Bible-Reading.com
  1. Tue: Isaiah 30-32
  2. Wed: 1 Samuel 1-6
  3. Thu: 1 Corinthians 15-16
Friday · Week 12
The Later Prophets

Ezekiel 24-25

Week 12 · about 9 min
  1. Sat: Psalms 1-8
  2. Sun: Exodus 6-9
  3. Mon: Mark 1-3

The siege of Jerusalem begins. Ezekiel loses his wife, and then he speaks against the neighboring nations.

The Day Ezekiel’s Wife Died

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.

Ezekiel 24:16 (KJV)

Chapter 24 is dated to the exact day Babylon’s army surrounded Jerusalem. That same day God tells Ezekiel his wife will die and that he must not mourn in public. Ezekiel writes it plainly: “at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.” When people ask what it means, he tells them that when the temple, the delight of their eyes, falls, they’ll be too stunned to mourn. Prophets often paid a personal price for the message. Chapter 25 turns to the neighbors who cheered when Jerusalem fell. Ammon said “Aha,” and God noticed.

Reflect: Is there anything you love so much that losing it would leave you speechless?

Ezekiel 24

1And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, in the ninth year, in the tenth month, in the tenth of the month, saying,

2‘Son of man, write for thee the name of the day -- this self-same day leaned hath the king of Babylon toward Jerusalem in this self-same day --

3and use unto the rebellious house a simile, and thou hast said unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: To set on the pot, to set it on, and also to pour into it water,

4To gather its pieces unto it, every good piece, Thigh and shoulder, the choice of the bones to fill in.

5The choice of the flock to take, And also to pile of the bones under it, Boil it thoroughly, yea, cook its bones in its midst.

6Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Wo to the city of blood, A pot whose scum is in it, And its scum hath not come out of it, By piece of it, by piece of it bring it out, Not fallen on it hath a lot.

7For her blood in her midst hath been, On a clear place of a rock she hath set it, She hath not poured it on the earth, To cover it over with dust.

8To cause fury to come up to take vengeance, I have put her blood on a clear place of a rock -- not to be covered.

9Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Wo to the city of blood, yea, I -- I make great the pile.

10Make abundant the wood, Kindle the fire, consume the flesh, And make the compound, And let the bones be burnt.

11And cause it to stand on its coals empty, So that its brass is hot and burning, Melted hath been in its midst its uncleanness, Consumed is its scum.

12With sorrows she hath wearied herself, And the abundance of her scum goeth not out of her, In the fire is her scum.

13In thine uncleanness is wickedness, Because I have cleansed thee, And thou hast not been cleansed, From thine uncleanness thou art not cleansed again, Till I have caused My fury to rest on thee.

14I, Jehovah, hath spoken, It hath come, and I have done it, I do not free, nor do I spare, nor do I repent, According to thy ways, and according to thine acts, they have judged thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

15And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

16‘Son of man, lo, I am taking from thee the desire of thine eyes by a stroke, and thou dost not mourn, nor weep, nor let thy tear come.

17Cease to groan, for the dead thou dost make no mourning, thy bonnet bind on thee, and thy shoes thou dost put on thy feet, and thou dost not cover over the upper lip, and bread of men thou dost not eat.'

18And I speak unto the people in the morning, and my wife dieth in the evening, and I do in the morning as I have been commanded.

19And the people say unto me, ‘Dost thou not declare to us what these are to us, that thou art doing?'

20And I say unto them, ‘A word of Jehovah hath been unto me, saying:

21Say to the house of Israel: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am polluting My sanctuary, The excellency of your strength, The desire of your eyes, and the pitied of your soul, And your sons and your daughters whom ye have left, by sword they do fall.

22And ye have done as I have done, On the upper lip ye are not covered, And bread of men ye do not eat.

23And your bonnets are on your heads, And your shoes are on your feet, Ye do not mourn nor do ye weep, And ye have wasted away for your iniquities, And ye have howled one unto another.

24And Ezekiel hath been to you for a type, According to all that he hath done ye do; In its coming in -- ye have known that I am the Lord Jehovah.

25And thou, son of man, Is it not in the day of My taking from them their strength, The joy of their beauty, the desire of their eyes, And the song of their soul, Their sons and their daughters?

26In that day come doth the escaped one to thee. To cause the ears to hear.

27In that day opened is thy mouth with the escaped, And thou speakest, and art not silent any more, And thou hast been to them for a type. And they have known that I am Jehovah.'

Ezekiel 25

1And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

2‘Son of man, set thy face unto the sons of Ammon, and prophesy against them;

3and thou hast said to the sons of Ammon: Hear ye a word of the Lord Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy saying, Aha, to My sanctuary, Because it hath been polluted, And unto the ground of Israel, Because it hath been desolate, And unto the house of Judah, Because they have gone into a removal:

4Therefore, lo, I am giving thee to sons of the east for a possession, And they set their towers in thee, And have placed in thee their tabernacles. They eat thy fruit, and they drink thy milk,

5And I have given Rabbah for a habitation of camels, And the sons of Ammon for the crouching of a flock, And ye have known that I am Jehovah.

6For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy clapping the hand, And of thy stamping with the foot, And thou rejoicest with all thy despite in soul Against the ground of Israel,

7Therefore, lo, I -- I have stretched out My hand against thee, And have given thee for a portion to nations, And I have cut thee off from the peoples, And caused thee to perish from the lands; I destroy thee, and thou hast known that I am Jehovah.

8Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the saying of Moab and Seir: Lo, as all the nations is the house of Judah;

9Therefore, lo, I am opening the shoulder of Moab -- From the cities -- from his cities -- from his frontier, The beauty of the land, Beth-Jeshimoth, Baal-Meon, and Kiriathaim,

10To the sons of the east, with the sons of Ammon, And I have given it for a possession, So that the sons of Ammon are not remembered among nations.

11And in Moab I do judgments, And they have known that I am Jehovah.

12Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the doings of Edom, In taking vengeance on the house of Judah, Yea, they are very guilty, And they have taken vengeance on them.

13Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have stretched out My hand against Edom, And I have cut off from it man and beast, And given it up -- a waste, from Teman even to Dedan, By sword they do fall.

14And I have given My vengeance on Edom, By the hand of My people Israel, And they have done in Edom, According to My anger, and according to My fury, And they have known My vengeance, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of the doings of the Philistines in vengeance, And they take vengeance with despite in soul, To destroy -- the enmity age-during!

16Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Lo, I am stretching out My hand against the Philistines, And I have cut off the Cherethim, And destroyed the remnant of the haven of the sea,

17And done upon them great vengeance with furious reproofs, And they have known that I am Jehovah, In My giving out My vengeance on them!

Young’s Literal Translation (YLT). Public domain.