The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV
Page 385
29“The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully ooppress the stranger.
30p“So I sought for a man among them who would qmake a wall, and rstand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
31“Therefore I have spoured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed ttheir deeds on their own heads,” says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 23
Two Harlot Sisters
1The word of the LORD came again to me, saying:
2“Son of man, there were atwo women,
The daughters of one mother.
3b They committed harlotry in Egypt,
They committed harlotry in ctheir youth;
Their breasts were there embraced,
Their virgin bosom was there pressed.
4Their names: 1Oholah the elder and 2Oholibah dher sister;
e They were Mine,
And they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names,
Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
The Older Sister, Samaria
5“ Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine;
And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring fAssyrians,
6Who were clothed in purple,
Captains and rulers,
All of them desirable young men,
Horsemen riding on horses.
7Thus she committed her harlotry with them,
All of them choice men of Assyria;
And with all for whom she lusted,
With all their idols, she defiled herself.
8She has never given up her harlotry brought gfrom Egypt,
For in her youth they had lain with her,
Pressed her virgin bosom,
And poured out their immorality upon her.
9“Therefore I have delivered her
Into the hand of her lovers,
Into the hand of the hAssyrians,
For whom she lusted.
10They uncovered her nakedness,
Took away her sons and daughters,
And slew her with the sword;
She became a byword among women,
For they had executed judgment on her.
The Younger Sister, Jerusalem
11“Now ialthough her sister Oholibah saw this, jshe became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.
12“She lusted for the neighboring kAssyrians,
l Captains and rulers,
Clothed most gorgeously,
Horsemen riding on horses,
All of them desirable young men.
13Then I saw that she was defiled;
Both took the same way.
14But she increased her harlotry;
She looked at men portrayed on the wall,
Images of mChaldeans portrayed in vermilion,
15Girded with belts around their waists,
Flowing turbans on their heads,
All of them looking like captains,
In the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea,
The land of their nativity.
16n As soon as her eyes saw them,
She lusted for them
And sent omessengers to them in Chaldea.
17“Then the 3Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love,
And they defiled her with their immorality;
So she was defiled by them, pand alienated herself from them.
18She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness.
Then qI ralienated Myself from her,
As I had alienated Myself from her sister.
19“Yet she multiplied her harlotry
In calling to remembrance the days of her youth,
s When she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20For she lusted for her 4paramours,
Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys,
And whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth,
When the tEgyptians pressed your bosom
Because of your youthful breasts.
Judgment on Jerusalem
22“Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD:
u‘Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you,
From whom you have alienated yourself,
And I will bring them against you from every side:
23The Babylonians,
All the Chaldeans,
v Pekod, Shoa, Koa,
w All the Assyrians with them,
All of them desirable young men,
Governors and rulers,
Captains and men of renown,
All of them riding on horses.
24And they shall come against you
With chariots, wagons, and war-horses,
With a horde of people.
They shall array against you
Buckler, shield, and helmet all around.
‘I will delegate judgment to them,
And they shall judge you according to their judgments.
25I will set My xjealousy against you,
And they shall deal furiously with you;
They shall remove your nose and your ears,
And your remnant shall fall by the sword;
They shall take your sons and your daughters,
And your remnant shall be devoured by fire.
26y They shall also strip you of your clothes
And take away your beautiful jewelry.
27‘Thus zI will make you cease your lewdness and your aharlotry
Brought from the land of Egypt,
So that you will not lift your eyes to them,
Nor remember Egypt anymore.’
28“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hand of bthose you hate, into the hand of those cfrom whom you alienated yourself.
29d‘They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and eleave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry.
30‘I will do these things to you because you have fgone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols.
31‘You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her gcup in your hand.’
32“Thus says the Lord GOD:
‘You shall drink of your sister’s cup,
The deep and wide one;
h You shall be laughed to scorn
And held in derision;
It contains much.
33You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,
The cup of horror and desolation,
The cup of your sister Samaria.
34You shall idrink and drain it,
You shall break its 5shards,
And tear at your own breasts;
For I have spoken,’
Says the Lord GOD.
35“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
‘Because you jhave forgotten Me and kcast Me behind your back,
Therefore you shall bear the penalty
Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ ”
Both Sisters Judged
36The LORD also said to me: “Son of man, will you ljudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then mdeclare to them their abominations.
37“For they have committed adultery, and nblood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons owhom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them.
38“Moreover they have done this to Me: They have pdefiled My sanctuary on the same day and qprofaned My Sabbaths.
39“For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed rthus they have done in the midst of My house.
40“Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, sto
whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you twashed yourself for them, upainted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.
41“You sat on a stately vcouch, with a table prepared before it, won which you had set My incense and My oil.
42“The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and 6Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their 7wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43“Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’
44“Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.
45“But righteous men will xjudge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and yblood is on their hands.
46“For thus says the Lord GOD: z‘Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder.
47a‘The assembly shall stone them with stones and 8execute them with their swords; bthey shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.
48‘Thus cI will cause lewdness to cease from the land, dthat all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness.
49‘They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall epay for your idolatrous sins. fThen you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.’ ”
Ezekiel 24
Symbol of the Cooking Pot
(cf. Jer. 1:13–19)
1Again, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, write down the name of the day, this very day—the king of Babylon started his siege against Jerusalem athis very day.
3b“And utter a parable to the rebellious house, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
c“Put on a pot, set it on,
And also pour water into it.
4Gather pieces of meat in it,
Every good piece,
The thigh and the shoulder.
Fill it with choice 1cuts;
5Take the choice of the flock.
Also pile fuel bones under it,
Make it boil well,
And let the cuts simmer in it.”
6‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
“Woe to dthe bloody city,
To the pot whose scum is in it,
And whose scum is not gone from it!
Bring it out piece by piece,
On which no elot has fallen.
7For her blood is in her midst;
She set it on top of a rock;
f She did not pour it on the ground,
To cover it with dust.
8That it may raise up fury and take vengeance,
g I have set her blood on top of a rock,
That it may not be covered.”
9‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:
h“Woe to the bloody city!
I too will make the pyre great.
10Heap on the wood,
Kindle the fire;
Cook the meat well,
Mix in the spices,
And let the 2cuts be burned up.
11“Then set the pot empty on the coals,
That it may become hot and its bronze may burn,
That iits filthiness may be melted in it,
That its scum may be consumed.
12She has 3grown weary with 4lies,
And her great scum has not gone from her.
Let her scum be in the fire!
13In your jfilthiness is lewdness.
Because I have cleansed you, and you were not cleansed,
You will knot be cleansed of your filthiness anymore,
l Till I have caused My fury to rest upon you.
14m I, the LORD, have spoken it;
n It shall come to pass, and I will do it;
I will not hold back,
o Nor will I spare,
Nor will I relent;
According to your ways
And according to your deeds
5 They will judge you,”
Says the Lord GOD.’ ”
The Prophet’s Wife Dies
15Also the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
16“Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall pneither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.
17“Sigh in silence, qmake no mourning for the dead; rbind your turban on your head, and sput your sandals on your feet; tdo not cover your 6lips, and do not eat man’s bread of sorrow.”
18So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died; and the next morning I did as I was commanded.
19And the people said to me, u“Will you not tell us what these things signify to us, that you behave so?”
20Then I answered them, “The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
21‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, vI will profane My sanctuary, 7your arrogant boast, the desire of your eyes, the 8delight of your soul; wand your sons and daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.
22‘And you shall do as I have done; xyou shall not cover your 9lips nor eat man’s bread of sorrow.
23‘Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; yyou shall neither mourn nor weep, but zyou shall pine away in your iniquities and mourn with one another.
24‘Thus aEzekiel is a sign to you; according to all that he has done you shall do; band when this comes, cyou shall know that I am the Lord GOD.’ ”
25‘And you, son of man—will it not be in the day when I take from them dtheir stronghold, their joy and their glory, the desire of their eyes, and 10that on which they set their minds, their sons and their daughters:
26‘on that day eone who escapes will come to you to let you hear it with your ears;
27f‘on that day your mouth will be opened to him who has escaped; you shall speak and no longer be mute. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they shall know that I am the LORD.’ ”
Ezekiel 25
Proclamation Against Ammon
1The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, aset your face bagainst the Ammonites, and prophesy against them.
3“Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD: c“Because you said, ‘Aha!’ against My sanctuary when it was profaned, and against the land of Israel when it was desolate, and against the house of Judah when they went into captivity,
4“indeed, therefore, I will deliver you as a possession to the 1men of the East, and they shall set their encampments among you and make their dwellings among you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.
5“And I will make dRabbah ea stable for camels and Ammon a resting place for flocks. fThen you shall know that I am the LORD.”
6‘For thus says the Lord GOD: “Because you gclapped your hands, stamped your feet, and hrejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel,
7“indeed, therefore, I will istretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
Proclamation Against Moab
8‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because jMoab and kSeir say, ‘Look! The house of Judah is like all the nations,’
9“therefore, behold, I will clear the territory of Moab of cities, of the cities on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and lKirjathaim.
10m“To the men of the East I will give it as a possession, together with the Ammonites, that the Ammonites nmay not be remembered among the nations.
11“And I will execute judgments upon Moab, and they shall know that I am the LORD.”
Proclamation Against Edom
12‘Thus says the Lord GOD: o“Becaus
e of what Edom did against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended by avenging itself on them,”
13‘therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I will also stretch out My hand against Edom, cut off man and beast from it, and make it desolate from Teman; 2Dedan shall fall by the sword.
14p“I will lay My vengeance on Edom by the hand of My people Israel, that they may do in Edom according to My anger and according to My fury; and they shall know My vengeance,” says the Lord GOD.
Proclamation Against Philistia
15‘Thus says the Lord GOD: q“Because rthe Philistines dealt vengefully and took vengeance with 3a spiteful heart, to destroy because of the 4old hatred,”
16‘therefore thus says the Lord GOD: s“I will stretch out My hand against the Philistines, and I will cut off the tCherethites uand destroy the remnant of the seacoast.
17“I will vexecute great vengeance on them with furious rebukes; wand they shall know that I am the LORD, when I lay My vengeance upon them.” ’ ”
Ezekiel 26
Proclamation Against Tyre
1And it came to pass in the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, abecause Tyre has said against Jerusalem, b‘Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste.’
3“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.
4‘And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and cmake her like the top of a rock.
5‘It shall be a place for spreading nets din the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord GOD; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations.
6‘Also her daughter villages which are in the fields shall be slain by the sword. eThen they shall know that I am the LORD.’
7“For thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north fNebuchadnezzar1 king of Babylon, gking of kings, with horses, with chariots, and with horsemen, and an army with many people.
8‘He will slay with the sword your daughter villages in the fields; he will hheap up a siege mound against you, build a wall against you, and raise a 2defense against you.