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Ezekiel 20:32

in Ezekiel 20

When you say, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of the lands, serving wood and stone,’ what you have in mind will never come to pass.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

and that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, in that ye say, We will be as the nations, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

KJV

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

This verse in Ezekiel 20

Commentary

9 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

And that which cometh into your mind - Ye wish to be naturalized among idolaters, and make a part of such nations. But this shall not be at all; you shall be preserved as a distinct people. Ye shall not be permitted to mingle yourselves with the people of those countries: even they, idolaters as they are, will despise and reject you. Besides, I will change your place, restore your captivity; yet not in mercy, but in fury poured out; and reserve you for sorer evils, Eze 20:34.

This site's exposition

We will be as the heathen

on Ezekiel 20:32-38

The people's own plan to become like the heathen and serve wood and stone is refused outright. The Lord answers with a mighty hand, a stretched out arm, fury poured out, the same triad Exodus uses for the deliverance from Egypt. Rebels who transgress are purged out before entry.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 32, 33.) And the thought of your minds shall not be, of those saying: We shall be like the nations, and like the kindreds of the earth, to worship wood and stones. As I live, saith the Lord God: With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with fury poured out, I will reign over you. This has this meaning: Do not think that your thoughts, with which you blaspheme against me, can be fulfilled. For I say: We do not want to be under the Lord, nor to be called His people.

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EXODUS 7:4 · Written before 253.

proposed

The first Passover belongs to the first people; the second Passover is ours. For we were "impure in soul," who "used to worship wood and stone" and "not knowing God, we used to serve those things that by nature were not gods."

The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

This matter was palliated as well as it would bear, like Naaman's pleading with Elisha for leave to bow in the house of Rimmon, in compliment to the king; but we have reason to suspect that their enquiry drove at this. Note, Those hearts are wretchedly hardened which ask God leave to go on in sin, and that when they are suffering for it.

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): " That which comes into your mind as a piece of refined politics in the present difficult juncture, and which you would be advised to for your own preservation, and that you may not by being singular expose yourselves to abuses, it shall not be at all, it shall turn to no account to you.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes

And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all,....
2 more voices on this verse

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

"We shall live on better terms with them by having a similar worship. Besides, we get from God nothing but threats and calamities, whereas the heathen, Chaldeans, &c., get riches and power from their idols." How literally God's words here ("that . . . shall not be at all") are fulfilled in the modern Jews!
God’s future dealings with His people: (1) in judgment Eze 20:32-38; (2) in mercy Eze 20:39-44. Eze 20:32 The inquirers had thought that if Jerusalem were taken, and the whole people became sojourners in a foreign land, they would cease to be a separate nation. In their love for idolatry some may have even desired this. But more probably they thought that this very consequence precluded the possibility of such a catastrophe. God answers that He will not allow them to become as the pagan, but this will only subject them to severer trial and stricter rule. Eze 20:33 The expressions “a mighty hand, stretched out arm” carry back the thoughts to Egyptian bondage Deu 4:34; Deu 5:15; but then it was for deliverance, now for judgment “with fury poured out.” Eze 20:35 The wilderness of the people - A time of probation will follow, as before in the wilderness of Sin, so in the “wilderness of the nations” among whom they will sojourn (not the Babylonians) “after” that captivity. This period of their probation is not over. The dispersion of the Jews did not cease with the return under Zerubbabel; but in our Saviour’s time they were living as a distinct people in all the principal places in the civilized world; and so they live now. God is yet pleading with them “face to face,” calling them personally to embrace those offers which as a nation they disregarded. Eze 20:37 To pass under the rod - i. e., to be gathered into the flock Mic 7:14. The bond - The shepherd collects the flock, and separates the sheep from the goats, which are rejected. Compare Rom 11:7-11. Eze 20:39 Strong irony. […]

The words behind it

16 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.

  • וְהָֽעֹלָה֙and the [thing which] comes up

    vehaolahH5927 →890 times

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • ר֣וּחֲכֶ֔םspirit your

    ruchakhemH7307 →378 times

  • הָי֖וֹcertainly <happen>

    hayoH1961 →3559 times

  • לֹ֣אnot

    lo'H3808 →5168 times

  • תִֽהְיֶ֑הit will happen

    tihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • אֲשֶׁ֣ר׀[that] which

    ʾasherH834 →5497 times

  • אַתֶּ֣םyou

    ʾatemH859 →1094 times

  • אֹמְרִ֗ים[are] saying

    ʾomerimH559 →5305 times

  • נִֽהְיֶ֤הwe will be

    nihyehH1961 →3559 times

  • כַגּוֹיִם֙like the nations

    khagoyimH1471 →561 times

  • כְּמִשְׁפְּח֣וֹתlike [the] clans of

    kemishpechotH4940 →

  • הָאֲרָצ֔וֹתthe lands

    haaratzotH776 →2504 times

  • לְשָׁרֵ֖תto serve

    lesharetH8334 →97 times

  • עֵ֥ץwood

    ʾetzH6086 →328 times

  • וָאָֽבֶן׃and stone

    vaavenH68 →273 times

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

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

    Revelation 9:20

    Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze,…

    it leads to

    • Daniel 5:23

      Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 31:29

      For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. And in the days to come, disaster will befall you because you will…

    • Romans 1:21–23

      For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.

    • 1 Timothy 4:1

      Now the Spirit expressly states that in later times some will abandon the faith to follow deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons,

    • Jeremiah 1:16

      I will pronounce My judgments against them for all their wickedness, because they have forsaken Me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 4:28

    And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

    it leads to

    • Deuteronomy 28:64

      Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you…

    • Jeremiah 16:13

      So I will cast you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you…

  • Through

    Ezekiel 11:5

    And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me and told me to declare that this is what the LORD says: “That is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; and I know…

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 17:10

      I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.

Where this verse is studied

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.
This page draws on 9 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); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EXODUS 7:4 and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.