Ezekiel 7:16
in Ezekiel 7The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But those of them that escape shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning, every one in his iniquity.
KJV
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
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This verse in Ezekiel 7
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 15, 16.) The sword is outside, and pestilence and famine are within. Those who are in the field will die by the sword; and those who are in the city will be consumed by pestilence and famine. And those who escape will be saved; they will be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, trembling. Each one in their own wickedness. The seventy, the doves of the valleys, or as Theodotus translated, the meditators, remained completely silent.
This site's exposition
The sword is outside
on Ezekiel 7:15-16
Three instruments close in: “The sword is outside; plague and famine are within,” so the open field and the besieged city each hold a death. Verse 16 lets survivors escape to the mountains, but only to grieve, “moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.”
This site's exposition
moaning like doves of the valley
The few who escape will flee to the mountains. Albert Barnes explains the picture: doves that live in the valleys moan when fear drives them into the hills. Each survivor will moan for his own iniquity.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But they that escape of them shall escape,....
Note, Sooner or later sin will have sorrow of one kind or other; and those that will not repent of their iniquity may justly be left to pine away in it; those that will not mourn for it as it is an offence to God shall be made to mourn for it as it is a shame and ruin to themselves, to mourn at the last, when the flesh and the body are consumed, and to say, How have I hated instruction!
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
They - shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys - Rather, like mourning doves הגאיות haggeayoth, chased from their dove-cotes, and separated from their mates.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
As doves whose natural abode is the valleys moan lamentably when driven by fear into the mountains, so shall the remnant, who have escaped actual death, moan in the land of their exile.
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּפָֽלְטוּ֙ | ufaltu | and they will escape | H6403 → | |
| פְּלִ֣יטֵיהֶ֔ם | peliteihem | escapees their | H6412 → | 24 times |
| וְהָי֣וּ | vehayu | and they will be | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הֶהָרִ֗ים | heharim | the mountains | H2022 → | 546 times |
| כְּיוֹנֵ֧י | keyonei | like [the] doves of | H3123 → | |
| הַגֵּאָי֛וֹת | hageayot | the valleys | H1516 → | 59 times |
| כֻּלָּ֖ם | kulam | all of them | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הֹמ֑וֹת | homot | moaning | H1993 → | |
| אִ֖ישׁ | ʾish | everyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| בַּעֲוֹנֽוֹ׃ | baavono | for own iniquity his | H5771 → | 233 times |
וּפָֽלְטוּ֙and they will escape
ufaltuH6403 →
פְּלִ֣יטֵיהֶ֔םescapees their
peliteihemH6412 →24 times
וְהָי֣וּand they will be
vehayuH1961 →3559 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הֶהָרִ֗יםthe mountains
heharimH2022 →546 times
כְּיוֹנֵ֧יlike [the] doves of
keyoneiH3123 →
הַגֵּאָי֛וֹתthe valleys
hageayotH1516 →59 times
כֻּלָּ֖םall of them
kulamH3605 →5413 times
הֹמ֑וֹתmoaning
homotH1993 →
אִ֖ישׁeveryone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
בַּעֲוֹנֽוֹ׃for own iniquity his
baavonoH5771 →233 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
Isaiah 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 59:11
We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Psalms 69:3
I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Psalms 119:122–123
Ensure Your servant’s well-being; do not let the arrogant oppress me.
- Psalms 123:1–4
I lift up my eyes to You, the One enthroned in heaven.
- Nahum 2:7
It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.
- Isaiah 59:11
Through
Isaiah 37:31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
it leads to
- Isaiah 27:6
In the days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole world with fruit.
- 2 Kings 19:30–31
And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
- Isaiah 27:6
Through
Ezra 9:15O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”
it leads to
- Psalms 130:3
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
- Psalms 130:3
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; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.