Ezekiel 24:19
in Ezekiel 24Then the people asked me, “Won’t you tell us what these things you are doing mean to us?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
KJV
And the people said unto me, Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us, that thou doest so?
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2286: “An Ancient Question Modernized” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
EZEKIEL'S wife died. His heart was bleeding, but he received orders from his Divine Master that he should not mourn, nor weep, nor make any sign of mourning whatever. It was a strange command, but he obeyed it. The people understood that Ezekiel was a Prophet to them in all that he did—his actions did not only concern himself. He was a teacher, not only by his words, but by his actions, so the people gathered round him and said to him, "What is the meaning of this?
This site's exposition
Wilt thou not tell us what these things are to us
on Ezekiel 24:19-24
The answer names the coming loss in the same terms as the prophet's own. Gill reads the parallel as deliberately built, the temple to Jerusalem what the wife was to Ezekiel. JFB notes the command laid on the people, ye shall not mourn nor weep, turns Ezekiel's silence into theirs.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 15 and following) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a plague, and you shall not mourn or weep, neither shall your tears flow. Sigh in silence, you shall not mourn for the dead. Your turban shall be on your head, and your sandals shall be on your feet; you shall not cover your lips nor eat the bread of mourners. Therefore, I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Note, When we are enquiring concerning the things of God our enquiry must be, "What are those thing to us? What are we concerned in them? What conviction, what counsel, what comfort, do they speak to us?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
6 Wherefore thus saith the Lord G OD ; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it. 7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:97%@v6-7
And the people said unto me,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
what these things are to us--The people perceive that Ezekiel's strange conduct has a symbolical meaning as to themselves; they ask, "What is that meaning?"
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2286: “An Ancient Question Modernized” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
EZEKIEL'S wife died. His heart was bleeding, but he received orders from his Divine Master that he should not mourn, nor weep, nor make any sign of mourning whatever. It was a strange command, but he obeyed it. The people understood that Ezekiel was a Prophet to them in all that he did—his actions did not only concern himself. He was a teacher, not only by his words, but by his actions, so the people gathered round him and said to him, "What is the meaning of this? It has some bearing upon our conduct; tell us what it has to do with us." He soon explained to them that, before long, they, also, would lose by sword, pestilence and famine, the dearest that they had, and they would not be able to have any mourning for the dead. They would be in such a state of distress that the dead would die unlamented, the living having enough to do to mourn over their own personal sorrows. It was a terrible lesson and it was terribly taught. Now, dear Friends, just as Ezekiel, at his Lord's command, did many strange things entirely with a view to other people, we must remember that many things that we do have some relation to others. As long as we are here, we can never so isolate ourselves as to become absolutely independent of our surroundings. And it is often well, when we note the behavior of other people, to say to somebody, if not to them, as the people did to Ezekiel, "Will you not tell us what these things mean to us?" I am going to use the text at this time thus. First, this should be your question to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Divine Prophet.
Wilt thou not tell us - In the following verses he explains and applies the whole of what he had done and said.
The words behind it
12 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּאמְר֥וּ | vaiyomeru | and they said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלַ֖י | ʾelai | to me | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הָעָ֑ם | haam | the people | H5971 → | 1873 times |
| הֲלֹֽא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תַגִּ֥יד | tagid | will you tell | H5046 → | 370 times |
| לָ֙נוּ֙ | lanu | to us | ||
| מָה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| אֵ֣לֶּה | ʾeleh | [are] these [things] | H428 → | 746 times |
| לָּ֔נוּ | lanu | for us | ||
| כִּ֥י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אַתָּ֖ה | ʾatah | you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| עֹשֶֽׂה׃ | ʾoseh | [are] doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
וַיֹּאמְר֥וּand they said
vaiyomeruH559 →5305 times
אֵלַ֖יto me
ʾelaiH413 →5510 times
הָעָ֑םthe people
haamH5971 →1873 times
הֲלֹֽא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
תַגִּ֥ידwill you tell
tagidH5046 →370 times
לָ֙נוּ֙to us
lanu
מָה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
אֵ֣לֶּה[are] these [things]
ʾelehH428 →746 times
לָּ֔נוּfor us
lanu
כִּ֥יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
אַתָּ֖הyou
ʾatahH859 →1094 times
עֹשֶֽׂה׃[are] doing
ʾosehH6213 →2628 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
Ezekiel 12:9“Son of man, hasn’t the rebellious house of Israel asked you, ‘What are you doing?’
it leads to
- Ezekiel 17:12
“Now say to this rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, carried off its king and officials, and brought them back…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 20:49
Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, they are saying of me, ‘Is he not just telling parables?’”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 17:12
Through
Malachi 3:13“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
it leads to
- Malachi 2:17
You have wearied the LORD with your words; yet you ask, “How have we wearied Him?” By saying, “All who do evil are good in the sight of the LORD, and in them He…
- Isaiah 37:23
Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!
- Romans 9:20
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Malachi 1:6–8
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is your fear of Me?” says the…
- Malachi 2:17
Through
Ezekiel 37:18When your people ask you, ‘Won’t you explain to us what you mean by these?’
it leads to
- Ezekiel 12:9
“Son of man, hasn’t the rebellious house of Israel asked you, ‘What are you doing?’
- Ezekiel 12:9
Through
Ezekiel 20:49Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD, they are saying of me, ‘Is he not just telling parables?’”
it leads to
- John 16:25
I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you this way, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
- John 16:25
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2286: “An Ancient Question Modernized” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.