Ezekiel 24:10
in Ezekiel 24Pile on the logs and kindle the fire; cook the meat well and mix in the spices; let the bones be burned.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil well the flesh, and make thick the broth, and let the bones be burned.
KJV
Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd spice it well - To express this justice, that is acceptable to God and men. The bones - The greatest, strongest, and firmest of the Jews shall perish in this fiery indignation.
This site's exposition
I will even make the pile for fire great
on Ezekiel 24:9-14
The fire is built greater still, wood heaped high, the flesh consumed, the bones themselves burned, and finally the empty pot set on the coals until its own brass grows hot enough to burn away the filthiness that boiling alone could not remove. Keil reads the escalation from cooking to scorching the empty vessel as the point where the metaphor gives out, some corruption cannot be purged by ordinary means and requires the pot destroyed along with its contents. Henry notes the chapter's most severe line closes the sign, I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent, three negatives stacked to close off any reading of the coming siege as a threat mercy might still turn aside.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 24, Verse 1 onwards) Then in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Note, The fire which God kindles for the consuming of impenitent sinners shall never abate, much less go out, for want of fuel. Tophet has fire and much wood, Isa. xxx. 33 . [2.] The meat, as it is boiled, is taken out, and given to the Chaldeans for them to feast upon. " Consume the flesh; let it be thoroughly boiled, boiled to rags.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Heap on wood, kindle the fire,....
By the sign of Ezekiel's not mourning for the death of his wife is shown that the calamities coming upon Jerusalem were too great to be lamented, so great that they should sink down under them into a silent despair,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
spice it well--that the meat may be the more palatable, that is, I will make the foe delight in its destruction as much as one delights in well-seasoned, savory meat. GROTIUS, needlessly departing from the obvious sense, translates, "Let it be boiled down to a compound."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Heap or wood - Let the siege be severe, the carnage great, and the ruin and catastrophe complete.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Consume ... spice it well - i. e., “dress the flesh, and make it froth and bubble, that the bones and the flesh may be all boiled up together.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
pile on the wood, kindle the fire And to pile on the wood, to kindle the fire.
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. 6 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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַרְבֵּ֤ה | harbeh | increase | H7235 → | 227 times |
| הָעֵצִים֙ | haetzim | the wood<s> | H6086 → | 328 times |
| הַדְלֵ֣ק | hadlek | kindle | H1814 → | |
| הָאֵ֔שׁ | haesh | the fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| הָתֵ֖ם | hatem | complete | H8552 → | 63 times |
| הַבָּשָׂ֑ר | habasar | the meat | H1320 → | 270 times |
| וְהַרְקַח֙ | veharkach | and mix | H7543 → | |
| הַמֶּרְקָחָ֔ה | hamerkachah | the seasoning | H4841 → | |
| וְהָעֲצָמ֖וֹת | vehaatzamot | and the bones | H6106 → | 126 times |
| יֵחָֽרוּ׃ | yecharu | let them be charred | H2787 → | 10 times |
הַרְבֵּ֤הincrease
harbehH7235 →227 times
הָעֵצִים֙the wood<s>
haetzimH6086 →328 times
הַדְלֵ֣קkindle
hadlekH1814 →
הָאֵ֔שׁthe fire
haeshH784 →378 times
הָתֵ֖םcomplete
hatemH8552 →63 times
הַבָּשָׂ֑רthe meat
habasarH1320 →270 times
וְהַרְקַח֙and mix
veharkachH7543 →
הַמֶּרְקָחָ֔הthe seasoning
hamerkachahH4841 →
וְהָעֲצָמ֖וֹתand the bones
vehaatzamotH6106 →126 times
יֵחָֽרוּ׃let them be charred
yecharuH2787 →10 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 17:3O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, within all your borders.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 15:13
Your wealth and your treasures I will give up as plunder, without charge for all your sins within all your borders.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 15:13
Through
Lamentations 2:16All your enemies open their mouths against you. They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up. This is the day for which we have waited. We have lived to see…
it leads to
- Psalms 35:21
They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”
- Psalms 37:12
The wicked scheme against the righteous and gnash their teeth at them,
- Lamentations 3:46
All our enemies open their mouths against us.
- Job 16:9–10
His anger has torn me and opposed me; He gnashes His teeth at me. My adversary pierces me with His eyes.
- Psalms 56:2
My enemies pursue me all day long, for many proudly assail me.
- Psalms 35:21
Through
Lamentations 1:10The adversary has seized all her treasures. For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary—those You had forbidden to enter Your assembly.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 23:3
No Ammonite or Moabite or any of their descendants may enter the assembly of the LORD, even to the tenth generation.
- Jeremiah 51:51
“We are ashamed because we have heard reproach; disgrace has covered our faces, because foreigners have entered the holy places of the LORD’s house.”
- Deuteronomy 23:3
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); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; 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 Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.