English · ASV

Ezekiel 11

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Judgment on Jerusalem's Wicked Leaders 1–13

1
Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of Jehovah’s house, which looketh eastward: and behold, at the door of the gate five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ​
2
And he said unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise iniquity, and that give wicked counsel in this city; ​
3
that say, The time is not near to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh. ​
4
Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5
And the Spirit of Jehovah fell upon me, and he said unto me, Speak, Thus saith Jehovah: Thus have ye said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind. ​
6
Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7
Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron; but ye shall be brought forth out of the midst of it. ​
8
Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword upon you, saith the Lord Jehovah.
9
And I will bring you forth out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10
Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. ​
11
This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; I will judge you in the border of Israel; ​
12
and ye shall know that I am Jehovah: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither have ye executed mine ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are round about you.
13
And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Jehovah! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel? ​

Promise of Restoration for the Exiles 14–21

14
And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
15
Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel, all of them, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from Jehovah; unto us is this land given for a possession. ​
16
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come. ​
17
Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. ​
18
And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19
And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh; ​
20
that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ​
21
But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord Jehovah. ​

The Glory of the Lord Departs 22–25

22
Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23
And the glory of Jehovah went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city. ​
24
And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me. ​
25
Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that Jehovah had showed me. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 11

Verse 1

the east gate of the LORD'S house — This is where the cherubim and the glory stopped in 10:19. At the door are 'five and twenty men', and two are named as 'princes of the people', Jaazaniah the son of Azur and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah. This Jaazaniah is not the son of Shaphan of 8:11. Pelatiah's death is told in v.13.

Verse 2

devise mischief, and give wicked counsel — 'Mischief' is aven, trouble or iniquity, and 'counsel' is etsah, the plan a leader gives. The LORD names the men who ought to guide the city. His own people are warned against taking counsel 'but not of me' (Isa 30:1), and these princes give counsel that has no place for him.

Verse 3

this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh — The saying, 'It is not near', matches the people's words in 12:22, 'The days are prolonged', and 12:27, 'for many days to come'. A caldron (sir) is a cooking pot (Ex 16:3), and the speakers expect the walls to hold them as meat is held in a pot. Mic 3:1–3 uses the same picture of rulers who treat the people as 'flesh within the caldron'.

Verse 5

the things that come into your mind — Maaleh is what 'comes up' in the mind, so the LORD answers what was said in private. The Spirit 'fell upon' the prophet, as the hand did in 8:1. The verb behind it, alah, is used in 38:10 of things that 'come into thy mind', and Jer 17:10 says, 'I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins'.

Verse 7

they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron — The LORD takes up their saying (v.3) and gives it another meaning: the flesh in the pot is the slain whom they 'have multiplied' in the city (v.6). The living leaders will not remain in it, for 'I will bring you forth out of the midst of it'. Ezekiel gives a longer parable of the pot in 24:3–13.

Verse 10

I will judge you in the border of Israel — The 'border' (gebul) fits Riblah in the land of Hamath, where the king of Babylon 'smote them, and slew them' (2 Kgs 25:21), Hamath being the northern edge of Israel's coast (2 Kgs 14:25). 'Know that I am the LORD' occurs in 58 verses of Ezekiel, more than in any other book.

Verse 11

This city shall not be your caldron — The LORD repeats their word of v.3 and denies it. Jerusalem will not shelter them, and they will not be the 'flesh' kept safe in the pot. 'Flesh' (basar) is also the word of 'an heart of flesh' in v.19. The sentence is the same as in v.10, to be judged 'in the border of Israel'.

Verse 13

Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died — Pelatiah is the prince named in v.1, and he dies 'when I prophesied'. Ezekiel falls on his face and asks again, 'wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?', as in 9:8. 'Make a full end' (kalah) is the phrase of Jer 4:27, 'yet will I not make a full end', and of 20:17, 'neither did I make an end of them'.

Verse 15

Get you far from the LORD — The people of Jerusalem say this of the exiles, and claim, 'unto us is this land given in possession'. 'Kindred' is ge'ullah, the word for redemption in Lev 25:24, so 'the men of thy kindred' are literally 'the men of thy redemption'. Ezek 33:24 records the same boast, 'Abraham was one, and he inherited the land'.

Verse 16

a little sanctuary in the countries — The LORD has cast the exiles 'far off' (the verb of 'Get you far', v.15) and says he will himself be their sanctuary there. 'Little' is me'at, which can mean small in size or short in time. The house in Jerusalem is not the only place of his dwelling: 'Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations' (Ps 90:1).

Verse 17

I will even gather you from the people — The verb 'give' of the claim in v.15, 'unto us is this land given', is the LORD's own promise here: 'I will give you the land of Israel'. The gathering is told again in 28:25, 34:13 and 36:24, and the land is the one first promised to Abraham for 'an everlasting possession' (Gen 17:8).

Verse 19

I will take the stony heart out of their flesh — 'One heart' is the gift of Jer 32:39, 'one heart, and one way'. 'Stony' is eben, a stone. The promise comes in almost the same words in 36:26, and Paul echoes the contrast in 2 Cor 3:3, 'not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart'. The change is the LORD's own work: 'I will give', 'I will take'.

Verse 20

walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances — The purpose of the new heart is obedience, and 36:27 says the LORD will 'cause you to walk in my statutes'. 'They shall be my people, and I will be their God' is the covenant formula spoken to Israel in Egypt (Ex 6:7) and repeated in 14:11 and 36:28.

Verse 21

whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things — These are the ones who do not receive the new heart of v.19. 'Detestable things' (shiqqutsim) and 'abominations' are what the returned 'shall take away' from the land in v.18. For those who cling to them, their way is given back 'upon their own heads', as in 9:10.

Verse 23

went up from the midst of the city — The glory, which has passed from the threshold (10:18) to the east gate (10:19), now leaves the city and stands on the mountain 'on the east side'. Zech 14:4 says the LORD's feet will stand 'upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east'. In 43:2 the glory returns 'from the way of the east'.

Verse 24

into Chaldea, to them of the captivity — The whole visit to Jerusalem has been 'in a vision' (8:3; 11:24). 'Went up' is the verb used of the glory in v.23, so the vision rises as the glory does. The Spirit of God returns him to the exiles among whom he lives (1:1).

Verse 25

all the things that the LORD had shewed me — Ezekiel speaks to the exiles all that he has seen in chapters 8–11. His commission was to speak God's words to them 'whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear' (2:7), and he was made 'a watchman unto the house of Israel' (3:17). The next chapter begins with the word of the LORD again.