Ezekiel 9:7
in Ezekiel 9Then He told them, “Defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. Go forth!” So they went out and began killing throughout the city.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and smote in the city.
KJV
And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
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This verse in Ezekiel 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Verse 7) They therefore began with the older men who were before the house. And he said to them: Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. Fill the courts with the slain. For the courts, which are called the Asroth in Hebrew, the Seventy set up roads. However, the older men, of whom we read above that they had censers and offered incense to idols, are killed.
This site's exposition
Follow him through the city and start killing
on Ezekiel 9:5-7
The six are sent after the man in linen: “do not show pity or spare anyone,” sparing only those with the mark. “Now begin at My sanctuary” turns the sword on “the elders who were before the temple,” the leaders of the corruption shown in chapter 8.
This site's exposition
Defile the temple
The LORD orders His own house defiled. Albert Barnes explains that dead bodies filling the courts would make the temple unclean, under the law of Numbers 19:11 on touching the dead. The slaughter then moves out from the temple into the city.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
12 ) or those twenty-five who worshipped the sun between the porch and the altar, who might more properly be said to be before the house. Note, Ringleaders in sin may expect to be first met with by the judgments of God; and the sins of those who are in the most eminent and public stations call for the most exemplary punishments.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
14 ), but think to secure themselves by keeping hold of the horns of it, like Joab, and therefore, like him, let them die there, 1 Kings ii. There the blood of one of God's prophets had been shed ( Matt. xxiii. 35 ) and therefore let their blood be shed.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number+unbalanced-parens
And he said unto them, defile the house,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Defile the house - A dreadful sentence, Let it be polluted, I will no more dwell in it; I now utterly forsake it.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Defile the house - By filling the temple and its courts with the bodies of the slain. See Num 19:11.
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֨אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲלֵיהֶ֜ם | ʾaleihem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| טַמְּא֣וּ | tameu | make unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַבַּ֗יִת | habayit | the house | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| וּמַלְא֧וּ | umalu | and fill | H4390 → | 249 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַחֲצֵר֛וֹת | hachatzerot | the courts | H2691 → | 191 times |
| חֲלָלִ֖ים | chalalim | [those] slain | H2491 → | 94 times |
| צֵ֑אוּ | tzeu | go forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| וְיָצְא֖וּ | veyatzeu | and they went forth | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| וְהִכּ֥וּ | vehiku | and they struck | H5221 → | 499 times |
| בָעִֽיר׃ | vair | in the city | H5892 → | 1090 times |
וַיֹּ֨אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
אֲלֵיהֶ֜םto them
ʾaleihemH413 →5510 times
טַמְּא֣וּmake unclean
tameuH2930 →162 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַבַּ֗יִתthe house
habayitH1004 →2046 times
וּמַלְא֧וּand fill
umaluH4390 →249 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַחֲצֵר֛וֹתthe courts
hachatzerotH2691 →191 times
חֲלָלִ֖ים[those] slain
chalalimH2491 →94 times
צֵ֑אוּgo forth
tzeuH3318 →1067 times
וְיָצְא֖וּand they went forth
veyatzeuH3318 →1067 times
וְהִכּ֥וּand they struck
vehikuH5221 →499 times
בָעִֽיר׃in the city
vairH5892 →1090 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
2 Chronicles 36:17So He brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who put their young men to the sword in the sanctuary, sparing neither young men nor young women, neither elderly nor infirm. God…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 9:5–7
And as I listened, He said to the others, “Follow him through the city and start killing; do not show pity or spare anyone!
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 74:20
Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
- Ezra 9:7
From the days of our fathers to this day, our guilt has been great. Because of our iniquities, we and our kings and priests have been delivered into the hands of the kings of…
- Jeremiah 40:3
and now the LORD has fulfilled it; He has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD and have not obeyed His voice, this thing has happened to you.
- Lamentations 2:20–22
Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Ezekiel 9:5–7
Through
Luke 13:1At that time some of those present told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 4:17–18
For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who disobey the gospel of God?
- Lamentations 2:20
Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Acts 5:37
After him, Judas the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and drew away people after him. He too perished, and all his followers were scattered.
- 1 Peter 4:17–18
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies3
On this verse
On this chapter
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.