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Ezekiel 14:15

in Ezekiel 14

Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, and it be made desolate, so that no man may pass through because of the beasts;

KJV

If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts:

This verse in Ezekiel 14

Commentary

5 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

In Eze 14:21 he concentrates the whole in one mass of condemnation. If Noah, Daniel, Job, could not deliver the land, when deserving only one judgment, "how much more" when all four judgments combined are justly to visit the land for sin, shall these three righteous men not deliver it.

This site's exposition

if I send wild beasts through the land

on Ezekiel 14:15-16

The refrain returns with an exact change, for the three men “could not deliver their own sons or daughters. They alone would be delivered.” Righteousness is personal and cannot be transferred, and the Lord’s oath, “as surely as I live,” stands behind the sentence.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 12, 13 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting treacherously, I will stretch out my hand (some versions add 'upon it') and break its staff of bread, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast. And if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver their own souls by their righteousness, declares the Lord of hosts.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Note, When men revolt from their allegiance to God, and rebel against him, it is just with God that the inferior creatures should rise up in arms against men, Lev. xxvi. God often chastises sinful nations by bringing a sword upon them, the sword of a foreign enemy, and he gives it its commission and orders what execution it shall do (

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

If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land,....

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

Noah, Daniel, and Job Because each of these three saw three worlds: Noah saw the world built up, destroyed, and rebuilt; and Danielthe Temple. Or himself: first a prince over all the princes, eventually cast into a lions’ den, and [ultimately] restored to his greatness.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 14:14:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

12 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.

  • לֽוּ־if

    lu-H3863 →

  • חַיָּ֥הanimal[s]

    chaiyahH2416 →498 times

  • רָעָ֛הwild

    raahH7451 →662 times

  • אַעֲבִ֥ירI will cause to pass

    ʾaavirH5674 →556 times

  • בָּאָ֖רֶץin the land

    baaretzH776 →2504 times

  • וְשִׁכְּלָ֑תָּהand it will make childless it

    veshikelatahH7921 →23 times

  • וְהָיְתָ֤הand it will be

    vehayetahH1961 →3559 times

  • שְׁמָמָה֙a desolation

    shemamahH8077 →57 times

  • מִבְּלִ֣יbecause not

    mibeliH1097 →

  • עוֹבֵ֔ר[one who] passes by

    overH5674 →556 times

  • מִפְּנֵ֖י<from> because of

    mipeneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הַחַיָּֽה׃the animal[s]

    hachaiyahH2416 →498 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

    Leviticus 26:22

    I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 32:24

      They will be wasted from hunger and ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will send the fangs of wild beasts against them, with the venom of vipers that slither in the dust.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • 2 Kings 17:25

      Now when the settlers first lived there, they did not worship the LORD, so He sent lions among them, which killed some of them.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 15:3

    I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and beasts of the earth to devour…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 14:21

      For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 28:26

      Your corpses will be food for all the birds of the air and beasts of the earth, with no one to scare them away.

    • Leviticus 26:16

      then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed…

    • Leviticus 26:22

      I will send wild animals against you to rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, until your roads lie desolate.

    • Revelation 6:8

      Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword,…

  • Through

    Ezekiel 5:17

    I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have…

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 38:22

      I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.

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 Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.