Ezekiel 24:5
in Ezekiel 24Take the choicest of the flock and pile the fuel beneath it. Bring it to a boil and cook the bones in it.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Take the choice of the flock, and also a pile of wood for the bones under the caldron; make it boil well; yea, let the bones thereof be boiled in the midst of it.
KJV
Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseMake it boil well - Let it boil over, that its own scum may augment the fire, that the bones - the soldiers, may be seethed therein. Let its contentions, divided counsels, and disunion be the means of increasing its miseries, רתח רתחיה rattach rethacheyha, let it bubble its bubbling; something like that of the poet: - “Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.” Very like the noise made by ebullition, when a pot of thick broth, “sleek and slab,” is set over a fierce fire.
This site's exposition
Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it
on Ezekiel 24:3-5
The sign is spoken as a parable of a cooking pot, filled with the choice pieces of the flock, the thigh and the shoulder and the choice bones, a picture any hearer would first read as a feast rather than a judgment. Gill reads the choice cuts as Jerusalem's own leading citizens, the best of the flock rather than the culls, which sharpens rather than softens the coming point. Wesley notes the command set on, set it on, doubled for urgency, matches the book's earlier pattern of repeated commands carrying more weight than a single word would.
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
The bones - Not of the pieces to be boiled, but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.
Take the choice of the flock,....
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
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Burn - Rather, as in margin; the bones would serve for fuel.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִבְחַ֤ר | mivchar | [the] choicest of | H4005 → | 12 times |
| הַצֹּאן֙ | hatzon | the flock | H6629 → | 274 times |
| לָק֔וֹחַ | lakoach | take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| וְגַ֛ם | vegam | and also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| דּ֥וּר | dur | pile up | H1752 → | |
| הָעֲצָמִ֖ים | haatzamim | the bones | H6106 → | 126 times |
| תַּחְתֶּ֑יהָ | tachteiha | under it | H8478 → | 505 times |
| רַתַּ֣ח | ratach | make boil | H7570 → | |
| רְתָחֶ֔יהָ | retacheiha | boiling its | H7571 → | |
| גַּם־ | gam- | also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בָּשְׁל֥וּ | bashelu | they have cooked | H1310 → | 28 times |
| עֲצָמֶ֖יהָ | ʾatzameiha | bones its | H6106 → | 126 times |
| בְּתוֹכָֽהּ׃ ס | betokhah | in [the] midst of it | H8432 → | 418 times |
מִבְחַ֤ר[the] choicest of
mivcharH4005 →12 times
הַצֹּאן֙the flock
hatzonH6629 →274 times
לָק֔וֹחַtake
lakoachH3947 →966 times
וְגַ֛םand also
vegamH1571 →769 times
דּ֥וּרpile up
durH1752 →
הָעֲצָמִ֖יםthe bones
haatzamimH6106 →126 times
תַּחְתֶּ֑יהָunder it
tachteihaH8478 →505 times
רַתַּ֣חmake boil
ratachH7570 →
רְתָחֶ֔יהָboiling its
retacheihaH7571 →
גַּם־also
gam-H1571 →769 times
בָּשְׁל֥וּthey have cooked
basheluH1310 →28 times
עֲצָמֶ֖יהָbones its
ʾatzameihaH6106 →126 times
בְּתוֹכָֽהּ׃ סin [the] midst of it
betokhahH8432 →418 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 39:6There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the nobles of Judah.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 25:7
And they slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jeremiah 52:10
There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.
- 2 Kings 25:7
Through
Ezekiel 20:47Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 21:14
I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forest that will consume everything around you.’”
- Ezekiel 17:24
Then all the trees of the field will know that I am the LORD. I bring the tall tree down and make the low tree tall. I dry up the green tree and make…
- Isaiah 9:18–19
For wickedness burns like a fire that consumes the thorns and briers and kindles the forest thickets which roll upward in billows of smoke.
- Isaiah 24:1–6
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—
- Luke 23:31
For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
- Jeremiah 21:14
Through
Jeremiah 52:10There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and he also killed all the officials of Judah.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 22:30
This is what the LORD says: “Enroll this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime. None of his descendants will prosper to sit on the throne of David or…
- Jeremiah 22:30
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); Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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.