Ezekiel 12:19

And say unto the people of the land,.... Of Chaldea, where the prophet now was; not the natives of the land, but the Israelites, who were captives in it; who were ready to murmur and repine at their own case, as miserable; and at that of the Jews at Jerusalem, as happy; and therefore they are taught by this sign, as well as by the following prophecy, that they were mistaken:

thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem; or to them, or "concerning" them y; whom the captives in Chaldea thought lived so happily, and would continue so:

[and] of the land of Israel; or, "upon the land of Israel" z; inhabitants on it; to this sense the Targum and Septuagint Version interpret it, and also Kimchi:

they shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment; meaning at the siege of Jerusalem, when they could not eat and drink in peace; but, while they were eating and drinking, were disturbed and put into fear and surprise by the besiegers; and also, hearing that their provisions would not hold out, were careful how they ate and drank, and were frightened with the thoughts of being reduced to extreme want:

that her land may be desolate from all that is therein; or, "from its fulness" a; men and cattle, cities, towns, houses, vineyards, fields, fruits, and plenty of all good things. Jarchi expounds it of riches:

because of the violence of all them that dwell therein; not the violence of the Chaldeans, making a prey of all they met with, plundering cities and towns, and making forage of the fruits of the earth, by which means the land was desolate; but the rapine, oppression, and injustice of the Jews, which were the cause of all these calamities which came upon their country.

y ליושבי ירושלם "habitatoribus Hierosolymorum", Montanus, Starckius; "de habitatoribus", Piscator; "de habitantibus Hierosolymam", Cocceius. z אל אדמת ישראל επι της γης του ισραηλ, Sept. "super terram Israel", Calvin; "in terram Israelis", Junius Tremellius, Polanus so Ben Melech. a ממלאה "a plenitudine sua", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius, Starckius.