34 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Also thou, son of man, appoint thee two ways, that the sword of the king of Babylon may come,.... Describe or draw out upon a table or tile, as in Ezekiel 4:1, or on the ground, two roads, such as are described in maps; which it may be supposed the king of Babylon would take, either the one or the other, in order to make war against some king or...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Appoint a way,.... Mark out a way, describe a road, draw one out upon the ground, or point out one upon a table, or tile: that the sword may come; in which the sword will come; or those that kill with the sword, as the Targum, even the Chaldean army under Nebuchadnezzar: to Rabbath of the Ammonites; which was the metropolis of the Ammonites, and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For the king of Babylon stood at the parting of the way, at the head of the two ways,.... That is, he would stand there; the prophet knew that it was certain it should be, and therefore represents it as if it was; he had, by a spirit of prophecy, seen, that when the king of Babylon was come to such a place, on the borders of the desert of Arabia,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
At his right hand was the divination for Jerusalem,.... All his divinations, whether by arrows, or by images, or by liver, all directed him to his right hand, to turn to that which led to Jerusalem; and thus what appeared to him to be the effect of divination was overruled by the providence of God, to direct him to go and do what he designed he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight,.... That is, the Jews shall laugh at this divination as a vain thing, as a Heathenish practice, and of which nothing would come; and even at the prophet's account of it, and his prophecy concerning the king of Babylon coming to invade them; they looked upon them all as of a piece,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore thus saith the Lord God,.... Because of their vain confidence, added to their perjury and perfidy: because ye have made your iniquity to be remembered; their old sins, by committing new ones, both against the Lord, and against the king of Babylon: in that your transgressions are discovered, so that in all your doings your sins do appear;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel,.... Meaning Zedekiah, the then reigning prince; who is so called, because he had profaned or violated the oath and covenant he made with the king of Babylon, as well as because of other sins he was guilty of; and his being a prince of Israel was an aggravation of his crimes: now, though it is "not fit" in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thus saith the Lord God, remove the diadem, and take off the crown,.... That is, from Zedekiah; and as these are the regalia and ensigns of royal dignity, taking them off signifies the deposition of him as a king, the stripping him of his kingly power and authority: an earthly crown is a corruptible and fading one, at most it continues but during...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it,.... The crown and kingdom of Judah; which being expressed three times, has not respect, as Kimchi thinks, to the three generations, in which the crown ceased after the captivity, as those of Asir, Shealtiel, Pedaiah; and in the fourth generation was restored to Zerubbabel; for he was no king, nor was there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say,.... Here begins a new prophecy, or rather an enlargement on part of the former; two ways being marked out for the sword of the Chaldeans to come in; the one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbath of the Ammonites; the prophecy being finished concerning the former, here an account is given of the latter;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Whiles they see vanity unto thee, whiles they divine a lie unto thee,.... The Ammonites had their seers, soothsayers, diviners, and false prophets, which they are bid to be aware of, and are cautioned against hearkening to, Jeremiah 27:3, these told them they were in the utmost safety, and that the king of Babylon would not come against them; or,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Shall I cause it to return into his sheath?.... The drawn and furbished sword of the Chaldeans? no, I will not; it shall never return or be put up until the Ammonites are utterly consumed. Some read these words in the imperative, as the Targum, "return the sword to its sheath;'' so the Vulgate Latin version, "return to thy sheath"; and so may be...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I will pour out mine indignation upon thee,.... Like a mighty flood, which should sweep them away for their sins and transgressions; and particularly for their reproaches of God and his people, which caused his indignation to rise, and him to pour it out upon them in such a manner: I will blow against thee in the fire of my wrath; as men put...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Thou shalt be for fuel for the fire,.... Easily consumed, as briers and thorns cast into a furnace; such are wicked men to the fire of God's wrath: thy blood shall be in the midst of the land; such large numbers shall be slain everywhere, that the land shall flow with the blood of them; who shall lie unburied, and rot, and putrefy upon the ground:...