Ezekielchapter 7
27 verses · Ezekiel · 593 to 571 BC · The Prophets
The seller will surely not recover what he sold while both remain alive. For the vision concerning the whole multitude will not be revoked, and because of their iniquity, not one of them will preserve his life.
Introduction
Ezekiel, The Prophets, Ezekiel Overview.
Ezekiel spoke this from exile to men who still owned land, kept kin and carried on trade back in Judah. They kept reckoning how long it would be until life returned to normal. The chapter is a lament and a warning in the form of a poem, and it closes the first set of oracles against Jerusalem. Listen for the one word that is struck again and again like a bell. Notice what happens to buying and selling, to silver and gold, and to the leaders people run to in a crisis.
Context
- Who
- Exiles who still had property, relatives and business interests back home
- What
- An oracle announcing that the end has come upon the land of Israel, with the collapse of trade, wealth, defence and leadership.
- Where
- Spoken at the Kebar canal, describing the last days of the land and the city of Jerusalem.
- When
- About 592 BC, on the eve of Judah's collapse under Babylon.
- Why
- To shut down the hope of a quick return and show that the day of judgment on Judah had arrived.
Historical context
The chapter is built out of a market crash. Land in Israel was tribal and did not really leave the family; the law of jubilee meant a sale was closer to a long lease, so the seller expected the field back and the buyer expected to use it. When the invader takes everything, neither man gets what he paid for. The seller will not return to what he sold, and the buyer should not rejoice.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Silver and gold thrown into the streets is an economic detail, not a moral flourish. Money in that world was weighed metal, not coins, Judah had not begun minting yet. Metal is only wealth when there is a market. In a starving city, nobody trades bread for silver, and the metal becomes literal dead weight you drop while running.
The mourning rituals named are the standard ones: sackcloth, a coarse dark goat-hair cloth worn next to the skin; shaved heads; hands hanging limp; knees weak as water. These were public, recognizable signs, the way a whole community said out loud that something had died.
The trumpet is the alarm horn. Everyone hears it; nobody goes to the muster. That is the picture of a nation whose fight has already gone out of it before the enemy arrives.
Significance
The word that hammers through the chapter is the end. Not a setback, not a bad season, the end, it has come, it is upon you. For hearers who kept doing the arithmetic of how long until things went back to normal, this shuts the arithmetic down.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
There is a second sting for the religious. When the crisis hits they will look for a vision from the prophet, instruction from the priest, counsel from the elders, and find none of them. The institutions that had assured them nothing could go wrong will have nothing left to say.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's table of synagogue readings ties no weekly portion and no Haftarah to this chapter. Probed for this lane, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Ezekiel 7, and no festival reading for the book. The table holds the Haftarah of each weekly portion and the six books read whole on a feast or a fast. Across chapters 1 to 24 of Ezekiel the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 20 and 22.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus. He is quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. The translation is modern, so every quotation from it is fifty words or fewer.
"The end has come" Rashi reads by a count. Moses had warned that Israel would grow old in the land, and the Hebrew word for that has the value 852. Yet "they stayed there for [only] 850 years" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:2:1). The singular evil of the fifth verse is "a total, special evil, worse than all evils; that is the destruction of the Temple" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:5:1).
The buyer and the seller of the twelfth verse are both undone. A man who sells his field usually grieves, but "he will not grieve because you are destined to go into exile" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:12:1). They sound the shofar for war, "but no one will go out to fight" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:14:1). The survivors moan on the mountains "like the doves of the valleys, which all moan" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:16:1).
The beauty of the ornament in the twentieth verse is the Temple, "called the pride of their might" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:20:1). The secret place of the twenty-second verse is "The place where I was hidden among them" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:22:1). The chain of the twenty-third verse "is a symbolic sign that they will go into exile bound in fetters" (Rashi on Ezekiel 7:23:1).
The corpus carries 7 notes on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. Radak's notes stand at 7:3:1, 7:4:1, 7:6:1, 7:9:1, 7:15:1, 7:18:1 and 7:21:1. Each stands cited and unquoted, because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 10 filed under the Talmud and 30 under the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 7 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 29:6:3 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 3:9:3. On verse 11 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 31:1, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:114, Midrash Lekach Tov, Genesis 6:11:3 and Midrash Tanchuma, Noach 4:1. It also holds Otzar Midrashim, Midrashim of Rabbi Akiba, Aleph Bet of Rabbi Akiba (Version 1) 36. On verse 13 it holds Arakhin 33a:5, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Megillah 1:30, Ein Yaakov, Arakhin 8:3, Ein Yaakov, Megillah 1:37 and Megillah 14b:7. On verse 15 it holds Kohelet Rabbah 7:7:2, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:25:2, Sifrei Devarim 321:9 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 945:24.
On verse 16 it holds Jerusalem Talmud Taanit 4:2:9, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Vayehi Beshalach 6:13, Midrash Lekach Tov, Exodus 14:24:2 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 14:24:2. It also holds Midrash Tanchuma, Beshalach 23:1. On verse 19 it holds Eikhah Rabbah, Petichta 23, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Gittin 5:5, Ein Yaakov, Gittin 5:8, Gittin 56a:14 and Kohelet Rabbah 12:7:1. On verse 20 it holds Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 49:5. On verse 21 it holds Tractate Soferim 7:1.
On verse 22 it holds Avodah Zarah 52b:12, Avodah Zarah 52b:9, Bekhorot 50a:9 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Nedarim 8:1. On verse 23 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 6:7:1. On verse 24 it holds Bereshit Rabbah 42:4, Bereshit Rabbah 43:4 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 73:4. On verse 26 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 25:1, Ein Yaakov, Eiruvin 2:7, Eruvin 21a:16 and Midrash Lekach Tov, Numbers 12:6:2.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Ezekiel 7:2:1 to 7:23:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Ezekiel 7:3:1 to 7:21:1, cited by ref only: Sefaria holds no English version of the ref; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/ezekiel/7.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Ezekiel 7: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The end has come upon the four corners
Ezekiel 7:1-4
the word of the LORD came to me: The oracle opens with a sentence of doom: “The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.” The word “end” is struck again and again, and the unit closes with the recognition formula, “Then you will know that I am the LORD.”
The end has come upon the four corners of the land: The Lord's message to the land of Israel opens with a cry that the end has come. It reaches the four corners of the land. John Gill notes that the land here means the people of Judah and Benjamin, for the northern tribes had already been carried away.
Ezekiel 7:2
“Also, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God unto the land of Israel,.... The inhabitants of it; not the ten tribes, who were already carried captive; but the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and those that were with them, who dwelt in the land.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Ezekiel 7:2
“An end, the end is come - Instead of קץ בא הקץ kets ba hakkets, one MS. of Kennicott’s, one of De Rossi’s, and one of my own, read קץ בא בא הקץ kets ba, ba hakkets,”The end cometh, come is the end.” This reading is supported by all the ancient Versions, and is undoubtedly genuine. The end Cometh: the termination of the Jewish state is coming, and while I am speaking, it is come. The destruction is at the door.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
I will judge you according to your ways: The end is now upon Judah. The Lord will judge the people according to their ways and repay them for their abominations. Matthew Henry notes that the people had hoped for an end, and the end that came was the one Moses warned of in Deuteronomy 32.
Ezekiel 7:3
“They had flattered themselves with hopes that they should shortly see an end of their troubles. "Yea," says God, " An end has come, but a miserable one, not the expected end " (which is promised to the pious remnant among them, Jer. xxix. 11 ); " it is the end, that end which you have been so often warned of, that last end which Moses wished you to consider ( Deut. xxxii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:3
“A kind of refrain, repeated in Eze 7:8-9, as the close of another stanza.”
I will not look on you with pity: No pity or sparing will soften this judgment. The Lord will punish the people for their ways and for the abominations among them. Matthew Henry puts it plainly: sinners are beaten with their own rod.
Ezekiel 7:4
“And mine eye shall not spare thee, neither will I have pity,.... Though the punishment will be heavy, and the lamentation will be great; see Eze 5:11; but I will recompense thy ways upon thee; the evil of punishment for the evil of sin, the righteous demerit of their actions: and thine abominations shall be in the midst of thee; not taken away, unatoned for, and indeed not repented of.”
Ezekiel 7:5-7
The oracle comes in a second wave, “An unprecedented disaster”, the Hebrew doubling the word for evil. Verses 6 and 7 mass short cries, repeating “The end has come”. On the hills the sound is reversed: “there is panic on the mountains instead of shouts of joy.”
Ezekiel 7:5
“Thus saith the Lord God,.... Here should be a stop, a colon, requiring attention to what follows, it being something awful and terrible: an evil, an only evil, behold, it cometh; meaning the destruction of the city and temple; which, though but one, was such an one as was never known before nor was there any like it. The Targum is, "evil after evil, lo, it cometh;'' one evil after another; when one evil is gone, another comes, as in Eze 7:26. The Syriac version is, "behold, evil for evil comes"; the evil of punishment for the evil of sin.”
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 7:5
“An evil, an only evil - The great, the sovereign, the last exterminating evil, is come: the sword, the pestilence, the famine, and the captivity. Many MSS. read אחר achar, after. So evil cometh after evil; one instantly succeeds another.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:5
“It is to the impenitent an evil, an only evil; it hardens their hearts and irritates their corruptions, whereas there were those to whom it was sanctified by the grace of God and made a means of much good; they were sent into Babylon for their good, Jer. xxiv. The wicked have the dregs of that cup to drink which to the righteous is full of mixtures of mercy, Ps. lxxv.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
It has roused itself against you: The end is pictured as a sleeper who has woken and roused itself against the people. Adam Clarke points to a play on sounds in the Hebrew, where kets, the end, echoes yakats, to wake from sleep. The repeated cry makes the ruin close at hand.
Ezekiel 7:6
“An end is come, the end is come: it watcheth for thee - This is similar to the second verse; but there is a paronomasia, or play upon letters and words, which is worthy of note. קץ בא בא הקץ הקץ אליך kets ba, ba hakkets, hekits elayich. קצה katsah signifies to make an end or extremity, by cutting off something, and יקץ yakats signifies to awake from sleep: hence קיץ kits, the summer, as the earth and its productions seem then to awake from the sleep of winter.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Doom has come to you: Doom has come to the people of the land, and the day is near. Older versions read morning here, and Albert Barnes renders the word conclusion, a whole round of events brought to a close. Panic fills the mountains instead of shouts of joy.
Ezekiel 7:7
“The morning - Rather, “The conclusion:” a whole series (literally circle) of events is being brought to a close. Others render it: Fate. The day of trouble ... - Or, The day is near; a tumult Zec 14:13, and not the echo of (or, shouting on) the mountains. The contrast is between the wild tumult of war and the joyous shouts of such as keep holiday. Eze 7:10 Rod - Used here for tribe Exo 31:2. The people of Judah have blossomed into proud luxuriance. In Eze 7:11 it means the rod to punish wickedness.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:7
“GESENIUS, less probably, translates, "the order of fate"; thy turn to be punished. not the sounding again--not an empty echo, such as is produced by the reverberation of sounds in "the mountains," but a real cry of tumult is coming [CALVIN].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Ezekiel 7:8-9
Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you: Verses 8 and 9 repeat verses 3 and 4 almost word for word. The change comes, “Then you will know that it is I, the LORD, who strikes the blow,” where Ezekiel 7:4 had only the LORD’s name. The added words name the hand behind the disaster.
who strikes the blow: This verse repeats verse 4 with one addition. They will know that it is the LORD who strikes the blow. Matthew Henry notes that the people saw only Nebuchadnezzar, while he was only a staff in the Lord's hand.
Ezekiel 7:9
“Those shall have judgment without mercy who made light of mercy when it was offered them. All this is the just punishment of their sins, and it is what they have by their own folly brought upon themselves.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The rod has budded and the buyer has no joy
Ezekiel 7:10-12
the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed: The image turns: “the rod has budded, arrogance has bloomed,” the nation’s pride. The same word bears the opposite weight: “Their violence has grown into a rod to punish their wickedness.” “Let the buyer not rejoice and the seller not mourn,” since no one will keep what changes hands.
Ezekiel 7:10
“The morning discovers that which was hidden; they thought their secret sins would never come to light, but now they will be brought to light. They used to try and execute malefactors in the morning, and such a morning of judgment and execution is now coming upon them, a day of trouble to sinners, the year of their visitation.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Their violence has grown into a rod: The people's violence has become a rod to punish them. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the violence as the violent enemy rising against Judah to punish its wickedness. Nothing will remain of the people, their wealth or anything of value.
Ezekiel 7:11
“Violence (that is, the violent foe) is risen up as a rod of (that is, to punish the Jews') wickedness (Zec 5:8). theirs--their possessions, or all that belongs to them, whether children or goods. GROTIUS translates from a different Hebrew root, "their nobles," literally, "their tumultuous trains" (Margin) which usually escorted the nobles.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 7:11
“None - They shall be utterly wasted for their sins. Wailing - The living shall not bewail their dead friends, because they shall judge the dead in a better case than the living.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:11
“Violence is risen, up into a rod of wickedness - The prophet continues his metaphor: “Pride has budded.” - And what has it brought forth? Violence and iniquity. To meet these, the rod of God cometh. There is such a vast rapidity of succession in the ideas of the prophet that he cannot wait to find language to clothe each. Hence we have broken sentences; and, consequently, obscurity. Something must be supplied to get the sense, and most critics alter words in the text. Houbigant, who rarely acknowledges himself to be puzzled, appears here completely nonplussed.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Let the buyer not rejoice: The time has come, and ordinary trade loses its meaning. Adam Clarke explains that the seller need not grieve over land he sold, and the buyer need not celebrate, for the enemy would take everything. Wrath lies on the whole multitude.
Ezekiel 7:12
“Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn - Such is now the state of public affairs, that he who through want has been obliged to sell his inheritance, need not mourn on the account; as of this the enemy would soon have deprived him. And he who has bought it need not rejoice in his bargain, as he shall soon be stripped of his purchase, and either fall by the sword, or be glad to flee for his life.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:13-14
The seller will surely not recover what he sold: “The seller will surely not recover what he sold while both remain alive,” which sets aside the seller’s right of redemption (Lev 25:14 and following). Exile removes buyer and seller alike from the land.
Ezekiel 7:13
“For the seller shall not return - In the sale of all heritages among the Jews, it was always understood that the heritage must return to the family on the year of jubilee, which was every fiftieth year; but in this case the seller should not return to possess it, as it was not likely that he should be alive when the next jubilee should come, and if he were even to live till that time, he could not possess it, as he would then be in captivity.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Ezekiel 7:13
“Yet alive - For if any should survive the captivity, yet the conqueror wasting and destroying all, would confound all ancient boundaries. Touching - The evils threatened are designed against all the multitude of Israel. Strengthen - Nor shall any one man of them all he able to secure himself, by any sinful contrivance.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:13
Although they were yet alive - Though they be yet among the living. Which shall not return ... - He (i. e. the seller) shall not return; and, every man living in his iniquity, they shall gather no strength. Exile being the punishment of iniquity, the exiles were said to “live in their iniquity.”
Ezekiel 7:13
“God's word will take place, and then, (1.) Particular persons cannot make their part good against God: No man shall strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life; it will be to no purpose for sinners to set God and his judgments at defiance as they used to do.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The trumpet blows and nobody goes to battle
They have blown the trumpet: The trumpet sounds and everything is made ready for battle, yet no one goes to war. John Wesley explains that the Lord's wrath takes away their courage. The call to arms falls on a people already beaten.
Ezekiel 7:14
“They have blown the trumpet - Vain are all the efforts you make to collect and arm the peoples and stand on your own defense; for all shall be dispirited, and none go to the battle.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:14
“They - The house of Israel have summoned in all fit for arms. None - There is not a man going to the war. Wrath - That displeasure which takes away their courage.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:15-16
The sword is outside: Three instruments close in: “The sword is outside; plague and famine are within,” so the open field and the besieged city each hold a death. Verse 16 lets survivors escape to the mountains, but only to grieve, “moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.”
Ezekiel 7:15
“Sin had abounded both in city and country, Iliacos intra muros peccator et extra--Trojans and Greeks offend alike; and therefore among both desolations are made. None of those that are marked for death shall escape: There shall none of them remain.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
moaning like doves of the valley: The few who escape will flee to the mountains. Albert Barnes explains the picture: doves that live in the valleys moan when fear drives them into the hills. Each survivor will moan for his own iniquity.
Ezekiel 7:16
“They - shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys - Rather, like mourning doves הגאיות haggeayoth, chased from their dove-cotes, and separated from their mates.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Ezekiel 7:17-19
Every hand will go limp: Terror is drawn in the body: “Every hand will go limp, and every knee will turn to water,” with sackcloth, shame and shaved heads. They throw their silver into the streets, for “Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.”
Ezekiel 7:17
“All hands shall be feeble,.... No strength in them, to lay hold on weapons of war to defend themselves, or fight the enemy; no heart nor courage in them, to go forth and meet him; and even afraid to lift up their voice in mourning, lest they should be heard, and pursued, and taken: and all knees shall be weak as water; tremble and beat one against another, for fear of the enemy; or, "shall flow with water,'' as the Targum; either with sweat or urine, which are sometimes both caused by fear.”
They will put on sackcloth: Sackcloth, shame and shaved heads were common signs of mourning. Albert Barnes notes that the law forbade such baldness in Deuteronomy 14:1, though Israel later took up the custom from other nations. Terror will overwhelm the whole people.
Ezekiel 7:18
“Various signs of mourning common in eastern countries. Baldness was forbidden to the Israelites Deu 14:1. They seem, however, in later times to have adopted the custom of foreign nations in this matter, not without permission. Compare Isa 22:12.”
Silver thrown in the streets, the treasure profaned
They will throw their silver into the streets: In the siege silver and gold cannot buy food. Adam Clarke says a pound of gold will then be worth less than an ounce of bread. The wealth that led them into sin cannot rescue them on the day of the LORD's wrath.
Ezekiel 7:19
“Shall be removed - literally, “shall be an unclean thing” Lev 20:21; their gold shall be unclean and abominable in their eyes. The stumblingblock of their iniquity - See Eze 3:20. Their gold and silver used in making images was the occasion of their sin.”
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:19
“By their eager pursuit of it they were drawn into sin, and by their plentiful enjoyment of it they were hardened in sin; and thus it was the stumbling-block of their iniquity; it occasioned their falling into sin and obstructed their return to God. Note, There are many whose wealth is their snare and ruin.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Ezekiel 7:20-22
His beautiful ornaments: The charge narrows to the temple’s treasures. So the Lord says, “I will turn My face away from them, and they will defile My treasured place.” Keil sets this beside chapters 8 to 11, where the glory’s departure is shown in vision.
Ezekiel 7:20
As for the beauty of his ornament - Their beautiful temple was their highest ornament, and God made it majestic by his presence. But they have even taken its riches to make their idols, which they have brought into the very courts of the Lord’s house; and therefore God hath set it - the temple, from him - given it up to pillage. Some say it means, “They took their ornaments, which were their pride, and made them into images to worship.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:20
“The Margin translates, "Made it unto them an unclean thing" (compare Margin on Eze 7:19, "removed"); what I designed for their glory they turned to their shame, therefore I will make it turn to their ignominy and ruin.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
as plunder to foreigners: The beautiful ornaments of verse 20, which the people made into idols, will be handed over as plunder. The wicked of the earth will defile them. Jerome notes that the Greek version calls these men the pestilent of the earth.
My treasured place: The Lord will turn His face away from His people, and they will defile His treasured place. Albert Barnes identifies it as the inner sanctuary, hidden from the crowd. Violent men will break in and defile it.
Ezekiel 7:22
“The robbers shall enter into it - The Chaldeans shall not only destroy the city; but they shall enter the temple, deface it, plunder it, and burn it to the ground.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Make the chain: king mourns, prophet fails
Ezekiel 7:23-24
Forge the chain: “Forge the chain,” ties the exile to one cause: “the land is full of crimes of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.” Bloodguilt is the charge. The Lord will bring “the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses,” and “their holy places will be profaned.”
Ezekiel 7:23
“The indictment drawn up against the prisoner: The land is full of bloody crimes, full of the judgments of blood (so the word is), that is, of the guilt of blood which they had shed under colour of justice and by forms of law, with the solemnity of a judgment.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Ezekiel 7:23
“Therefore translate as the Hebrew requires, "the chain," namely, that usually employed on such occasions. CALVIN explains it, that the Jews should be dragged, whether they would or no, before God's tribunal to be tried as culprits in chains. The next words favor this: "bloody crimes," rather, "judgment of bloods," that is, with blood sheddings deserving the extreme judicial penalty.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
the most wicked of nations: , the Chaldeans, will take over the people's houses. The pride of the mighty will end. Albert Barnes notes that the holy places are called theirs here, for the Lord no longer owns a sanctuary they have profaned.
Ezekiel 7:24
The worst of the pagan - The most cruel and terrible of nations - the Chaldaeans. The pomp of the strong - Compare Lev 26:19 “The strong” are those who pride themselves in imaginary strength. Their holy places - What elsewhere is called “God’s Holy place” is here “their holy places,” because God disowns the profaned sanctuary. In the marginal rendering “they” must mean “the worst of the pagan.”
Ezekiel 7:25-27
They will seek peace, but find none: The chapter ends with the failure of every guide. Prophet, priest and elder fail together, and king and prince are named in their own grief. The last line repeats the recognition formula, “Then they will know that I am the LORD,” so the oracle ends on God’s self-disclosure.
Ezekiel 7:25
“They shall seek peace - They see now that their ceasing to pay the tribute to the king of Babylon has brought the Chaldeans against them; and now they sue for peace in vain. He will not hear: he is resolved on their destruction.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Disaster upon disaster will come: Bad news will follow bad news. The people will look to a prophet for a vision, but the priests will have no instruction and the elders no counsel. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown point to Jeremiah 18:18, where the people boasted that the priest's law would never perish.
Ezekiel 7:26
Then shall they seek a vision - Vision shall perish from the prophet, the law from the priest, and counsel from the ancients. Previously to great national judgments, God restrains the influences of his Spirit. His word is not accompanied with the usual unction; and the wise men of the land, the senators and celebrated statesmen, devise foolish schemes; and thus, in endeavoring to avert it, they hasten on the national ruin. How true is the saying, Quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat. “Those whom God designs to destroy, he first infatuates.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The king will mourn: Grief runs from the top of the nation to the bottom: the king mourns, the prince is clothed with despair, and the people's hands tremble. Jerome identifies the king with Zedekiah. The Lord will judge them by their own standards.
Ezekiel 7:27
“None of the men of might shall find their hands. What can men contrive or do for themselves when God has departed from them and appears against them? All must needs be in tears, all in trouble, when God comes to judge them according to their deserts, and so make then know, to their cost, that he is the Lord, the God to whom vengeance belongs.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.