Ezekiel 35:4
in Ezekiel 35I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate; and thou shalt know that I am Jehovah.
KJV
I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the Lord.
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This verse in Ezekiel 35
Commentary
5 notes on this verseAs the works of creation and common providence demonstrate that there is a God, so the care taken of Israel shows that Jehovah, the God of Israel, is that God alone, the true and living God.
This site's exposition
the word of the LORD came to me
on Ezekiel 35:1-4
The oracle turns south to Edom, named here by its ancestral territory, Mount Seir, the hill country given to Esau. Total desolation is announced against the nation that had stood as Israel's oldest rival brother. The recognition formula names the purpose that runs through every judgment in this book.
This site's exposition
I will turn your cities into ruins
Edom's chief towns included Bozrah and Teman, both named in Jeremiah 49 and Amos 1:12. Malachi 1:3 later looks back on Esau's hill country already a desolation. The cities became ruins.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 35) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, and say to it, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
I will lay thy cities waste,....
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָרֶ֙יךָ֙ | ʾareikha | cities your | H5892 → | 1090 times |
| חָרְבָּ֣ה | charebah | a ruin | H2723 → | 42 times |
| אָשִׂ֔ים | ʾasim | I will make | H7760 → | 584 times |
| וְאַתָּ֖ה | veatah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| שְׁמָמָ֣ה | shemamah | a desolation | H8077 → | 57 times |
| תִֽהְיֶ֑ה | tihyeh | you will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וְיָדַעְתָּ֖ | veyada'ta | and you will know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אֲנִ֥י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | [am] Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
עָרֶ֙יךָ֙cities your
ʾareikhaH5892 →1090 times
חָרְבָּ֣הa ruin
charebahH2723 →42 times
אָשִׂ֔יםI will make
ʾasimH7760 →584 times
וְאַתָּ֖הand you
veatahH859 →1094 times
שְׁמָמָ֣הa desolation
shemamahH8077 →57 times
תִֽהְיֶ֑הyou will be
tihyehH1961 →3559 times
וְיָדַעְתָּ֖and you will know
veyada'taH3045 →945 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אֲנִ֥יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָֽה׃[am] Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 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 35:9I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
it leads to
- Malachi 1:3–4
but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 25:13
therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman…
- Ezekiel 6:7
The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
- Malachi 1:3–4
Through
Exodus 14:4And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the…
it leads to
- Romans 9:22–23
What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?
- Romans 9:17
For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
- Exodus 7:5
And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
- Exodus 7:3
But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,
- Romans 9:22–23
Through
Joel 3:19Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
it leads to
- Isaiah 19:1–15
This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will…
- Isaiah 19:1–15
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.