Ezekiel 14:17

Translations

Modern

Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,

Traditional

Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:

Literal

Or if I should bring the sword against that land and say, ‘Sword, pass through the land!’ And I cut off from it man and beast,

Latin

Vel si gladium induxero super terram illam, et dixero gladio: Transi per terram: et interfecero de ea hominem et jumentum,

Original

Hebrew

English

Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,

Notes

Ezekiel 14:12–20

Israel had not been treated unfairly. God did not judge Israel without reason. If any nation sinned against the Lord in this way, that nation would face the same result.
However, this passage clearly speaks about Israel. The words used to describe their sin also describe breaking the covenant (the binding promises between God and his people). Israel had broken this covenant. Because of that, the nation would rightly experience the covenant curses (the punishments promised for disobedience) listed in Leviticus 26. The people had agreed to these terms when the covenant was first made.
The covenant curses appear here in four test cases. Each case shows one of the judgments listed in Leviticus 26:
1. Famine (a severe lack of food), as described in Ezekiel 14:13–14 and Leviticus 26:26.
2. Wild animals attacking the land, as described in Ezekiel 14:15–16 and Leviticus 26:22.
3. War, as described in Ezekiel 14:17–18 and Leviticus 26:25.
4. Disease, as described in Ezekiel 14:19–20 and Leviticus 26:25.
These examples show that Israel’s suffering was not random. It was the direct result of breaking the covenant with the Lord.

Theme notes and profiles

Noah God’s Covenant with Noah

Events

Prophecies of Ezekielc. 593 BC

Related verses

Ezekiel 21:3–4
…and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
Leviticus 26:25
And I will bring a sword against you to execute the vengeance of the covenant. Though you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be delivered into the hand of the enemy.
Zephaniah 1:3
“I will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, and the idols with their wicked worshipers. I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
Ezekiel 5:12
A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.
Ezekiel 25:13
…therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.
Ezekiel 14:13
“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,
Jeremiah 47:6
‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’
Ezekiel 38:21–22
And I will summon a sword against Gog on all My mountains, declares the Lord GOD, and every man’s sword will be against his brother.
Hosea 4:3
Therefore the land mourns, and all who dwell in it will waste away with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air; even the fish of the sea disappear.
Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Jeremiah 33:12
This is what the LORD of Hosts says: In this desolate place, without man or beast, and in all its cities, there will once more be pastures for shepherds to rest their flocks.
Ezekiel 29:8
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a sword against you and cut off from you man and beast.

Glossary

Daniel (Person) Ezekiel, Book of Job (Person) Noah

Topics

Animals: Suffer Under Divine Judgments, Sent Upon Man The Sword of Severe and Heavy Calamities

Ezekiel 14:17

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