23 Make the chain: for the land is full of crimes of blood, and the town is full of violent acts.
Then he said to me, The sin of the children of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is full of blood and the town full of evil ways: for they say, The Lord has gone away from the land, and the Lord does not see.
This is what the Lord has said to me: Make for yourself bands and yokes and put them on your neck;
You have made great the number of your dead in this town, you have made its streets full of dead men.
More than this, Manasseh took the lives of upright men, till Jerusalem from one end to the other was full of blood; in addition to his sin in making Judah do evil in the eyes of the Lord.
Her rulers are like loud-voiced lions in her; her judges are wolves of the evening, crushing up the bones before the morning. Her prophets are good-for-nothing persons, full of deceit: her priests have made the holy place unclean and have gone violently against the law.
But even she has been taken away, she has gone away as a prisoner: even her young children are smashed to bits at the top of all the streets: the fate of her honoured men is put to the decision of chance, and all her great men are put in chains.
They have a desire for fields and take them by force; and for houses and take them away: they are cruel to a man and his family, even to a man and his heritage.
Her rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.
And because of the death of those who had done no wrong, for he made Jerusalem full of the blood of the upright; and the Lord had no forgiveness for it.
And you are to say, This is what the Lord has said: A town causing blood to be drained out in her streets so that her time may come, and making images in her to make her unclean! You are responsible for the blood drained out by you, and you are unclean through the images which you have made; and you have made your day come near, and the time of your judging has come; for this cause I have made you a name of shame to the nations and a cause of laughing to all countries. Those who are near and those who are far from you will make sport of you; your name is unclean, you are full of sounds of fear. See, the rulers of Israel, every one in his family, have been causing death in you.
And one of her little ones came to growth under her care, and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat. And the nations had news of him; he was taken in the hole they had made: and, pulling him with hooks, they took him into the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that her hope was made foolish and gone, she took another of her little ones and made him into a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions and became a young lion, learning to go after beasts for his food; and he took men for his meat.
Then he said to me, Have you seen this, O son of man? is it a small thing to the children of Judah that they do the disgusting things which they are doing here? for they have made the land full of violent behaviour, making me angry again and again: and see, they put the branch to my nose.
He has put a wall round me, so that I am not able to go out; he has made great the weight of my chain.
The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, after Nebuzaradan, the captain of the armed men, had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him; for he had been put in chains, among all the prisoners of Jerusalem and Judah who were taken away prisoners to Babylon.
But your eyes and your heart are fixed only on profit for yourself, on causing the death of him who has done no wrong, and on violent and cruel acts.
If you are not cruel to the man from a strange country, and to the child without a father, and to the widow, and do not put the upright to death in this place, or go after other gods, causing damage to yourselves:
Their feet go quickly to evil, and they take delight in the death of the upright; their thoughts are thoughts of sin; wasting and destruction are in their ways.
For your hands are unclean with blood, and your fingers with sin; your lips have said false things, and your tongue gives out deceit.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 7
Commentary on Ezekiel 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
In this chapter the approaching ruin of the land of Israel is most particularly foretold in affecting expressions often repeated, that if possible they might be awakened by repentance to prevent it. The prophet must tell them,
Eze 7:1-15
We have here fair warning given of the destruction of the land of Israel, which was now hastening on apace. God, by the prophet, not only sends notice of it, but will have it inculcated in the same expressions, to show that the thing is certain, that it is near, that the prophet is himself affected with it and desires they should be so too, but finds them deaf, and stupid, and unaffected. When the town is on fire men do no seek for fine words and quaint expressions in which to give an account of it, but cry about the streets, with a loud and lamentable voice, "Fire! fire!' So the prophet here proclaims, An end! an end! it has come, it has come; behold, it has come. He that hath ears to hear let him hear.
Eze 7:16-22
We have attended the fate of those that are cut off, and are now to attend the flight of those that have an opportunity of escaping the danger; some of them shall escape (v. 16), but what the better? As good die once as, in a miserable life, die a thousand deaths, and escape only like Cain to be fugitives and vagabonds, and afraid of being slain by every one they meet; so shall these be.
Eze 7:23-27
Here is,