Ezekiel 15:7
in Ezekiel 15And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, when I set my face against them.
KJV
And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I set my face against them.
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This verse in Ezekiel 15
Commentary
10 notes on this verseAnd I will set my face against them,.... In wrath to destroy them; see Eze 14:8; and they shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them: from one calamity to another; those that escaped the famine and pestilence in the city fell by the sword; and those that escaped famine, sword, and pestilence, were carried into captivity, and there passed from one hardship and affliction to another.
This site's exposition
so I will give up the people of Jerusalem
on Ezekiel 15:6-8
The application is plain. They escape one fire only to meet another, for “another fire will consume them.” Fruitless election brings the fire rather than exemption, and the land is made desolate “because they have acted unfaithfully.”
This site's exposition
another fire will consume them
The first fire is the deportation of 597 BC, which left Jerusalem charred. The people who escaped it would meet a second fire in 586 BC. Fire stands for every calamity, as at Psalm 66:12.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 15, verse 1 onwards) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, what will be done with the vine wood among all the trees of the forest which are among the trees of the woods? Will its wood be taken to make something, or will a peg be made from it to hang any vessel on? Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel: both ends of it have been consumed by the fire, and the middle part has turned into ashes. Will it be useful for any work?
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), " I will set my face against them, to thwart all their counsels," as they set their faces against God, to contradict his word and defeat all his designs. It is decreed; the consumption is determined: I will make the land quite desolate, and therefore, when they go out from one fire, another fire shall devour them (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
21 ); and, if it had brought forth fruit suitable to its character as a holy city, it would have been the glory both of God and Israel. It was a vine which God's right hand had planted, a branch out of a dry ground, which, though its original was mean and despicable, God had made strong for himself ( Ps. lxxx.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number
18 ); though they escape the sword of Hazael, they will fall by that of Jehu ( 1 Kings xix. 17 ); for evil pursues sinners. Nay, though they go out from the fire of temporal judgments, and seem to die in peace, yet there is an everlasting fire that will devour them; for, when God judges, first or last he will overcome, and he will be known by the judgments which he executes.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They shall go out ... - Rather, they have gone forth from the fire, and the fire shall devour them. The condition of the people is here depicted. The people of Israel - as a whole and as separate kingdoms - had become worthless. The branch torn from the living stem had truly been cast into the fire, which had devoured both ends of it; what remained was a brand plucked from the burning. Those who had escaped the general calamity were reserved for a like fate. Compare Joh 15:6.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
And I will set my face against them--(See on Le 17:10). from one fire . . . another--(Compare Isa 24:18). "Fire" means here every kind of calamity (Ps 66:12). The Jewish fugitives shall escape from the ruin of Jerusalem, only to fall into some other calamity.
They shall go out from one fire, and another fire shall devour them - If they escape the sword, they shall perish by the famine; if they escape the famine, they shall be led away captives. To escape will be impossible. It will be to them according to the proverb: - Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim. “Out of the scald, into the flame.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
have I placed Jerusalem. Its two ends were consumed by the fire, [i.e.,] the two exiles: When Jehoiakim was exiled, some of the royal seed and of the nobles were exile with him, as it is said in Daniel (1:3).
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. 3 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
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָתַתִּ֤י | venatati | and I will set | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| פָּנַי֙ | panai | face my | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| בָּהֶ֔ם | bahem | on them | ||
| מֵהָאֵ֣שׁ | mehaesh | from the fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| יָצָ֔אוּ | yatzau | they have come out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| וְהָאֵ֖שׁ | vehaesh | and the fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| תֹּֽאכְלֵ֑ם | tokhlem | it will consume them | H398 → | 810 times |
| וִֽידַעְתֶּם֙ | vida'tem | and you will know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲנִ֣י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָ֔ה | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בְּשׂוּמִ֥י | besumi | when set I | H7760 → | 584 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| פָּנַ֖י | panai | face my | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| בָּהֶֽם׃ | bahem | on them |
וְנָתַתִּ֤יand I will set
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
פָּנַי֙face my
panaiH6440 →2123 times
בָּהֶ֔םon them
bahem
מֵהָאֵ֣שׁfrom the fire
mehaeshH784 →378 times
יָצָ֔אוּthey have come out
yatzauH3318 →1067 times
וְהָאֵ֖שׁand the fire
vehaeshH784 →378 times
תֹּֽאכְלֵ֑םit will consume them
tokhlemH398 →810 times
וִֽידַעְתֶּם֙and you will know
vida'temH3045 →945 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֲנִ֣יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָ֔ה[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בְּשׂוּמִ֥יwhen set I
besumiH7760 →584 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
פָּנַ֖יface my
panaiH6440 →2123 times
בָּהֶֽם׃on them
bahem
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
Jeremiah 21:10For I have set My face against this city to bring disaster and not good, declares the LORD. It will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, who will destroy it…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 44:11
Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I will set My face to bring disaster and to cut off all Judah.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 44:27
I am watching over them for harm and not for good, and every man of Judah who is in the land of Egypt will meet his end by sword or famine, until they are…
- Amos 9:4
Though they are driven by their enemies into captivity, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix My eyes upon them for harm and not for good.”
- Jeremiah 44:11
Through
Psalms 34:16But the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:7
The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
- Leviticus 17:10
If anyone from the house of Israel or a foreigner living among them eats any blood, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
- Proverbs 10:7
Through
Isaiah 24:18Whoever flees the sound of panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are open, and the foundations of…
it leads to
- Psalms 18:7
Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
- Genesis 7:11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
- Psalms 18:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.