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Ezekiel 24

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The Siege of Jerusalem Foretold (The Pot Parable) 1–14

1
Again in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, ​
2
Son 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. ​
3
And 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: ​
4
Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones. ​
5
Take 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.
6
Wherefore 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. ​
7
For 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; ​
8
That 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.
9
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10
Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned. ​
11
Then 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. ​
12
She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13
In 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. ​
14
I 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. ​

The Sign of Ezekiel's Wife 15–24

15
Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16
Son 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. ​
17
Forbear 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. ​
18
So I spake unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded. ​
19
And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
20
Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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Speak 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. ​
22
And ye shall do as I have done: ye shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23
And 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. ​
24
Thus 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. ​

The Lifting of Ezekiel's Silence 25–27

25
Also, 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, ​
26
That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, to cause thee to hear it with thine ears? ​
27
In 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. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Ezekiel 24

Verse 1

in the tenth day of the month — The date is exact: the same year, month and day on which 'Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came… against Jerusalem, and pitched against it' (2 Kings 25:1; Jer 52:4). The news reached the exiles in 'the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month', brought by 'one that had escaped' (33:21).

Verse 2

write thee the name of the day — 'This same day' is etsem, elsewhere 'bone' and 'selfsame' (Gen 7:13). The prophet is to put on record the day the king of Babylon 'set himself against Jerusalem', so that its arrival can later be checked against the word, as other writing was kept 'for the time to come' (Isa 30:8).

Verse 3

a parable unto the rebellious house — Mashal, a likeness or proverb; 'rebellious house' (meri) is Ezekiel's title for Israel since 2:5. The 'pot' (sir) takes up the people's own saying, 'this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh' (11:3), which God now turns against them.

Verse 4

every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder — The best cuts and 'choice bones' fill the pot, the picture of the chosen men of the city. In 11:7 God had answered the same boast: 'Your slain… they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.'

Verse 6

Woe to the bloody city — The Hebrew is 'city of bloods' (damim); Nahum uses the same cry against Nineveh (Nah 3:1), and Ezekiel has already named Jerusalem so (22:2). 'Scum' (chel'ah) occurs only here and in vv.11–12. 'Let no lot fall upon it' (goral): no piece is chosen or spared by lot, unlike the lots cast for captives (Joel 3:3).

Verse 7

upon the top of a rock — Blood poured out was to be covered with dust (Lev 17:13), and Cain's brother's blood cried from the ground (Gen 4:10). Jerusalem left hers bare on a rock, where it could not be hidden. God says he has done this himself: 'I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered' (v.8).

Verse 10

spice it well — Raqach is to compound spices, the apothecary's work. 'Consume the flesh' is tamam, to finish it, and the bones are burned to the end: charar, to glow, the verb rendered 'burn' again in v.11 of the empty pot.

Verse 11

the filthiness of it may be molten in it — With the contents gone, the empty pot goes back on the coals until the 'brass' glows. The 'filthiness' is tum'ah, ritual uncleanness, and 'molten' (nathak) is the verb of the furnace in 22:20–22, where Jerusalem is gathered like metal to be melted; cf. Isa 1:25.

Verse 13

In thy filthiness is lewdness — Zimmah is a wicked plan, used of Jerusalem's shameful conduct in 16:27, 43, 58 and 22:9. God 'purged' (taher, made clean) and the city stayed unclean, like Jeremiah's silver in the furnace, 'the founder melteth in vain' (Jer 6:29–30). 'Cause my fury to rest' is the phrase of 5:13.

Verse 14

I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent — Three refusals, the last nacham, the verb of Num 23:19, 'neither the son of man, that he should repent', and Jer 4:28, 'I have purposed it, and will not repent'. 'I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it' is also 22:14; cf. 17:24.

Verse 16

the desire of thine eyes — Machmad, what the eye delights in, named in v.18 as 'my wife'. The same phrase returns in vv.21 and 25 for what the people love most. 'With a stroke' is maggephah, rendered 'plague' in Num 16:48, so the sudden death comes from God; the prophet is forbidden to mourn or weep.

Verse 17

the tire of thine head — Pe'er, a headdress, the 'bonnets' of the priests (Ex 39:28; Ezek 44:18) and the 'beauty' given 'for ashes' to those who mourn (Isa 61:3). David went up Olivet 'barefoot' with his head covered (2 Sam 15:30); here the usual signs are withheld, and 'the bread of men' is the food of consolation (cf. Jer 16:7).

Verse 18

as I was commanded — Ezekiel spoke to the people in the morning, his wife died 'at even', and in the morning he did what he had been told in vv.16–17. The same obedience is recorded of the acted sign in 12:7, 'I did so as I was commanded'; the people ask what it means in v.19.

Verse 21

the excellency of your strength — Ga'on 'oz, the phrase 'the pride of your power' in Lev 26:19, here given to the sanctuary the people trusted. God will 'profane' (chalal) it, as he did to Shiloh, so that 'this house, which is called by my name' falls (Jer 7:14). 'That which your soul pitieth' (machmal) occurs only here.

Verse 23

ye shall pine away for your iniquities — Maqaq, to rot or waste away; Moses had said of the exiles, 'they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands' (Lev 26:39; also Ezek 4:17; 33:10). 'Your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet' repeats v.17: they mourn as Ezekiel did.

Verse 24

Ezekiel is unto you a sign — Mopheth, a sign or wonder; 'Ezekiel' is named only here and in 1:3. Earlier he had been told, 'Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them' (12:11); Christ speaks likewise of Jonah, 'a sign unto the Ninevites' (Luke 11:30). Fulfilment brings the knowledge that 'I am the Lord GOD'.

Verse 25

the joy of their glory — The sanctuary is described again, now by three further titles: 'strength' (ma'oz), 'joy' (masos) and 'glory' (tiph'arah), the word translated 'beautiful' in 'our holy and our beautiful house' (Isa 64:11). 'The desire of their eyes' repeats v.21, and with it go the 'sons and daughters'.

Verse 26

he that escapeth in that day — Palit is a fugitive, one who has got away; the man who comes is the one of 33:21, 'one that had escaped out of Jerusalem'. 'To cause thee to hear it' (hashmaut) is a word found nowhere else. The hand of the LORD was upon Ezekiel the evening before the man came (33:22).

Verse 27

thy mouth be opened — The silence laid on Ezekiel in 3:26, 'thou shalt be dumb', ends with the fugitive's arrival: 'my mouth was opened, and I was no more dumb' (33:22). 'Dumb' is alam, the word of 3:26. The opening of his mouth is promised again in the oracles on Egypt (29:21).