Ezekiel 34:21
in Ezekiel 34Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Because ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
KJV
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
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This verse in Ezekiel 34
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAnother promise that God would in the fulness of time send the Messiah, to be the great and good Shepherd of the sheep, who should redress all grievances and set every thing to rights with the flock,
This site's exposition
between the rams and the goats
on Ezekiel 34:17-22
The judgment turns inward, distinguishing cattle and cattle within Israel itself: those who trampled the good pasture and fouled the clear water for the rest. The individual accountability pressed here runs alongside the argument chapter 18 made, that guilt and its judgment fall on the one who commits it.
This site's exposition
shove with flank and shoulder
The strong sheep scatter the weak a second time. Verse 5 blamed the shepherds for the first scattering, and here members of the flock shove their own neighbors away with flank and shoulder. Horns picture strength, and here that strength is turned on the weak.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Verse 17 onwards) But you, my flock (or sheep), this says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between the sheep, and between rams and goats. Was it not enough for you to graze on good pastures? Moreover, you trampled the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water, you disturbed the rest with your feet. And my sheep, which were trampled by your feet, were fed, and those feet of yours that disturbed, they drank.
If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about. It is only strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong? Those who rely on their own righteousness. None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside. Shoulders bold at shoving, because they do not bear God's burden; evil sides, conspiracies of friends, companions in obstinacy; horns lifted up, high and mighty pride. Shove with sides and shoulders, flail with your horns, drive outside what you have not bought. Certainly this is your whole case, that you are just and others are unjust, and it was unfitting that the just should remain with the unjust, unfitting, that is to say, that the corn should remain among the weeds, unfitting that the sheep should feed among the goats until the shepherd should come who would make no mistake in separating them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Note, It is a barbarous thing to add affliction to the afflicted. Perhaps these rams and he-goats are designed to represent the scribes and Pharisees, for they are such troublers of the church as Christ himself must come to deliver it from,
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder,....
The words behind it
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַ֗עַן | yaan | because | H3282 → | 99 times |
| בְּצַ֤ד | betzad | with side | H6654 → | 33 times |
| וּבְכָתֵף֙ | uvekhatef | and with shoulder | H3802 → | 67 times |
| תֶּהְדֹּ֔פוּ | tehdofu | you push | H1920 → | |
| וּבְקַרְנֵיכֶ֥ם | uvekarneikhem | and with horns your | H7161 → | 76 times |
| תְּנַגְּח֖וּ | tenagechu | you thrust at | H5055 → | |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַנַּחְל֑וֹת | hanachlot | the weak [ones] | H2470 → | 76 times |
| עַ֣ד | ʾad | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֧ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הֲפִיצוֹתֶ֛ם | hafitzotem | you have scattered | H6327 → | 67 times |
| אוֹתָ֖נָה | ʾotanah | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| הַחֽוּצָה׃ | hachutzah | the outside <towards> | H2351 → | 164 times |
יַ֗עַןbecause
yaanH3282 →99 times
בְּצַ֤דwith side
betzadH6654 →33 times
וּבְכָתֵף֙and with shoulder
uvekhatefH3802 →67 times
תֶּהְדֹּ֔פוּyou push
tehdofuH1920 →
וּבְקַרְנֵיכֶ֥םand with horns your
uvekarneikhemH7161 →76 times
תְּנַגְּח֖וּyou thrust at
tenagechuH5055 →
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הַנַּחְל֑וֹתthe weak [ones]
hanachlotH2470 →76 times
עַ֣דuntil
ʾadH5704 →1261 times
אֲשֶׁ֧רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הֲפִיצוֹתֶ֛םyou have scattered
hafitzotemH6327 →67 times
אוֹתָ֖נָה<obj.> them
ʾotanahH853 →10935 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
הַחֽוּצָה׃the outside <towards>
hachutzahH2351 →164 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
Deuteronomy 33:17His majesty is like a firstborn bull, and his horns are like those of a wild ox. With them he will gore the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Such are the…
it leads to
- 1 Kings 22:11
Now Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made for himself iron horns and declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you shall gore the Arameans until they are finished off.’”
- Numbers 23:22
God brought them out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox.
- Psalms 44:5
Through You we repel our foes; through Your name we trample our enemies.
- Numbers 24:8
God brought him out of Egypt with strength like a wild ox, to devour hostile nations and crush their bones, to pierce them with arrows.
- Psalms 92:10
But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; with fine oil I have been anointed.
- 1 Kings 22:11
Through
Zechariah 11:5whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 50:7
All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
- 1 Timothy 6:5–10
and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
- Hosea 12:8
And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”
- Jeremiah 50:7
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 47:16; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; 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.