14 ‘They have (A)blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all [a]their multitude. 15 The (B)sword is outside the city and the plague and the famine are within. Anyone who is in the field will die by the sword, while famine and the plague will consume those in the city. 16 Even when their survivors (C)escape, they will be on the mountains like (D)doves of the valleys, all of them (E)moaning, each over his own wrongdoing. 17 All (F)hands will hang limp, and all [b]knees will drip with water. 18 They will (G)put on sackcloth and (H)shuddering will overwhelm them; and shame will be on all faces, and a [c](I)bald patch on all their heads. 19 They will (J)fling their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an abhorrent thing; their (K)silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of the Lord. They cannot satisfy their [d]appetite, nor can they fill their stomachs, because their wrongdoing has become a cause of stumbling.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 7:14 Lit her
  2. Ezekiel 7:17 Heb idiom meaning to wet oneself
  3. Ezekiel 7:18 I.e., shaved as a sign of mourning
  4. Ezekiel 7:19 Lit soul

14 “They have blown the trumpet and everyone is ready, but no one goes to battle, because my anger is against their whole crowd.[a] 15 The sword is outside; pestilence and famine are inside the house. Whoever is in the open field will die by the sword, and famine and pestilence will consume everyone in the city. 16 Their survivors will escape to the mountains and become like doves of the valleys[b] ; all of them will moan—each one for his iniquity. 17 All their hands will hang limp; their knees will be wet with urine.[c] 18 They will wear sackcloth, terror will cover them; shame will be on all their faces, and all their heads will be shaved bald.[d] 19 They will discard their silver in the streets, and their gold will be treated like filth.[e] Their silver and gold will not be able to deliver them on the day of the Lord’s fury.[f] They will not satisfy their hunger or fill their stomachs because their wealth[g] was the obstacle leading to their iniquity.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 7:14 tn The Hebrew word refers to the din or noise made by a crowd, and by extension may refer to the crowd itself.
  2. Ezekiel 7:16 sn The simile compares doves that flee their valley home for the mountains, where they coo in mournful discomfort. For doves moaning or mourning see Isa 38:14; 59:11; Ezek 7:16 and Nah 2:7.
  3. Ezekiel 7:17 tn Heb “their knees will run with water.” The expression probably refers to urination caused by fright, which is how the LXX renders the phrase. More colloquial English would simply be “they will wet their pants,” but as D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:261, n. 98) notes, the men likely wore skirts which were short enough to expose urine on the knees.
  4. Ezekiel 7:18 tn Heb “baldness will be on their heads.”
  5. Ezekiel 7:19 tn The Hebrew term can refer to menstrual impurity. The term also occurs at the end of v. 20.
  6. Ezekiel 7:19 sn Cf. Zeph 1:18.
  7. Ezekiel 7:19 tn Heb “it.” Apparently the subject is the silver and gold mentioned earlier (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:102).
  8. Ezekiel 7:19 tn The “stumbling block of their iniquity” is a unique phrase of the prophet Ezekiel (Ezek 14:3, 4, 7; 18:30; 44:12).