Ezekiel 7:14-19
New English Translation
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]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 7:18 tn Heb “baldness will be on their heads.”
- Ezekiel 7:19 tn The Hebrew term can refer to menstrual impurity. The term also occurs at the end of v. 20.
- Ezekiel 7:19 sn Cf. Zeph 1:18.
- Ezekiel 7:19 tn Heb “it.” Apparently the subject is the silver and gold mentioned earlier (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:102).
- 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).
Ezekiel 7:14-19
Common English Bible
14 They have blown the horn,
and everything is ready, but no one goes to battle,
because my wrath overcomes the whole crowd.
15 Outside, the sword! Inside, plague and famine!
Whoever is out in the field will die by the sword.
Whoever is in the city,
plague and famine will consume them.
16 And those who flee?
They will turn up on the hills like valley doves,
all of them moaning, those guilty ones.
17 Every hand will hang limp;
urine will run down every leg.
18 They will put on mourning clothes,
and horror will cover them.
On every face, shame;
on all their heads, baldness.
19 They will hurl their silver into the street,
and their gold will seem unclean.
Their silver and their gold won’t deliver them
on the day of the Lord’s anger.
They won’t satisfy their appetites or fill their bellies.
Their guilt will bring them down.
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