20“The inhabited cities will be laid waste and the land will be a desolation. So you will know that I am the LORD.”’” 21Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 22“Son of man, what is this proverb you people have concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are long and every vision fails’? 23“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will make this proverb cease so that they will no longer use it as a proverb in Israel.” But tell them, “The days draw near as well as the fulfillment of every vision. 24“For there will no longer be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. 25“For I the LORD will speak, and whatever word I speak will be performed. It will no longer be delayed, for in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak the word and perform it,” declares the Lord GOD.’” 26Furthermore, the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 27“Son of man, behold, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for many years from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’ 28“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “None of My words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be performed,”’” declares the Lord GOD.
New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"The inhabited cities will be laid waste and the land will be a desolation. So you will know that I am the LORD."'"GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
The cities where people live will be destroyed, and the country will become a wasteland. Then they will know that I am the LORD.'" King James Bible
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Douay-Rheims Bible
And the cities that are now inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate: and you shall know that I am the Lord. Darby Bible Translation
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah. English Revised Version
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. Webster's Bible Translation
And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. World English Bible
The cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be a desolation; and you shall know that I am Yahweh. Young's Literal Translation
And the cities that are inhabited are laid waste, and the land is a desolation, and ye have known that I am Jehovah.'
Isaiah 3:26 And her gates will lament and mourn, And deserted she will sit on the ground.
Isaiah 7:23 And it will come about in that day, that every place where there used to be a thousand vines, valued at a thousand shekels of silver, will become briars and thorns.
Isaiah 7:24 People will come there with bows and arrows because all the land will be briars and thorns.
Jeremiah 4:7 "A lion has gone up from his thicket, And a destroyer of nations has set out; He has gone out from his place To make your land a waste. Your cities will be ruins Without inhabitant.
Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,' declares the LORD, 'and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
Ezekiel 5:14 'Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by.
Ezekiel 12:15 "So they will know that I am the LORD when I scatter them among the nations and spread them among the countries.
Ezekiel 12:21 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Ezekiel 36:3 therefore prophesy and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "For good reason they have made you desolate and crushed you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations and you have been taken up in the talk and the whispering of the people."'"
Matthew Henry's Whole Bible Commentary Verses 17-20 Here again the prophet is made a sign to them of the desolations that were coming on Judah and Jerusalem. 1. He must himself eat and drink in care and fear, especially when he was in company, v. 17, 18. Though he was under no apprehension of danger to himself, but lived in safety and plenty, yet he must eat his bread with quaking (the bread of sorrows, Ps. 127:2) and drink his water with trembling and with carefulness, that he might express the calamitous condition of those that should be in Jerusalem during the siege; not that he must dissemble and pretend to be in fear and care when really he was not; but having to foretel this judgment, to show that he firmly believed it himself, and yet was far from desiring it, in the prospect of it he was himself affected with grief and fear. Note, When ministers speak of the ruin coming upon impenitent sinners they must endeavour to speak feelingly, as those that know the terrors of the Lord; and they must be content to endure hardness, so that they may but do good. 2. He must tell them that the inhabitants of Jerusalem should in like manner eat and drink with care and fear, v. 19, 20. Both those that have their home in Jerusalem and those of the land of Israel that come to shelter themselves there, shall eat their bread with carefulness and drink their water with astonishment, either because they are afraid it will not hold out, but they shall want shortly, or because they are continually expecting the alarms of the enemy, their life hanging in doubt before them (Deu. 28:66), so that what they have they shall have no enjoyment of nor will it do them any good. Note, Care and fear, if they prevail, are enough to embitter all our comforts and are themselves very sore judgments. They shall be reduced to these straits that thus by degrees, and by the hand of those that thus straiten them, both city and country may be laid in ruins; for it is no less than an utter destruction of both that is aimed at in these judgments-that her land may be desolate from all the fulness thereof, may be stripped of all its ornaments and robbed of all its fruits, and then of course the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, for they are served by the field. This universal desolation was coming upon them, and then no wonder that they eat their bread with care and fear. Now we are here told, (1.) How bad the cause of this judgment was; it is because of the violence of all those that dwell therein, their injustice and oppression, and the mischief they did one another, for which God would reckon with them, as well as for the affronts put upon him in his worship. Note, The decay of virtue in a nation brings on a decay of every thing else; and when neighbours devour one another it is just with God to bring enemies upon them to devour them all. (2.) How good the effect of this judgment should be: You shall know that I am the Lord; and if, by these judgments, they learn to know him aright, that will make up the loss of all they are deprived of by these desolations. Those are happy afflictions, how grievous soever to flesh and blood, that help to introduce us into and improve us in an acquaintance with God. Calvin's Commentary 20. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the LORD. 20. Et urbes habitatae redigentur in solitudinem, et terra vasta erit, [262] et cognoscetis quod ego Iehovah. He pursues the same sentiment. He had threatened destruction to Jerusalem and its citizens: he now adds the other cities of Judah which were still inhabited. Lastly, he speaks of the whole land, as if he said that no single corner should suppose itself free from slaughter, since God's vengeance should attack it as well as the cruelty of enemies through all regions. Jerusalem was the head of the whole nation; Ezekiel predicts its siege, and after that it became easy to overthrow and spoil other cities, so that the whole region was rendered subject to the lust of the enemies. He afterwards adds what we have noticed previously, ye shall know that I am Jehovah They had heard this instruction from the Prophets, they ought to have been imbued with it from their earliest childhood, for God had borne witness by many proofs that he was the true God. For his power had become sufficiently known and understood by the frequent succors by which that wretched people had been snatched from even immediate death. But as their impiety had stupified them, so that they carelessly despised not only the Prophet's teaching, but the very judgments of God, when he openly punished them, this knowledge is not mentioned without reason. When therefore God puts forth his hand for the last time to chastise them, he says that his power should be so manifest among them, that it should no longer escape them; but yet they were so hardened in their depravity that they almost entirely forgot God. For a contrast is always to be observed between that knowledge which springs from performance and that arising from utterance; for those who had closed their ears when God invites them to himself as servants, must be compelled to feel him to be God when he is silent and is executing his vengeance upon them. It follows -- Footnotes: [262] Or, "desert." -- Calvin.
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Cities Desolate Desolation Inhabited Laid Peopled Towns Waste Wonder New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Alphabetical: a am and be cities desolate desolation I inhabited know laid land LORD' So that The Then towns waste will you Bible Browser | |
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