Ezekiel 23:46
in Ezekiel 23This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will bring up a company against them, and will give them to be tossed to and fro and robbed.
KJV
For thus saith the Lord God; I will bring up a company upon them, and will give them to be removed and spoiled.
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This verse in Ezekiel 23
Commentary
7 notes on this verseFor thus saith the Lord God, I will bring up a company upon them,.... Or, "do thou bring up a company upon them" (m), or "against them". The Targum represents it as spoken to the prophet, thus, "prophesy that armies shall come up against them.'' Kimchi interprets it as we do, "I will bring up", &c. and so others (n).
This site's exposition
I will bring up a company upon them
on Ezekiel 23:46-49
The sentence is carried out by a company that stones, dispatches with the sword, and burns the houses, the same penalty the law set for adultery now executed nationally as it was threatened in chapter 16. Henry reads the stated purpose of verse 48, that all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness, as the chapter's own explanation for why the allegory runs this severe, a public lesson rather than a private disgrace. Gill notes the chapter closes on the same recognition formula that ends so much of the book, ye shall know that I am the Lord God, judgment again serving the purpose the whole book states for it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 36, 37 onwards) And the Lord said to me, saying: Son of man, do you judge Oholah and Oholibah and announce to them their crimes (or iniquities): for they are adulteresses (or have committed adultery), and there is blood on their hands, and they have committed adultery with their idols (or inventions): moreover, they have offered to devour (or have led) their sons whom they have borne to me through fire. But they have also done this to me, they have defiled my sanctuary on that day: and they have profaned my Sabbaths.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
And all that is written for warning against the sins of idolatry, and confidence in an arm of flesh, and sinful leagues and confederacies with wicked people (which are the sins here meant by committing whoredom), is that others may hear and fear, and not sin after the similitude of the transgressions of Israel and Judah.
Smite the scorner and the simple will beware. The judgments of God upon some are designed to teach others, and happy are those who receive instruction from them not to tread in the steps of sinners, lest they be taken in their snares; those who would be taught this must know God is the Lord (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Thus God will assert the honour of his broken law and injured government, and let the world know what a just and jealous God he is. (2.) Thus they shall be broken off from their sins: I will cause lewdness to cease out of the land,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
a company--properly, "a council of judges" passing sentence on a criminal [GROTIUS]. The "removal" and "spoiling" by the Chaldean army is the execution of the judicial sentence of God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֛י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כֹּ֥ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֖ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| הַעֲלֵ֤ה | haaleh | bring up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עֲלֵיהֶם֙ | ʾaleihem | on them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| קָהָ֔ל | kahal | a company | H6951 → | 123 times |
| וְנָתֹ֥ן | venaton | and give over | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶתְהֶ֖ן | ʾethen | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְזַעֲוָ֥ה | lezaavah | to terror | H2189 → | |
| וְלָבַֽז׃ | velavaz | and to spoil | H957 → | 25 times |
כִּ֛יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
כֹּ֥הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֖רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
הַעֲלֵ֤הbring up
haalehH5927 →890 times
עֲלֵיהֶם֙on them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
קָהָ֔לa company
kahalH6951 →123 times
וְנָתֹ֥ןand give over
venatonH5414 →2011 times
אֶתְהֶ֖ן<obj.> them
ʾethenH853 →10935 times
לְזַעֲוָ֥הto terror
lezaavahH2189 →
וְלָבַֽז׃and to spoil
velavazH957 →25 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
Jeremiah 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…
it leads to
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 13:3
I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.
- Jeremiah 18:16
They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.
- Jeremiah 1:15
For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.…
- Habakkuk 1:6–10
Through
Jeremiah 24:9I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:37
You will become an object of horror, scorn, and ridicule among all the nations to which the LORD will drive you.
- Jeremiah 29:18
I will pursue them with sword and famine and plague. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth—a curse, a desolation, and an object of scorn and reproach among…
- Deuteronomy 28:37
Through
Jeremiah 15:4I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 24:9
I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- 2 Kings 21:11–13
“Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these abominations, acting more wickedly than the Amorites who preceded him, and with his idols has caused Judah to sin,
- Jeremiah 24:9
About Ezekiel
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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.