EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries
Ezekiel 7:1-27
Ezekiel: ‘They shall know that I am God’
The *Sin of Judah and the Judgement of God
Ezekiel Chapter s 1 to 24
Ian Mackervoy
Chapter 7
The *disasters will happen soon – Ezekiel 7:1-13
v1 The *LORD spoke to me again. v2 ‘*Son of man, this is what the *LORD your King says to the country called *Israel. An end, the end has come (happened) on the 4 corners of the country. v3 Now the end has come for you. I will act because of my anger against you. I will be your judge for the way that you have lived. I will punish you for all the evil deeds that you have done. v4 I will not pity you. I will not reduce the punishment that is due to you. You will suffer for the way you have lived and for your bad actions. Then you will know that I am the *LORD.
v5 This is what the *LORD your King says. Many terrible and awful *disasters will come upon you to ruin you. v6 The end has come. The end has come. It has raised itself against you. It has come. v7 The end has come for you people who live in the country. The time has come and the day is near. There will be no joy in the mountains on this day of confusion and trouble. v8 Soon I will *pour out all my anger upon you. I will issue judgement against you because of the way that you have lived. I will punish you for all your evil deeds. v9 I will not pity you. I will not hold back punishment. You will suffer for the way that you lived and for all your evil deeds. Then you will know that I am the *LORD who punishes.
v10 The day is here. It has come. It is now the time for judgement. Evil practices have increased. People are more proud than ever. v11 Cruelty and evil power have increased to become like a stick to punish wicked people. None of the people will remain. There will be no wealth and nothing will have any value. v12 The time has come. The day has arrived. Do not let the one who buys be happy. Do not let those who sell be sad. God’s anger is against all of them. v13 The seller shall not return to the land that he sold. This is so even if the seller lives. None of the crowd will return to the country. Because of their *sins, they will not save their lives.’
Verses 1-4 The *Lord speaks by Ezekiel to the country called *Israel. His message is to the 4 corners of the country. This means that he speaks to the whole of the country called *Israel. He uses the word ‘country’ to mean all the people who live in the country. To the *exiles, the country called *Israel is their home where they belong. To them this must have been a sad message.
The end has come. Most *Israelites would die. And the *Lord would remove the rest of the *Israelites. God would not allow them to continue to live in *Israel. He was so angry at their wicked deeds.
God was the judge of what the people had done. He is a fair judge. He always does what is right. He would punish them and they deserved it. They had not obeyed his law. They had not done what they agreed to do. They had chosen to follow other gods. They had *turned away from the *Lord their God.
The people would suffer for all the evil things that they had done. The *Lord had often warned them but they would not change. So, they had no excuse. The *Lord would punish them as he had said. He always does what he says. He would not reduce the punishment. He would not pity them.
God would bring this *disaster on the *Israelites. Then they will know that he is the *Lord.
Verses 5-7 There will be not one *disaster but many. They will come quickly one after another, because the end has come. The *Lord sends them against the people who live in the country. The time had almost come when God would punish *Israel.
That day will be one of terror. There will be no joy but only pain and shock. It will be so sudden that all will be in confusion. There will be no escape. Then it will be too late to *turn back to God. He had warned them but they had not listened to him.
Verses 8-9 These verses say the same as verses 3-4. God is angry against *sin. All the wicked things that people do are *sin. God will punish *sin. These people had *turned from God to false gods. They did such evil things. God warned them what would happen. But they would not come back to God. So, God had to punish them for their wicked behaviour.
All these *disasters will come on the people. Then they will know that God is the *Lord.
Verses 10-11 The *sin of the people had become worse than ever before. God could not allow them to continue their wicked behaviour. The day of judgement had come.
The power of the *Babylonians had increased. They were a cruel and evil people. But God chose to use the king of Babylon as a stick to punish *Israel. That king was Nebuchadnezzar. His armies destroyed Jerusalem in the year 586 *BC. Many of the people had died of hunger or disease. The *Babylonian army killed most of those who remained alive. Some they sent into *exile. They took all that was valuable away from the city.
Verse 12-13 Normal life would not be possible in that day. There would be no purpose in commerce. To buy or to sell would be in vain. The anger of God is against both the seller and the customer. Neither of them will escape. They will both suffer death or *exile.
The effect on those who did not die – Ezekiel 7:14-27
v14 ‘The *trumpets have sounded. The soldiers have prepared everything ready for war. But nobody will go to the battle. This is because my anger is against that entire crowd.
v15 The sword is outside the city. Disease and hunger are in the city. The people who are in the fields will die by the sword. Disease and hunger will kill those people who are in the city. v16 Some of the people will not die. They will escape to the mountains. They will cry like *doves in the valleys. They will cry because of their own *sins. v17 All their hands will hang down, weak because of fear. Their knees will become weak as water. v18 They will put on rough cloth to show how sad they are. They will tremble because of their fear. The shame that they feel will show on their faces. They will shave all the hair from their heads. v19 The people will throw their silver into the streets. Their gold will be to them as rubbish. Their silver and gold will not save them from the *LORD’s anger. Silver and gold will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs with food. Their riches caused them to fall into *sin (that is, to live in a *sinful manner). v20 They were proud of their beautiful things. They used them to make their false gods. They made evil images of gods, which I hate. Therefore, I will turn their wealth into rubbish. v21 I will give it to foreigners as the prize of war. I will give it to the most evil people in the world. They will spoil it. v22 I myself will also *turn away from them. They will damage my secret place. Thieves will come in and they will steal from it.
v23 Make chains to bind people. Murder and cruel crimes are all over the country and in the city. v24 I will bring the most evil foreigners here. They will possess your houses. The strong ones among you will no longer be proud. And I will ruin all your holy places. v25 When the people suffer greatly, they will look for peace. But there will be no peace. v26 There will be one *disaster after another. And more bad news will follow bad news. Then the people will ask the *prophets for directions from the *Lord. Priests will stop teaching the law of God. The wise leaders will not be able to give advice. v27 The king will weep and be sad. The prince will give up hope and be in despair. And the hands of the people in the country will tremble because of fear. By their own standards, I will test them. I will punish them for the way that they have lived. Then they will know that I am the *LORD.’
Verses 14-16 The army of Babylon is round about the city called Jerusalem. The soldiers are ready for the battle. But the people in Judah will not go out to fight. They are so weak that they cannot form an army for the battle.
The army of Babylon will kill any of them who are not in the city. Their army is the agent of the anger of God.
The army will not allow food to come into the city. Soon, there will be no more supplies of food in the city. The people will be hungry and sick. They will grow weak and they will die because of disease and hunger.
The *Lord will allow some people to live. These will escape to the mountains. The sound of *doves is a sad cry. Those who escape will cry like the *doves. They will know that they suffer because of their *sin.
Verses 17-22 Terror will fill the hearts of those who remain alive. They will be sad and they will put on rough clothes. Because of their despair, they will shave their heads.
Neither silver nor gold can save them from the anger of the *Lord. Money will be of no use. They cannot even buy food because there is none.
When they were wealthy, they *turned from the *Lord. They made false gods and *worshipped them. Now their wealth would be of no use to them. It would be no better than rubbish.
The *Babylonians were very evil and cruel soldiers. They would destroy Jerusalem. They would take all the wealth and the beautiful things from the city. They would ruin the *temple. They would remove from it everything that had any value.
Verses 23-27 It was not only in Jerusalem that the people in Judah did their wicked deeds. The people in the country were as bad as those in the city. So, the *Lord would bring the worst of nations to punish them. He sent the *Babylonians. They would attack the country. They would occupy all the houses. They would destroy all the places where the people had *worshipped their gods.
The people will desire peace but there will be no peace. As the *disasters increase, they try to find help. The *prophets pray to the *Lord but the *Lord does not answer them. Their leaders and wise men have no answers. There is no hope and they are in despair. Even the king and the prince are afraid of the terror that will come upon them.
They deserved all their troubles. The *Lord was punishing them because of their evil behaviour. Then they will know that God is the *Lord.
The *Israelites and their false gods – Ezekiel 8:1-18
In a *vision, God took Ezekiel to Jerusalem. There, Ezekiel saw how wicked the people had become. Even in God’s holy *temple, people were *worshipping false gods. And Ezekiel saw that the leaders, the women and the priests were all guilty of this *sin.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
disaster ~ when something very bad happens.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
Israel ~ Israel is the nation whose ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The country in which they live is called Israel. Israel became the name of the northern nation when it separated from Judah. However, Ezekiel sometimes uses the word ‘Israel’ to refer to Judah.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
sin ~ Sin means the wrong things that we do. To sin is to do wrong, bad or evil deeds and not to obey God. People are called sinners because of their sins.
Lord ~ a title for God, to show that he is over all people and things.
LORD ~ ‘LORD’ is the special name that God gave to himself. It probably means ‘always God’. This name has a relationship with the special promises that God gave to his people.
exile ~ When people have to live in a foreign country they are in exile. Such a person is called an exile.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
turn ~ to change your behaviour, your friends, or your God; or, to carry out actions in order to oppose someone.
Babylonian ~ a person from the nation called Babylon or anything that has a relationship with Babylon.
BC ~ years before Christ was born.
trumpet ~ a musical instrument. A trumpet makes a loud sound when a person blows into it.
doves ~ a type of bird.
prophet ~ person who speaks for God. He can sometimes say what will happen in the future. However, false prophets are people who merely pretend to speak God’s words.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
temple ~ a special building for the worship of God or other gods. The Jews had one in Jerusalem for the worship of the real God.
worship ~ an act to give honour to God (or to a false god). When people praise and thank God.
Jews ~ another name for the Israelites.
Israelites ~ the people whose ancestors are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
ancestors ~ people in history from whom your family has come.
vision ~ something that God shows to a person but not with the physical sight. Visions are often in the form of dreams.