Ezekiel13
New Living Translation
1Then this message came to me from the Lord:
2“Son of man, prophesy against the false prophets of Israel who are inventing their own prophecies. Say to them, ‘Listen to the word of the Lord.
3This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits the false prophets who are following their own imaginations and have seen nothing at all!’
4“O people of Israel, these prophets of yours are like jackals digging in the ruins.
5They have done nothing to repair the breaks in the walls around the nation. They have not helped it to stand firm in battle on the day of the Lord.
6Instead, they have told lies and made false predictions. They say, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ even though the Lord never sent them. And yet they expect him to fulfill their prophecies!
7Can your visions be anything but false if you claim, ‘This message is from the Lord,’ when I have not even spoken to you?
8“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because what you say is false and your visions are a lie, I will stand against you, says the Sovereign Lord.
9I will raise my fist against all the prophets who see false visions and make lying predictions, and they will be banished from the community of Israel. I will blot their names from Israel’s record books, and they will never again set foot in their own land. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord.
10“This will happen because these evil prophets deceive my people by saying, ‘All is peaceful’ when there is no peace at all! It’s as if the people have built a flimsy wall, and these prophets are trying to reinforce it by covering it with whitewash!
11Tell these whitewashers that their wall will soon fall down. A heavy rainstorm will undermine it; great hailstones and mighty winds will knock it down.
12And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, ‘What happened to your whitewash?’
13“Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will sweep away your whitewashed wall with a storm of indignation, with a great flood of anger, and with hailstones of fury.
14I will break down your wall right to its foundation, and when it falls, it will crush you. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
15At last my anger against the wall and those who covered it with whitewash will be satisfied. Then I will say to you: ‘The wall and those who whitewashed it are both gone.
16They were lying prophets who claimed peace would come to Jerusalem when there was no peace. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!’
17“Now, son of man, speak out against the women who prophesy from their own imaginations.
18This is what the Sovereign Lord says: What sorrow awaits you women who are ensnaring the souls of my people, young and old alike. You tie magic charms on their wrists and furnish them with magic veils. Do you think you can trap others without bringing destruction on yourselves?
19You bring shame on me among my people for a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread. By lying to my people who love to listen to lies, you kill those who should not die, and you promise life to those who should not live.
20“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against all your magic charms, which you use to ensnare my people like birds. I will tear them from your arms, setting my people free like birds set free from a cage.
21I will tear off the magic veils and save my people from your grasp. They will no longer be your victims. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
22You have discouraged the righteous with your lies, but I didn’t want them to be sad. And you have encouraged the wicked by promising them life, even though they continue in their sins.
23Because of all this, you will no longer talk of seeing visions that you never saw, nor will you make predictions. For I will rescue my people from your grasp. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Ezekiel 13.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Heavy judgments against lying prophets. (1-9). The insufficiency of their work. (10-16). Woes against false prophetesses. (17-23).
vv1-9
Where God gives a warrant to do any thing, he gives wisdom. What they delivered was not what they had seen or heard, as that is which the ministers of Christ deliver. They were not praying prophets, had no intercourse with Heaven; they contrived how to please people, not how to do them good; they stood not against sin. They flattered people into vain hopes. Such widen the breach, by causing men to think themselves deserving of eternal life, when the wrath of God abides upon them.
vv10-16
One false prophet built the wall, set up the notion that Jerusalem should be victorious, and made himself acceptable by it. Others made the matter yet more plausible and promising; they daubed the wall which the first had built; but they would, ere long, be undeceived when their work was beaten down by the storm of God's just wrath; when the Chaldean army desolated the land. Hopes of peace and happiness, not warranted by the word of God, will cheat men; like a wall well daubed, but ill built.
vv17-23
It is ill with those who had rather hear pleasing lies than unpleasing truths. The false prophetesses tried to make people secure, signified by laying them at ease, and to make them proud, signified by the finery laid on their heads. They shall be confounded in their attempts, and God's people shall be delivered out of their hands. It behoves Christians to keep close to the word of God, and in every thing to seek the teaching of the Holy Spirit. Let us so trust the promises of God as to keep his commandments.
Key Words
דָּבָר: a word; by implication, a matter (as spoken of) or thing; adverbially, a cause
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בֵּן: a son (as a builder of the family name), in the widest sense (of literal and figurative relationship, including grandson, subject, nation, quality or condition, etc., (like father or brother), etc.)
אָדָם: ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species, mankind, etc.)
נָבָא: to prophesy, i.e. speak (or sing) by inspiration (in prediction or simple discourse)
נָבִיא: a prophet or (generally) inspired man
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
מִן: properly, a part of; hence (prepositionally), from or out of in many senses
לֵב: the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything
שָׁמַע: to hear intelligently (often with implication of attention, obedience, etc.; causatively, to tell, etc.)
Cross References
Ezekiel 13Ezekiel's sister passage uses the identical metaphor of standing in the gap to defend the land from destruction.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah similarly denounces false prophets who speak visions out of their own hearts, not from God's mouth.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Moses represents the true prophet who 'stood in the breach' before God to turn away His wrath.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Jeremiah shares the identical phrase condemning false prophets who say 'Peace, peace' when there is no peace.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Jeremiah specifically names false prophets in Babylon who feed the exiles lying expectations.
Supported by JFB
Micah exposes the people's desire for false prophets who speak pleasing lies of wine and strong drink.
Supported by John Calvin
Moses warns that God permits false prophets to test whether Israel truly loves Him with all their heart.
Supported by John Calvin
Jesus warns of false prophets who are inwardly ravenous, matching Ezekiel's comparison to predatory desert foxes.
Supported by Matthew Henry
God's register of His people contrasts with false prophets being blotted out of Israel's writing.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The fall of the house in Jesus' parable echoes Ezekiel's falling wall swept away by storm and rain.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Lamentations mourns that false prophets saw vain and foolish things instead of exposing Israel's iniquity.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Peter warns of false teachers bringing destructive heresies, just as false prophets plagued ancient Israel.
Supported by John Calvin
Nehemiah encounters Noadiah, a false prophetess hired to make him afraid, demonstrating female false prophets.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The corrupt prophets polluting God for 'pieces of bread' parallels Eli's sons begging for pieces of silver.
Supported by Matthew Henry