Ezekiel 24:23
in Ezekiel 24Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away in your iniquities, and moan one toward another.
KJV
And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: ye shall not mourn nor weep; but ye shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
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This verse in Ezekiel 24
Commentary
7 notes on this verseThis 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.
This site's exposition
waste away because of your sins
The turbans and sandals stay on, and the exiles waste away in silence under their sins. Leviticus 26:39 warned that survivors in the lands of their enemies would waste away in their iniquity. They groan among themselves, with no mourning rites.
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
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
6 ); not that there shall be any such merciful circumstance without, or any such degrees of wisdom and grace within, as shall mitigate and moderate the sorrow; but they shall not mourn, for, (1.) Their grief shall be so great that they shall be quite overwhelmed with it; their passions shall stifle them, and they shall have no power to ease themselves by giving vent to it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet.....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
They could not in their exile manifest publicly their lamentation, but they would privately "mourn one to another." Their "iniquities" would then be their chief sorrow ("pining away"), as feeling that these were the cause of their sufferings (compare Le 26:39; The fullest fulfilment is still future (Zec 12:10-14).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
15 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּפְאֵרֵכֶ֣ם | ufeerekhem | and turbans your | H6287 → | 7 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | [will be] on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| רָאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם | rasheikhem | heads your | H7218 → | 599 times |
| וְנַֽעֲלֵיכֶם֙ | venaaleikhem | and sandals your | H5275 → | |
| בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֔ם | beragleikhem | [will be] on feet your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִסְפְּד֖וּ | tispedu | you must lament | H5594 → | |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִבְכּ֑וּ | tivku | you must weep | H1058 → | 114 times |
| וּנְמַקֹּתֶם֙ | unemakotem | and you will waste away | H4743 → | 10 times |
| בַּעֲוֹנֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם | baavonoteikhem | in iniquities your | H5771 → | 233 times |
| וּנְהַמְתֶּ֖ם | unehamtem | and you will groan | H5098 → | |
| אִ֥ישׁ | ʾish | each | H376 → | 1663 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אָחִֽיו׃ | ʾachiv | brother his | H251 → | 630 times |
וּפְאֵרֵכֶ֣םand turbans your
ufeerekhemH6287 →7 times
עַל־[will be] on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
רָאשֵׁיכֶ֗םheads your
rasheikhemH7218 →599 times
וְנַֽעֲלֵיכֶם֙and sandals your
venaaleikhemH5275 →
בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֔ם[will be] on feet your
beragleikhemH7272 →247 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִסְפְּד֖וּyou must lament
tispeduH5594 →
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
תִבְכּ֑וּyou must weep
tivkuH1058 →114 times
וּנְמַקֹּתֶם֙and you will waste away
unemakotemH4743 →10 times
בַּעֲוֹנֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔םin iniquities your
baavonoteikhemH5771 →233 times
וּנְהַמְתֶּ֖םand you will groan
unehamtemH5098 →
אִ֥ישׁeach
ʾishH376 →1663 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אָחִֽיו׃brother his
ʾachivH251 →630 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
Leviticus 26:39Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 4:17
So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 33:10
Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 4:17
Through
Ezekiel 4:17So they will lack food and water; they will be appalled at the sight of one another wasting away in their iniquity.
it leads to
- Leviticus 26:39
Those of you who survive in the lands of your enemies will waste away in their iniquity and will decay in the sins of their fathers.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 26:39
Through
Job 27:15His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
it leads to
- Psalms 78:64
His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
- Psalms 78:64
Through
Ezekiel 33:10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 37:11
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
- Isaiah 49:14
But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!”
- Ezekiel 37:11
Through
Psalms 78:64His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 4:17
The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has…
- Job 27:15
His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
- 1 Samuel 4:17
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 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.