Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Ezekiel 12:20

in Ezekiel 12

The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will become desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

KJV

And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

⋯

This verse in Ezekiel 12

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste,.... Not only the city of Jerusalem, but the other cities of Judea; as they were by the Chaldeans, which were then full of inhabitants: and the land shall be desolate; the whole land of Judea be destitute of men and cattle, and lie uncultivated, and become barren and unfruitful: and ye shall know that I am the Lord; who were then captives in Babylon, as well as those who should be dispersed among the nations would; see Eze 12:15.

This site's exposition

the word of the LORD came to me

on Ezekiel 12:17-20

A sign follows: “eat your bread with trembling, and drink your water with quivering and anxiety,” the prophet’s body acting out the fear. The land will be stripped “because of the violence of all who dwell in it.” Eating and drinking are ordinary acts, so the siege reaches every hour.

This site's exposition

The inhabited cities will be laid waste

The ruin reaches past Jerusalem. John Gill notes that the other cities of Judea, then full of people, were also laid waste by the Chaldeans. Through the desolate land the people will know that He is the LORD.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 17 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, eat your bread with agitation (Vulgate adds but); and drink your water with haste and sorrow. And say (Vulgate says you shall say) to the people of the land: Thus says the Lord God to those who dwell in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel: They shall eat their bread with solicitude, and drink their water in desolation, so that the land may be desolate because of the multitude of its inhabitants, because of the wickedness of all who dwell in it.

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

A message is sent from God to the people, to assure them that all these predictions should have their accomplishment very shortly, and not be deferred, as they flattered themselves they would be,

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

(2.) How good the effect of this judgment should be: You shall know that I am the Lord; and if, by these judgments, they learn to know him aright, that will make up the loss of all they are deprived of by these desolations. Those are happy afflictions, how grievous soever to flesh and blood, that help to introduce us into and improve us in an acquaintance with God.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וְהֶעָרִ֤יםand the cities

    vehearimH5892 →1090 times

  • הַנּֽוֹשָׁבוֹת֙<the> inhabited

    hanoshavotH3427 →1079 times

  • תֶּחֱרַ֔בְנָהthey will be waste

    techeravnahH2717 →40 times

  • וְהָאָ֖רֶץand the land

    vehaaretzH776 →2504 times

  • שְׁמָמָ֣הa desolation

    shemamahH8077 →57 times

  • תִֽהְיֶ֑הit will become

    tihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖םand you will know

    vida'temH3045 →945 times

  • כִּֽי־that

    ki-H3588 →4482 times

  • אֲנִ֥יI

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • יְהוָֽה׃ פ[am] Yahweh

    yahwehH3068 →6520 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

18 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Isaiah 7:23–24And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.4 worksJeremiah 4:7A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and lie uninhabited.4 worksIsaiah 24:1Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants—4 worksJeremiah 25:9behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.3 worksIsaiah 3:26And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn; destitute, she will sit on the ground.3 worksEzekiel 12:15And they will know that I am the LORD, when I disperse them among the nations and scatter them throughout the countries.3 works
The other 12 cross-references, with their words ▾
Jeremiah 12:10–12Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of ground. They have turned My pleasant field into a desolate wasteland.2 worksJeremiah 19:11and you are to proclaim to them that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I will shatter this nation and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room to bury them.2 worksJeremiah 24:8–10But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says the LORD, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt.2 worksEzekiel 15:8Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”2 worksIsaiah 64:10–11Your holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wasteland and Jerusalem a desolation.2 worksIsaiah 24:12The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.2 worksJeremiah 4:23–29I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.2 worksJeremiah 16:9For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.2 worksIsaiah 24:3The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. For the LORD has spoken this word.2 worksLamentations 5:18because of Mount Zion, which lies desolate, patrolled by foxes.2 worksDaniel 9:17So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary.2 worksEzekiel 15:6Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the people of Jerusalem.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 4:7

    A lion has gone up from his thicket, and a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his lair to lay waste your land. Your cities will be reduced to ruins and…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 2:15

      The young lions have roared at him; they have growled with a loud voice. They have laid waste his land; his cities lie in ruins, without inhabitant.

    • Ezekiel 26:7–10

      For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, with cavalry and a great company…

    • Isaiah 6:11

      Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,

    • Jeremiah 5:6

      Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf from the desert will ravage them. A leopard will lie in wait near their cities, and everyone who ventures out will be…

    • Isaiah 1:7

      Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Foreigners devour your fields before you—a desolation demolished by strangers.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 25:9

    behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents,…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 18:16

      They have made their land a desolation, a perpetual object of scorn; all who pass by will be appalled and shake their heads.

    • Jeremiah 1:15

      For I am about to summon all the clans and kingdoms of the north,” declares the LORD. “Their kings will come and set up their thrones at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.…

    • Isaiah 13:3

      I have commanded My sanctified ones; I have even summoned My warriors to execute My wrath and exult in My triumph.

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 12 →

This page draws on Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 12 →