Ezekiel 14:9
in Ezekiel 14But if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And if the prophet be deceived and speak a word, I, Jehovah, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
KJV
And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
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This verse in Ezekiel 14
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
I the Lord hare deceived that prophet - A deep truth lies beneath these words, namely, that evil as well as good is under God’s direction. He turns it as He will, employing it to test the sincerity of men, and thus making it ultimately contribute to the purification of His people, to the confirmation of the righteous, to the increase of their glory and felicity. The case of the false prophets who deceived Ahab 1 Kings 22 is a striking representation of this principle. The Lord sends forth an evil spirit to persuade Ahab to his ruin.
This site's exposition
if the prophet is enticed to speak a message
on Ezekiel 14:9-11
The hardest verse says, “if the prophet is enticed to speak a message, then it was I the LORD who enticed him.” Henry and Wesley set it beside the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The purpose is corrective: “that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me.”
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
It is quite clear that God works in people's hearts to incline their wills to whatsoever way he wills: either to good in accordance with his mercy or to evil in accordance with their evil merits, and this, indeed, by his own judgments, sometimes manifest, sometimes hidden, but always just. You must keep this conviction firm and unshaken in your heart that in God there is no injustice. Accordingly, when you read the truth of the Scriptures and find that people are led astray by God or that their hearts are dulled and hardened by him, have no doubt that it was their previous evil merits that made them suffer their just penalties.
You must believe that there were evil merits in that person whom God permits to go astray and to become hardened. But for the person on whom he has mercy, you must acknowledge with an unswerving faith that this is a case of the grace of God who is not rendering evil for evil but good for evil.
(Chapter 14, Verse 1 onwards) And the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and have put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I be consulted by them?
Which of the two, patience or power, do you find in the words of Scripture? Whichever you choose, even if you admit both, you must surely see that the false speech of this prophet is both sin and punishment for sin. Will you also say that the words, "I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet," should be interpreted as though God deserted him that he might be deceived in return for past misdeeds and thus err? Say what you will, he was punished for sin in such a way that he sinned prophesying something false.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Both are sins in him who does them, and so they are not from God; both are punishments to him to whom they are done, and so they are from God. We have a full instance of this in the story of Ahab's prophets, who were deceived by a lying spirit, which God put into their mouths ( 1 Kings xxii.
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3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
This declaration of God is intended to answer their objection, "Jeremiah and Ezekiel are but two opposed to the many prophets who announce 'peace' to us." "Nay, deceive not yourselves, those prophets of yours are deluding you, and I permit them to do so as a righteous judgment on your wilful blindness."
I the Lord have deceived that prophet - That is, he ran before he was sent; he willingly became the servant of Satan’s illusions; and I suffered this to take place, because he and his followers refused to consult and serve me. I have often had occasion to remark that it is common in the Hebrew language to state a thing as done by the Lord which he only suffers or permits to be done; for so absolute and universal is the government of God, that the smallest occurrence cannot take place without his will or permission.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
Like the iniquity of the inquirer, so will be the iniquity of the prophet Like the iniquity of the one who comes to learn and does not learn, so will be the iniquity of the false prophets.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And they shall bear their sins; the sin of the one who comes to learn and does not learn shall be exactly like the sin of the false prophets.
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
19 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהַנָּבִ֤יא | vehanavi' | and the prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| כִֽי־ | khi- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יְפֻתֶּה֙ | yefuteh | he will be deceived | H6601 → | |
| וְדִבֶּ֣ר | vediber | and he will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| דָּבָ֔ר | davar | a word | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| אֲנִ֤י | ʾani | I | H589 → | 874 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| פִּתֵּ֔יתִי | piteiti | I have deceived | H6601 → | |
| אֵ֖ת | ʾet | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנָּבִ֣יא | hanavi' | the prophet | H5030 → | 314 times |
| הַה֑וּא | hahu' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְנָטִ֤יתִי | venatiti | and I will stretch out | H5186 → | 214 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יָדִי֙ | yadi | hand my | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עָלָ֔יו | ʾalav | on him | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וְהִ֨שְׁמַדְתִּ֔יו | vehishmadtiv | and I will destroy him | H8045 → | 90 times |
| מִתּ֖וֹךְ | mitokh | from among | H8432 → | 418 times |
| עַמִּ֥י | ʾami | people my | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
וְהַנָּבִ֤יאand the prophet
vehanavi'H5030 →314 times
כִֽי־if
khi-H3588 →4482 times
יְפֻתֶּה֙he will be deceived
yefutehH6601 →
וְדִבֶּ֣רand he will speak
vediberH1696 →1141 times
דָּבָ֔רa word
davarH1697 →1440 times
אֲנִ֤יI
ʾaniH589 →874 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
פִּתֵּ֔יתִיI have deceived
piteitiH6601 →
אֵ֖ת<obj.>
ʾetH853 →10935 times
הַנָּבִ֣יאthe prophet
hanavi'H5030 →314 times
הַה֑וּא<the> that
hahu'H1931 →1879 times
וְנָטִ֤יתִיand I will stretch out
venatitiH5186 →214 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יָדִי֙hand my
yadiH3027 →1618 times
עָלָ֔יוon him
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
וְהִ֨שְׁמַדְתִּ֔יוand I will destroy him
vehishmadtivH8045 →90 times
מִתּ֖וֹךְfrom among
mitokhH8432 →418 times
עַמִּ֥יpeople my
ʾamiH5971 →1873 times
יִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃Israel
yisraelH3478 →2507 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 63:16Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name.
it leads to
- Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Malachi 2:10
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why then do we break faith with one another so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?
- Jeremiah 3:19
Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never…
- Deuteronomy 32:6
Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and senseless people? Is He not your Father and Creator? Has He not made you and established you?
- Isaiah 64:8
Through
Ezekiel 20:25I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
it leads to
- Psalms 81:12
So I gave them up to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
- Psalms 81:12
Through
Isaiah 9:17Therefore the Lord takes no pleasure in their young men; He has no compassion on their fatherless and widows. For every one of them is godless and wicked, and every mouth speaks folly. Despite…
it leads to
- Isaiah 10:6
I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the…
- Isaiah 5:25
Therefore the anger of the LORD burns against His people; His hand is raised against them to strike them down. The mountains quake, and the corpses lay like refuse in the streets. Despite all…
- Jeremiah 18:21
Therefore, hand their children over to famine; pour out the power of the sword upon them. Let their wives become childless and widowed; let their husbands be slain by disease, their young men struck…
- Isaiah 10:6
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 21:43; Augustine of Hippo, ON GRACE AND FREE WILL 23:45; Augustine of Hippo, AGAINST JULIAN 5:3.13; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; 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.