Ezekiel 14:17
in Ezekiel 14Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off from it man and beast;
KJV
Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
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This verse in Ezekiel 14
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
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 bring a sword against that land
on Ezekiel 14:17-18
The third judgment is the sword, “Let a sword pass through it,” and the same refrain follows: “They alone would be delivered.” Four disasters meet one unchanging verdict on borrowed righteousness. Clarke points to verse 21, where the sword is one of the four judgments sent against Jerusalem.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(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
It is bad enough if the sword do but enter into the borders of a land, but much worse when it goes through the bowels of a land. By it God cuts off man and beast, horse and foot. What execution the sword does God does by it; for it is his sword, and it acts as he directs.
Or if I bring a sword upon that land,.... The land which had grievously sinned; the same land into which a famine should come, and through which evil beasts should pass; to which, if the Lord should add, as he would, a third judgment, the sword; suffer a foreign enemy to come in among them, and destroy them.
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| א֛וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| חֶ֥רֶב | cherev | a sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| אָבִ֖יא | ʾavi' | I will bring | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| הָאָ֣רֶץ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| הַהִ֑יא | hahi' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְאָמַרְתִּ֗י | veamarti | and I will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| חֶ֚רֶב | cherev | a sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| תַּעֲבֹ֣ר | taavor | let it pass | H5674 → | 556 times |
| בָּאָ֔רֶץ | baaretz | in the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
| וְהִכְרַתִּ֥י | vehikhrati | and I will cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| מִמֶּ֖נָּה | mimenah | from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| אָדָ֥ם | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| וּבְהֵמָֽה׃ | uvehemah | and animal[s] | H929 → | 190 times |
א֛וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
חֶ֥רֶבa sword
cherevH2719 →413 times
אָבִ֖יאI will bring
ʾavi'H935 →2568 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
הָאָ֣רֶץthe land
haaretzH776 →2504 times
הַהִ֑יא<the> that
hahi'H1931 →1879 times
וְאָמַרְתִּ֗יand I will say
veamartiH559 →5305 times
חֶ֚רֶבa sword
cherevH2719 →413 times
תַּעֲבֹ֣רlet it pass
taavorH5674 →556 times
בָּאָ֔רֶץin the land
baaretzH776 →2504 times
וְהִכְרַתִּ֥יand I will cut off
vehikhratiH3772 →288 times
מִמֶּ֖נָּהfrom it
mimenahH4480 →1188 times
אָדָ֥םhumankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
וּבְהֵמָֽה׃and animal[s]
uvehemahH929 →190 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 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
Ezekiel 5:12A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:2
When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword…
- Jeremiah 15:2
If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword;…
- Jeremiah 43:10–11
Then tell them that this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: ‘I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will set his throne over these…
- Ezekiel 5:2
Through
Leviticus 26:25And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into…
it leads to
- 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…
- Numbers 14:12
I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.”
- Ezekiel 5:17
Through
Zephaniah 1:3“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind…
it leads to
- Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
- Hosea 4:3
Through
Jeremiah 47:6‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
it leads to
- Ezekiel 21:3–5
and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
- Jeremiah 12:12
Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the earth to the other. No flesh has peace.
- Ezekiel 21:3–5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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.