Ezekiel 12:5
in Ezekiel 12As they watch, dig through the wall and carry your belongings out through it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
KJV
Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.
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This verse in Ezekiel 12
Commentary
7 notes on this verseDig thou through the wall in their sight,.... The wall of the house where he was, as an emblem of the city of Jerusalem closely besieged, from whence there was no escape but by digging through the wall this showed the manner in which Zedekiah made his escape, by the way of the gate, between the two walls which was by the king's garden, Jer 52:7; and carry out thereby; not his stuff, as before; but provisions for himself, necessary for his journey or flight; as no doubt Zedekiah and those with him did.
This site's exposition
pack your bags for exile
on Ezekiel 12:3-7
Ezekiel is told to “pack your bags for exile” with the hope, “Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house.” He digs “through the wall,” for “I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.” He performs it to the letter before any explanation.
This site's exposition
dig through the wall
Ezekiel digs through the wall and carries his belongings out through the hole. Adam Clarke ties the act to the escape of Zedekiah by night through a breach in the wall of Jerusalem, told in Jeremiah 39:4. The sign shows a king fleeing in secret.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Ver. 4 seqq.) And you shall bring out your baggage like the baggage of an exile by day in their sight. And you shall go out in the evening before them, as one goes out into exile before their eyes. Dig through the wall for yourself, and you shall go out through it in their sight. You shall bear your baggage on your shoulders (Vulgate: you shall be carried): you shall escape in darkness (Vulgate: you shall be brought out).
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Dig - Come not through the door, but as one who knows there is a guard upon the door, get to some back part of thy house, and dig there thyself, either to make the greater haste, or to keep all secret; for all will be little enough for them that must act what thou dost represent.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Dig--as Zedekiah was to escape like one digging through a wall, furtively to effect an escape (Eze 12:12). carry out--namely, "thy stuff" (Eze 12:4). thereby--by the opening in the wall.
Dig thou through the wall - This refers to the manner in which Zedekiah and his family would escape from the city. They escaped by night through a breach in the wall. See Jer 39:2-4; and 2Ki 25:4.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖ם | leeineihem | to eyes their | H5869 → | 887 times |
| חֲתָר־ | chator- | dig | H2864 → | 8 times |
| לְךָ֣ | lekha | <for> yourself | ||
| בַקִּ֑יר | vakir | in the wall | H7023 → | 75 times |
| וְהוֹצֵאתָ֖ | vehotzeta | and you will bring out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| בּֽוֹ׃ | bo | in it |
לְעֵינֵיהֶ֖םto eyes their
leeineihemH5869 →887 times
חֲתָר־dig
chator-H2864 →8 times
לְךָ֣<for> yourself
lekha
בַקִּ֑ירin the wall
vakirH7023 →75 times
וְהוֹצֵאתָ֖and you will bring out
vehotzetaH3318 →1067 times
בּֽוֹ׃in it
bo
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
2 Kings 25:4Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden.…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 33:21
In the twelfth year of our exile, on the fifth day of the tenth month, a fugitive from Jerusalem came to me and reported, “The city has been taken!”
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Leviticus 26:17
And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- 2 Kings 25:5
but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was separated from him.
- Nehemiah 3:15
The Fountain Gate was repaired by Shallun son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah. He rebuilt it, roofed it, and installed its doors, bolts, and bars. He also repaired the wall of…
- Ezekiel 33:21
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.