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Ezekiel 13:18

in Ezekiel 13

and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils for the heads of people of every height, in order to ensnare their souls. Will you ensnare the souls of My people but preserve your own?

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves?

KJV

And say, Thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?

This verse in Ezekiel 13

Commentary

16 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

That sew pillows to all arm holes - I believe this refers to those cushions which are so copiously provided in the eastern countries for the apartments of women; on which they sit, lean, rest their heads, and prop up their arms. I have several drawings of eastern ladies, who are represented on sofas; and often with their arm thrown over a pillow, which is thereby pressed close to their side, and against which they thus recline.

This site's exposition

set your face against the daughters of your people

on Ezekiel 13:17-19

The second half turns to women who “sew magic charms on their wrists and make veils,” objects used “to ensnare their souls.” Their lies cut both ways, for they “have killed those who should not have died and spared those who should not have lived.”

This site's exposition

sew magic charms on their wrists

The Hebrew words for the charms and the veils occur only in this chapter, and their exact form is uncertain. Wesley reads people of every height as people of every age. The closing question asks whether the women can keep alive the souls they deceive.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers5 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 3:3 · Written before 253.

proposed

The Word of God must proclaim what is for the salvation of the hearer, what exhorts him to continence, to the practice of sensible actions, to all the things to which the person who is assiduous in works and not pleasures must apply himself in order to be able to obtain what God has promised.

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 3:3 · Written before 253.

proposed

When the work of the speaker is deployed in licentious talk, a veil is placed on the head of everyone regardless of age, not just the children and the young but also the elderly.

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 3:4 · Written before 253.

proposed

Allow me, O Christ, to break all pillows made for the luxury of souls.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

Woe, therefore, to these heresies and doctrines which, promising rest, deceive people of every age and sex, in order to capture the souls of the wretched and lead me away from my people, while I am believed to love pleasure. And this not because of their barley, or the barley of the half-farsang, as we read in Hosea, but because of a handful of barley, by which animals are intoxicated, and a fragment of bread. Not whole bread or solid testimonies of the Scriptures, but those which have been broken, cut, and diminished by heretical depravity; so that they deceive and lead astray even the holy ones, and drag them to death; and they claim to give life to sinners with empty promises. Therefore, the merciful and compassionate God does not kill the prophetesses themselves, but he breaks their spindles, which like nets capture flying souls, so that once they are broken, they have the freedom to fly. And they would tear the veils or kerchiefs, in which the principal soul would recline, and with which the heads of the deceivers would be covered.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 17 and following) And you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy out of their own heart, and prophesy against them, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God: Woe to those who sew cushions for all armholes and make veils for the heads of people of every height, to hunt souls! Will you hunt the souls of My people, and keep yourselves alive?
8 more voices on this verse

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ambrose of Milan

Interrogation of Job and David 1.7.25 · Written before 397.

proposed

The Holy Spirit poured out upon the prophet lamenting the misfortune of our frailty, which neither had rest in this life nor retained anything in the sudden encounter with death, that humanity would not rise again until the one came who did not patch the new onto the old nor put a new piece of cloth on an old garment; but rather made all things new, as he himself said: Behold, I make all things new.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Gregory the Dialogist

Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 8 · Written before 604.

proposed

For from love of himself the ruler's mind is inclined to softness, because, when he observes those that are under him sinning, he does not presume to reprove them, lest their affection for himself should grow dull; nay sometimes he smooths down with flatteries the offence of his subordinates which he ought to have rebuked. Hence it is well said through the prophet, "Woe unto them that sew cushions under every elbow, and make pillows under the head of every stature to catch souls"; inasmuch as to put cushions under every elbow is to cherish with bland flatteries souls that are falling from their uprightness and reclining themselves in this world's enjoyment. For it is as though the elbow of a recumbent person rested on a cushion and his head on pillows, when the hardness of reproof is withdrawn from one who sins, and when the softness of favour is offered to him, that he may lie softly in error, while no roughness of contradiction troubles him.

The Puritans and the Awakening5 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

Stature - That is, of every age, whether younger or elder, which usually is seen by their stature. To hunt - All this is really spreading a net, as hunters do, to catch the prey. Will ye save - Can you preserve them alive, whom you deceive by your promises?

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

But it is observable that Israel was never imposed upon by pretenders to prophecy till after they had rejected and abused the true prophets; as, afterwards, they were never deluded by counterfeit messiahs till after they had refused the true Messiah and rejected him.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

If they would but be hearers of them, and contributors to them, they might be sure of salvation; thus they beguiled unstable souls that had a concern about salvation as their end but did not rightly understand the way, and therefore hearkened to those who were most confident in promising it to them.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

Or perhaps the expressions are figurative: they did all they could to make people secure, which is signified by laying them easy, and to make people proud, which is signified by dressing them fine with handkerchiefs, perhaps laid or embroidered on their heads.
And say, thus saith the Lord God, woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

2Pe 2:14), so as unwarily to become your prey. will ye save . . . souls . . . that come unto you--Will ye haul after souls, and when they are yours ("come unto you"), will ye promise them life? "Save" is explained (Eze 13:22), "promising life" [GROTIUS].

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

The words behind it

26 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְאָמַרְתָּ֞and you will say

    veamartaH559 →5305 times

  • כֹּה־thus

    koh-H3541 →577 times

  • אָמַ֣ר׀he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהוִ֗הYahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • הוֹי֩woe!

    hoH1945 →51 times

  • לִֽמְתַפְּר֨וֹתto [women who] sew

    limtaperotH8609 →

  • כְּסָת֜וֹתbands

    kesatotH3704 →

  • עַ֣ל׀on

    ʾalH5921 →5755 times

  • כָּל־all

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • אַצִּילֵ֣י[the] joints of

    ʾatzileiH679 →

  • יָדַ֗יhands my

    yadaiH3027 →1618 times

  • וְעֹשׂ֧וֹתand [women who] make

    veosotH6213 →2628 times

  • הַמִּסְפָּח֛וֹתthe long veils

    hamispachotH4555 →

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • רֹ֥אשׁ[the] head of

    roshH7218 →599 times

  • כָּל־every

    kol-H3605 →5413 times

  • קוֹמָ֖הstature

    komahH6967 →45 times

  • לְצוֹדֵ֣דto hunt

    letzodedH6679 →18 times

  • נְפָשׁ֑וֹתpersons

    nefashotH5315 →754 times

  • הַנְּפָשׁוֹת֙¿ persons

    hanefashotH5315 →754 times

  • תְּצוֹדֵ֣דְנָהwill you hunt

    tetzodedenahH6679 →18 times

  • לְעַמִּ֔יof people my

    leamiH5971 →1873 times

  • וּנְפָשׁ֖וֹתand persons

    unefashotH5315 →754 times

  • לָכֶ֥נָהof yourself

    lakhenah

  • תְחַיֶּֽינָה׃will you preserve alive?

    techaiyeinahH2421 →282 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 Timothy 4:3

    For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine, but with itching ears they will gather around themselves teachers to suit their own desires.

    it leads to

    • 2 Peter 2:1–3

      Now there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on…

    • 2 Timothy 3:1–6

      But understand this: In the last days terrible times will come.

    • 1 Timothy 4:1–3

      Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

    • 1 Timothy 1:10

      for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave traders and liars and perjurers, and for anyone else who is averse to sound teaching

    • Galatians 4:16

      Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?

  • Through

    Jeremiah 6:14

    They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 13:10

      Because they have led My people astray, saying, ‘Peace,’ when there is no peace, and whitewashing any flimsy wall that is built,

    • Jeremiah 23:17

      They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD says that you will have peace,’ and to everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’

  • Through

    2 Peter 2:14

    Their eyes are full of adultery; their desire for sin is never satisfied; they seduce the unstable. They are accursed children with hearts trained in greed.

    it leads to

    • 2 Peter 2:3

      In their greed, these false teachers will exploit you with deceptive words. The longstanding verdict against them remains in force, and their destruction does not sleep.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Ambrose of Milan, Interrogation of Job and David 1.7.25; Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Rule, Part 2, Chapter 8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 3:3 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 3:4.