Ezekiel 24

In the ninth year, on the tenth day of the tenth month, the word of the LORD came to me. He said:

1Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

NoteEzekiel dates his messages from the deportation of King Jehoiachin and a first group of exiles to Babylon in 597 BC, when Ezekiel himself was taken. The ninth year, tenth month, tenth day falls in January of 588 BC. The Hebrew calendar counted months from spring, so the tenth month is midwinter, not October.

2"Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. On this same day the king of Babylon has moved against Jerusalem.

2Son of man, write thee the name of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem this same day.

Note"Son of man" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning simply "human being" or "mortal." It is God's regular form of address to Ezekiel throughout the book, marking him as a man being spoken to by God. Ezekiel is in Babylonia, hundreds of miles from Jerusalem, and writes the date down because there is no way for him to have the news yet: when word of the siege eventually arrives, the date can be checked against it. A siege meant an army surrounding a walled city and cutting off supplies until hunger or assault brought it down. This one lasted about eighteen months.

3Tell a picture story to this rebellious family, and say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says: Put the pot on the fire. Put it on, and pour water into it.

3And utter a parable unto the rebellious house, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:

Note"House" here means a whole people or dynasty, not a household, the nation of Israel, called rebellious. The Hebrew word behind "parable" and "picture story" covers proverbs, riddles, taunts and extended comparisons; it is a saying that carries a meaning beyond its surface. Earlier (Ezekiel 11:3) people in Jerusalem were quoting a saying that the city was a cooking pot and they were the meat safe inside it. The image is now turned against them.

4Gather the pieces of meat into it, every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the best bones.

4Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.

5Take the best animal of the flock. Pile the wood under the pot. Bring it to a hard boil, and cook the bones in it too.

5Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.

NoteThe Hebrew of this line is uncertain. As written it says to pile the bones under the pot as fuel, which is what the King James reflects; many translators read a very similar word meaning logs or firewood instead.

6So this is what the Lord GOD says: How terrible for the city full of spilled blood, the pot with rust inside it, rust that will not come off! Empty it piece by piece, and do not draw lots over any of it.

6Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.

Note"Bloody city" means a city guilty of shedding innocent blood, of murder and violence, not a city covered in gore. The King James "scum" and the modern "rust" render one Hebrew word for the corrosion or crust that forms on a copper pot; the same word can suggest either a deposit floating in it or a stain eaten into the metal, and the image works either way. Casting lots was the ordinary way of dividing up shares of meat or plunder fairly; here there is no dividing and no choosing, because every piece is being thrown out.

7For the blood she spilled is still inside her. She poured it out on bare rock. She did not pour it on the ground, where dust would cover it.

7For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;

NoteCustom and law held that blood spilled from a killing had to be covered with earth (Leviticus 17:13). Blood left lying exposed was thought of as crying out for justice until it was answered (as in Genesis 4:10). Pouring it out on bare rock, where dust cannot absorb it, leaves the demand for vengeance permanently in the open.

8I myself have put her blood on bare rock, where it cannot be covered, so that it would stir up my fury and bring punishment.

8That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.

9So this is what the Lord GOD says: How terrible for the city full of spilled blood! I too will pile the firewood high.

9Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.

10Heap on the wood. Light the fire. Cook the meat well and mix in the spices. Let the bones be burned.

10Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.

NoteThe Hebrew of the phrase the King James gives as "spice it well" is unclear. It may mean mixing in the spices for cooking, or emptying out the broth; both readings are current among translators.

11Then set the empty pot on its coals until the metal is hot and glowing, so that the filth in it melts and its rust is burned away.

11Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.

Note"Brass" in the King James means copper or bronze; brass as we know it was not in use. The picture is of an empty metal pot left on the coals until it glows, so that the encrusted filth burns off.

12She has worn herself out with lies, and her thick rust still did not come off her. Her rust belongs in the fire.

12She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.

13Your filthiness is shameless and indecent. I tried to make you clean, but you would not be made clean. You will not be clean again until I have poured out my fury on you and it settles there.

13In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.

NoteThe King James "lewdness" translates a Hebrew word for shameless, outrageous indecency. It is often used of sexual sin, and Ezekiel has used sexual images for the nation's unfaithfulness in earlier chapters, but the word itself covers any deliberate, brazen wrongdoing.

14I the LORD have said it. It will happen, and I will do it. I will not hold back, I will not spare you, and I will not change my mind. You will be judged by the way you have lived and the things you have done, says the Lord GOD.

14I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to thy ways, and according to thy doings, shall they judge thee, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteIn 1611 English "repent" meant to change one's mind or relent from an intended course. It does not here mean confessing a fault.

15Then the word of the LORD came to me. He said:

15Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

16"Son of man, listen. With one sudden blow I am going to take away from you the one your eyes delight in. But you must not mourn or cry, and you must not let your tears run down.

16Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

Note"The desire of thine eyes" is a warm phrase for someone deeply loved; verse 18 reveals it is Ezekiel's wife. "With a stroke" means with a single sudden blow, a death without warning, perhaps by plague. The instruction is not that he may not grieve, but that he may not perform any of the public mourning rites listed in the next verse.

17Groan quietly. Do not hold the usual mourning for the dead. Keep your turban on your head and your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your lips, and do not eat the food people bring to a grieving family."

17Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.

NoteThese are the ordinary mourning customs of the time, and Ezekiel is forbidden every one of them. Mourners took off the turban or headcloth and went bareheaded, went barefoot, covered the lower face or mustache, wailed aloud, and were fed by neighbors: a household with a death in it did not cook, so friends brought in the funeral meal, "the bread of men." To go about turbaned, shod and silent after a death would be as conspicuous to onlookers as loud wailing would be to us.

18So I spoke to the people in the morning, and that evening my wife died. The next morning I did what I had been told.

18So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.

19The people said to me, "Won't you tell us what these things mean for us, and why you are acting this way?"

19And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?

20Then I answered them, "The word of the LORD came to me. He said:

20Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

21Say to the people of Israel: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to treat my temple as common and unholy. It is the pride of your strength, the place your eyes delight in, the place your heart holds dear. And the sons and daughters you left behind will be killed by the sword.

21Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pitieth; and your sons and your daughters whom ye have left shall fall by the sword.

Note"Sanctuary" is the temple in Jerusalem. To "profane" something is to strip it of its set-apart status and let it be treated as ordinary (here, by letting foreign soldiers enter and destroy it. The phrases piled up in this verse) pride of your strength, delight of your eyes, what your heart holds dear, deliberately echo the words used of Ezekiel's wife in verse 16.

22Then you will do as I have done. You will not cover your lips, and you will not eat the food people bring to a grieving family.

22And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.

23Your turbans will stay on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or cry. Instead you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan to one another.

23And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.

24So Ezekiel is a sign for you. You will do everything he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.

24Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he hath done shall ye do: and when this cometh, ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

NoteA "sign" in this sense is not an omen to be read but an acted-out message: the prophet performs something in public, and the performance is itself the announcement. Ezekiel does several of these in the book, lying on his side, shaving his head, packing baggage for exile.

25"And you, son of man, will it not happen like this? On the day I take from them their stronghold, their pride and joy, the delight of their eyes, the thing their hearts are set on, and their sons and daughters as well,

25Also, thou son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,

26on that very day a man who escaped will come to you and tell you the news, so you hear it with your own ears.

26That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears?

NoteNews traveled with refugees on foot, and Babylonia lay roughly nine hundred miles from Jerusalem by the usual route. Ezekiel 33:21 records the survivor's arrival, about a year and a half after the events described here.

27On that day your mouth will be opened to the man who escaped. You will speak, and you will no longer be unable to talk. You will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD."

27In that day shall thy mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and thou shalt speak, and be no more dumb: and thou shalt be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Note"Dumb" in the King James means unable to speak, with no suggestion of stupidity. It refers back to Ezekiel 3:26, where God made Ezekiel mute except when giving him words to deliver; the arrival of the fugitive ends that restriction.