Ezekiel 6:11
in Ezekiel 6This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Smite with thy hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas! because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel; for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
KJV
Thus saith the Lord God; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
⋯
This verse in Ezekiel 6
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The gleam of hope is but transitory. Darkness again gathers round, for as yet the prophet is predicting judgment. Eze 6:11 Smite ... stamp - Well-known modes of expressing grief. Eze 6:13 Sweet savor - Compare Gen 8:21. Words, applied to the smell of sacrifices accepted by God, applied here to idol-sacrifices in irony. Eze 6:14 Toward Diblath - Or, “Diblathaim,” the “Diblathan” of the Moabite stone, one of the double cities of Moab (see Eze 25:9) to the east of which lay the great desert of Arabia. Some read: “unto Riblah” Jer 52:9 and take the margin rendering.
This site's exposition
Clap your hands, stomp your feet
on Ezekiel 6:11-13
Ezekiel is to “Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out.” The judgments are set by distance: “He who is far off will die by the plague, he who is near will fall by the sword.” They will know the LORD when their slain lie among their idols.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 11.) Thus says the Lord God: Strike your hand, and stamp your foot, and say: Alas! for all the abominations of the evil house of Israel. The prophet is commanded to show the magnitude of sins with his hands, feet, and words, so that he may display through the movement of his body and the indignation of his voice, the appearance of one amazed and astonished, weeping and lamenting.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
High places - The places of your idolatrous worship. Cast down - Before the altars of your idols, which you fly to for refuge. And - Thus the idols were upbraided with their inability to help their worshippers, and the idolaters, with the folly of trusting in them.
Two things the prophet must thus lament:-- 1. Alas! for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel. Note, The sins of sinners are the sorrows of God's faithful servants, especially the evil abominations of the house of Israel, whose sins are more abominable and have more evil in them than the sins of others.
Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot - Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the propriety of clapping and stamping in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their lying on their left side for three hundred and ninety days, and on their right side for forty days; shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with dung, etc. Now all these things, because they were typical and commanded, were proper in the prophet: in such persons as the above they would be evidences of insanity. Such extravagant acts are no part of God’s worship.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and stamp Its context implies that it means to stamp one’s foot on the ground to flatten out the mud, and this is a custom of a mourner.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
and who is in the siege Heb. והנצור, one who is gathered into the city when they besiege it.
And they will know that I am Hashem; not for nothing did I decree by My word to do this evil to them.
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. 4 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
21 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כֹּֽה־ | koh- | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֞ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֗ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| הַכֵּ֨ה | hakeh | strike | H5221 → | 499 times |
| בְכַפְּךָ֜ | vekhapekha | with hand your | H3709 → | 192 times |
| וּרְקַ֤ע | ureka' | and stamp | H7554 → | |
| בְּרַגְלְךָ֙ | beraglekha | with foot your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וֶֽאֱמָר־ | veemor- | and say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אָ֔ח | ʾach | alas! | H253 → | 3 times |
| אֶ֛ל | ʾel | because of | H413 → | 5510 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| תּוֹעֲב֥וֹת | toavot | [the] abominations of | H8441 → | 117 times |
| רָע֖וֹת | raot | [the] wicked deeds of | H7451 → | 662 times |
| בֵּ֣ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֑ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֗ר | ʾasher | who | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בַּחֶ֛רֶב | bacherev | by the sword | H2719 → | 413 times |
| בָּרָעָ֥ב | baraav | by <the> famine | H7458 → | 101 times |
| וּבַדֶּ֖בֶר | uvadever | and by <the> pestilence | H1698 → | 49 times |
| יִפֹּֽלוּ׃ | yipolu | they will fall | H5307 → | 435 times |
כֹּֽה־thus
koh-H3541 →577 times
אָמַ֞רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֗הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
הַכֵּ֨הstrike
hakehH5221 →499 times
בְכַפְּךָ֜with hand your
vekhapekhaH3709 →192 times
וּרְקַ֤עand stamp
ureka'H7554 →
בְּרַגְלְךָ֙with foot your
beraglekhaH7272 →247 times
וֶֽאֱמָר־and say
veemor-H559 →5305 times
אָ֔חalas!
ʾachH253 →3 times
אֶ֛לbecause of
ʾelH413 →5510 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
תּוֹעֲב֥וֹת[the] abominations of
toavotH8441 →117 times
רָע֖וֹת[the] wicked deeds of
raotH7451 →662 times
בֵּ֣ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
אֲשֶׁ֗רwho
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בַּחֶ֛רֶבby the sword
bacherevH2719 →413 times
בָּרָעָ֥בby <the> famine
baraavH7458 →101 times
וּבַדֶּ֖בֶרand by <the> pestilence
uvadeverH1698 →49 times
יִפֹּֽלוּ׃they will fall
yipoluH5307 →435 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 30:7How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
it leads to
- Daniel 12:1
“At that time Michael, the great prince who stands watch over your people, will rise up. There will be a time of distress, the likes of which will not have occurred from the beginning…
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Daniel 9:12
You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been…
- Zechariah 14:1–2
Behold, a day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.
- Romans 11:26
And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
- Daniel 12:1
Through
Ezekiel 5:12A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 5:2
When the days of the siege have ended, you are to burn up a third of the hair inside the city; you are also to take a third and slash it with the sword…
- Ezekiel 5:2
Through
Joel 1:15Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
it leads to
- Isaiah 13:6–9
Wail, for the Day of the LORD is near; it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
- Jeremiah 30:7
How awful that day will be! None will be like it! It is the time of Jacob’s distress, but he will be saved out of it.
- Isaiah 13:6–9
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; 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.