Ezekiel 24:12
in Ezekiel 24It has frustrated every effort; its thick rust has not been removed, even by the fire.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
She hath wearied herself with toil; yet her great rust goeth not forth out of her; her rust goeth not forth by fire.
KJV
She hath wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseWith lies - Her allies, their promises, their forces, and their idols, all prove a lie to the house of Judah. Her scum - Her unrepented sins shall be punished in the fire that burns their city.
This site's exposition
I will even make the pile for fire great
on Ezekiel 24:9-14
The fire is built greater still, the bones themselves burned. Keil reads the escalation from cooking to scorching the empty vessel as the point where the metaphor gives out. Henry notes the chapter's most severe line, I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent.
This site's exposition
its thick rust
The thick rust stays on the pot through every effort to remove it. Wesley read the effort as Jerusalem's trust in her allies and idols, and the rust as sins never repented. Only the fire of the burning city removes it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Chapter 24, Verse 1 onwards) Then in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 'Son of man, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
She hath wearied herself with lies,....
By the sign of Ezekiel's not mourning for the death of his wife is shown that the calamities coming upon Jerusalem were too great to be lamented, so great that they should sink down under them into a silent despair,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
herself--rather, "she hath wearied Me out with lies"; or rather, "with vain labors" on My part to purify her without being obliged to have recourse to judgments (compare Isa 43:24;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
With your defilement With defilement of lewdness you will perish.
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. 5 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תְּאֻנִ֖ים | teunim | toil<s> | H8383 → | |
| הֶלְאָ֑ת | helat | it has made weary | H3811 → | |
| וְלֹֽא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תֵצֵ֤א | tetze' | it comes out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| מִמֶּ֙נָּה֙ | mimenah | from it | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| רַבַּ֣ת | rabat | [the] great [amount] of | H7227 → | 454 times |
| חֶלְאָתָ֔הּ | chelatah | rust its | H2457 → | 5 times |
| בְּאֵ֖שׁ | beesh | in a fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| חֶלְאָתָֽהּ׃ | chelatah | rust its | H2457 → | 5 times |
תְּאֻנִ֖יםtoil<s>
teunimH8383 →
הֶלְאָ֑תit has made weary
helatH3811 →
וְלֹֽא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
תֵצֵ֤אit comes out
tetze'H3318 →1067 times
מִמֶּ֙נָּה֙from it
mimenahH4480 →1188 times
רַבַּ֣ת[the] great [amount] of
rabatH7227 →454 times
חֶלְאָתָ֔הּrust its
chelatahH2457 →5 times
בְּאֵ֖שׁin a fire
beeshH784 →378 times
חֶלְאָתָֽהּ׃rust its
chelatahH2457 →5 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 2:13“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
it leads to
- John 4:14
But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a fount of water springing up to eternal life.”
- John 7:37
On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.
- Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of…
- Revelation 21:6
And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
- Psalms 36:9
For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light.
- John 4:14
Through
Jeremiah 51:58This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will…
it leads to
- Habakkuk 2:13
Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Habakkuk 2:13
Through
Habakkuk 2:13Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:58
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Babylon’s thick walls will be leveled, and her high gates consumed by fire. So the labor of the people will be for nothing; the nations will…
- Jeremiah 51:58
Through
Jeremiah 5:3O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:28
Therefore you must say to them, ‘This is the nation that would not listen to the voice of the LORD their God and would not receive correction. Truth has perished; it has disappeared from…
- Jeremiah 7:28
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.