary gesture that accompanied swearing an oath, much as a raised hand accompanies swearing in a courtroom today; the Hebrew says only "I lifted my hand," and the swearing is understood. Jacob was renamed Israel, so "the family of Jacob" and "Israel" are the same people.

6On that day I swore to them that I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, a land rich with milk and honey, the finest of all lands.

6In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:

Note"Flowing with milk and honey" was a set phrase for a fertile country: milk from herds grazing good pasture, and honey from wild bees. It pictures abundance without hard labor, not a literal landscape.

7Then I said to them, ‘Every one of you, throw away the disgusting idols your eyes are set on. Do not make yourselves unclean with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’

7Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

NoteTo be "unclean" here is a matter of ritual status, not dirt. An unclean person or object was unfit to come near what belonged to God until the condition was dealt with; contact with idols and their rites produced that state.

8But they rebelled against me and would not listen to me. Not one of them threw away the disgusting idols his eyes were set on, and they did not give up the idols of Egypt. So I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them there in the land of Egypt.

8But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.

9But I acted for the sake of my own name, so it would not be treated as worthless in front of the nations they were living among. Those nations had watched me make myself known to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

9But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, among whom they were, in whose sight I made myself known unto them, in bringing them forth out of the land of Egypt.

NoteIn Hebrew a person's "name" stands for their reputation, what others say and think of them. To treat a name as worthless is to hold the person themselves in contempt. "The nations" (the King James "heathen") simply means the other peoples of the world, non-Israelites, without any comment on their character.

10So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.

10Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness.

11I gave them my rules and showed them my laws. Anyone who obeys them will live by them.

11And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.

Note"Rules" and "laws" render two Hebrew words often paired: fixed decrees, and rulings of the kind a judge hands down. Together they mean the whole body of law. "Anyone who obeys them will live by them" quotes Leviticus 18:5, a line that was already familiar wording.

12I also gave them my Sabbaths, my days of rest, as a sign between me and them, so they would know that I am the LORD, who sets them apart as holy.

12Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.

NoteThe Sabbath was the seventh day of every week, on which all work stopped. Because no neighboring people kept it, it functioned as a public marker of who Israel was, which is what "a sign between me and them" means. "Sets them apart as holy" translates a word meaning to separate something off from ordinary use for God's use.

13But the people of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my rules, and they rejected my laws, though anyone who obeys them will live by them. They badly misused my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my fury on them in the wilderness and finish them off.

13But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.

14But I acted for the sake of my own name, so it would not be treated as worthless in front of the nations who had watched me bring them out.

14But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out.

15I also raised my hand in the wilderness and swore to them that I would not bring them into the land I had given them, a land rich with milk and honey, the finest of all lands.

15Yet also I lifted up my hand unto them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands;

16I swore this because they rejected my laws and did not follow my rules, and because they misused my Sabbaths. Their hearts kept going after their idols.

16Because they despised my judgments, and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my sabbaths: for their heart went after their idols.

17Even so, I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them. I did not wipe them out in the wilderness.

17Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.

18Instead I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not follow the rules your parents lived by. Do not keep their practices. Do not make yourselves unclean with their idols.

18But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

19I am the LORD your God. Follow my rules, keep my laws, and carry them out.

19I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

20Keep my Sabbaths holy. They will be a sign between me and you, so you may know that I am the LORD your God.’

20And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.

21But the children rebelled against me too. They did not follow my rules or carefully keep my laws, though anyone who obeys them will live by them. They misused my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them in the wilderness.

21Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

22Even so, I held my hand back. I acted for the sake of my own name, so it would not be treated as worthless in front of the nations who had watched me bring them out.

22Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

23I also raised my hand in the wilderness and swore to them that I would scatter them among the nations and spread them through many lands.

23I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

24I swore this because they had not carried out my laws. They had rejected my rules and misused my Sabbaths, and their eyes kept turning to their parents’ idols.

24Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.

25So I also gave them rules that were not good, and laws by which they could not live.

25Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

NoteThe Hebrew is as blunt and as difficult as the English: God says he gave them rules that were not good. Ancient and modern readers have taken it in more than one way, and the wording itself does not settle the question. The rendering keeps the difficulty rather than smoothing it out.

26I made them unclean through their own gifts, when they made every firstborn pass through the fire. I did this to leave them in ruin, so that they would know that I am the LORD.

26And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

Note"Pass through the fire" is the standard Hebrew phrase for child sacrifice, condemned repeatedly elsewhere in the Old Testament. It stands here alongside the older law that every firstborn son belonged to God (Exodus 13) but was to be bought back with an animal instead. The verse turns on the collision between those two things.

27So, son of man, speak to the people of Israel and tell them: This is what the Lord GOD says. In this way too your ancestors insulted me, by breaking faith with me.

27Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

28When I had brought them into the land I had raised my hand and sworn to give them, they looked around at every high hill and every leafy tree. There they offered their sacrifices. There they presented offerings that made me angry. There they made their soothing aroma and poured out their drink offerings.

28For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

NoteHilltops and large shady trees were the customary sites for local shrines in Canaan, which is why they are named together as a pair. A drink offering was wine poured out on or beside the altar. The "sweet-smelling" element is the fragrant smoke of the sacrifice, described in Hebrew as a scent that pleases the deity receiving it.

29Then I asked them, ‘What is this high place you keep going to?’ And to this day such a place is called Bamah.

29Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name thereof is called Bamah unto this day.

NoteA "high place" was an open-air worship site, usually raised ground with an altar, a standing stone and a sacred pole. The Hebrew for it is bamah, and the sentence is a pun: mah ha-bamah asher attem ba-im sham, roughly "what (mah) is the high place (bamah) you keep coming (ba) to?" The wordplay cannot be carried into English.

30So say to the people of Israel: This is what the Lord GOD says. Are you making yourselves unclean the same way your ancestors did? Are you selling yourselves to their disgusting idols?

30Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

NoteHebrew regularly describes the worship of other gods as sexual unfaithfulness, because the bond between God and Israel is pictured as a marriage. The King James "commit whoredom" is that metaphor; it is not an accusation about sexual conduct.

31When you present your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your idols, right up to this day. So should I let you ask me anything, people of Israel? As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will not let you ask me anything.

31For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I will not be enquired of by you.

32What you have in mind will never happen. You say, ‘We will be like the other nations, like the peoples of other lands, and serve wood and stone.’

32And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

33As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, I will rule over you with a strong hand, with an arm stretched out, and with fury poured out.

33As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:

Note"A strong hand and an outstretched arm" is the fixed phrase used throughout the Old Testament for God's power in bringing Israel out of Egypt. Here the exodus language is aimed at Israel rather than at their captors.

34I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you have been scattered, with a strong hand, with an arm stretched out, and with fury poured out.

34And I will bring you out from the people, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out.

35I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will bring my case against you, face to face.

35And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.

Note"The wilderness of the nations" has no fixed location and commentators have never agreed on one; the likeliest sense is the desert lying between Babylon and Canaan, matching the desert of the first exodus. "Bring my case against you" is courtroom language: to state charges and press them.

36Just as I brought my case against your ancestors in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will bring my case against you, says the Lord GOD.

36Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

37I will make you pass under the shepherd’s rod, and I will bring you into the binding terms of the covenant.

37And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

NoteShepherds counted a flock by making the animals file one at a time under the raised staff, tallying them and marking off which belonged to whom (Leviticus 27:32). A covenant is a formal binding agreement, sworn and enforceable, of the kind made between a ruler and a people. The Greek Old Testament reads this line differently, as bringing you in "by number," continuing the counting image.

38I will clear out from among you those who rebel and break faith with me. I will bring them out of the country where they are living, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

38And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

39As for you, people of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Go ahead, every one of you, serve your idols, and go on doing it later too, if you will not listen to me. But you shall no longer treat my holy name as worthless with your gifts and your idols.

39As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto me: but pollute ye my holy name no more with your gifts, and with your idols.

NoteThe command "go ahead, serve your idols" is not a permission. Hebrew prophets use an imperative like this ironically, telling people to do what they are going to do anyway and face the result. How much of the verse is irony, and where it stops, is disputed.

40For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, says the Lord GOD, all the people of Israel, every one of them in the land, will serve me. There I will accept them. There I will ask for your offerings and the first and best of your gifts, along with all your holy things.

40For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

NoteThe "holy mountain" is Zion, the temple hill in Jerusalem. "The first and best of your gifts" translates a term for the opening portion of a harvest or flock, handed over before any of it was used; giving the first share stood for giving the whole.

41I will accept you as a pleasing smell when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you have been scattered. Through you I will show that I am holy, in full view of the nations.

41I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen.

Note"A pleasing smell" is technical sacrificial language for an offering that has been received and accepted; the smoke rising is the sign of acceptance. Here the people themselves stand in the place of the offering.

42Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I bring you into the land of Israel, the country I raised my hand and swore to give to your ancestors.

42And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to your fathers.

43There you will remember your ways and everything you did that made you unclean, and you will hate the sight of yourselves for all the evil things you have done.

43And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.

44Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I deal with you for the sake of my own name, and not according to your wicked ways or your rotten deeds, people of Israel, says the Lord GOD.”

44And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my name’s sake, not according to your wicked ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, O ye house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.

45The word of the LORD came to me again. He said:

45Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

46“Son of man, turn your face toward the south. Let your words fall toward the south, and speak against the forest of the southern country.

46Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;

NoteHebrew uses three different words for "south" in this one verse. The last of them is Negev, the arid region south of Judah, which is also the ordinary word for "south." "Let your words fall" is an idiom for delivering a prophetic speech, as of something dropped or let loose on a target.

47Say to the forest of the south: Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to set a fire in you, and it will burn up every green tree in you and every dry tree. The blazing flame will not be put out, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it.

47And say to the forest of the south, Hear the word of the LORD; Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will kindle a fire in thee, and it shall devour every green tree in thee, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned therein.

NoteThe Negev is dry scrubland with no real forest, so the forest here is a figure for something else; the following chapter applies the same imagery to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. "Green tree and dry tree" is a merism, a pairing of opposites meaning everything of that kind without distinction.

48Then everyone alive will see that I, the LORD, lit it. It will not be put out.”

48And all flesh shall see that I the LORD have kindled it: it shall not be quenched.

49Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! People say about me, ‘Isn’t he just telling riddles?’”

49Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?

NoteThe Hebrew word is mashal, which covers a proverb, a comparison, a taunt-song and a riddle. The complaint is that Ezekiel talks in figures nobody can pin down, not that he tells edifying stories.