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Ezekiel 24:9

in Ezekiel 24

Yes, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the kindling high.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe to the bloody city! I also will make the pile great.

KJV

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.

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This verse in Ezekiel 24

Commentary

5 notes on this verse
Therefore thus saith the Lord God, woe to the bloody city,.... See Gill on Eze 24:6, I will even make the pile for fire great; a large pile of wood, a great quantity of fuel to maintain the fire, and keep the pot boiling; meaning the vast army of the Chaldeans, which the Lord would bring against Jerusalem, which should closely besiege it, and vigorously attack it, until it had executed the fury of the wrath of God, comparable to fire, and of his judgments upon it. The Targum is, "even I will multiply her destruction.''

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.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(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

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

Jerusalem, during the siege, is like a pot boiling over the fire, all in a heat, all in a hurry. [1.] Care is taken to keep a good fire under the pot, which signifies the closeness of the siege, and the many vigorous attacks made upon the city by the besiegers, and especially the continued wrath of God burning against them (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

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,

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

On the verses either side of this one

pile on the wood, kindle the fire And to pile on the wood, to kindle the fire.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 24:10:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Multiply the kings, gather the armies, set the supports, and prepare the warriors against her; and her mighty men shall be confused.
Targum · Targum Jonathan on Ezekiel 24:10, via Sefaria, Sefaria Community Translation

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

12 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.

  • לָכֵ֗ן<to> therefore

    lakhenH3651 →771 times

  • כֹּ֤הthus

    kohH3541 →577 times

  • אָמַר֙he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהוִ֔הYahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • א֖וֹיwoe!

    ʾoH188 →24 times

  • עִ֣יר[the] city of

    ʾirH5892 →1090 times

  • הַדָּמִ֑ים<the> blood<s>

    hadamimH1818 →360 times

  • גַּם־also

    gam-H1571 →769 times

  • אֲנִ֖יI

    ʾaniH589 →874 times

  • אַגְדִּ֥ילI will make great

    ʾagdilH1431 →117 times

  • הַמְּדוּרָֽה׃the pile

    hamedurahH4071 →

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

Related verses

16 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Ezekiel 22:2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations4 worksHabakkuk 2:12Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!3 worksEzekiel 24:6Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now rusted, whose rust will not come off! Empty it piece by piece; cast no lots for its contents.3 worksRevelation 16:6For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”2 worksEzekiel 22:19–22Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.2 worksIsaiah 30:33For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.2 works
The other 10 cross-references, with their words ▾
Revelation 16:19The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. And God remembered Babylon the great and gave her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath.2 worksRevelation 14:20And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and the blood that flowed from it rose as high as the bridles of the horses for a distance of 1,600 stadia.2 worksEzekiel 22:31So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”2 works2 Thessalonians 1:8in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.2 worksIsaiah 31:9Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.2 worksRevelation 21:8But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”2 works2 Peter 3:7–12And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.2 worksNahum 3:1Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.2 worksJude 1:7In like manner, Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, who indulged in sexual immorality and pursued strange flesh, are on display as an example of those who sustain the punishment of eternal fire.2 worksLuke 13:34–35O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!2 works

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

    Habakkuk 2:12

    Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!

    it leads to

    • Micah 3:10

      who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.

    • Nahum 3:1

      Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Revelation 16:6

    For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 49:26

      I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your…

    • Revelation 11:18

      The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your…

    • Revelation 6:10–11

      And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

  • Through

    Isaiah 30:33

    For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a…

    it leads to

    • 2 Kings 23:10

      He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.

    • Jeremiah 19:6

      So behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of Ben-hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

    • Genesis 19:24

      Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.

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.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 24 →

This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.

Read on in Ezekiel 24 →