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  2. Wed: Judges 1-4
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Friday · Week 6
The Later Prophets

Ezekiel 13-15

Week 6 · about 12 min
  1. Sat: Job 20-23
  2. Sun: Genesis 30-33
  3. Mon: Matthew 18-19

Ezekiel confronts false prophets, idol-loving elders, and a nation as useless as a dead vine.

Whitewash on a Crumbling Wall

Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there was no peace; and one built up a wall, and, lo, others daubed it with untempered morter:

Ezekiel 13:10 (KJV)

The false prophets told people what they wanted to hear, peace and safety. God compares it to putting a fresh coat of whitewash on a cracked wall. It looks fine until the storm comes, and then the wall falls on everyone. In chapter 14 the elders come to ask Ezekiel for a word from God, but God says “these men have set up their idols in their heart.” Then God says even Noah, Daniel, and Job couldn’t save the land. They’d only save themselves. Daniel was living in Babylon at the time, a younger man who was already known for his faithfulness.

Reflect: Who in your life tells you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it?

Ezekiel 13

1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying:

2Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel that prophesy, and say unto them that prophesy out of their own heart, Hear ye the word of Jehovah.

3Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!

4O Israel, thy prophets have been like foxes in desert places.

5Ye have not gone up into the breaches, nor made up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of Jehovah.

6They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, Jehovah saith! and Jehovah hath not sent them; and they make them to hope that the word will be fulfilled.

7Have ye not seen a vain vision, and spoken a lying divination, when ye say, Jehovah saith; and I have not spoken?

8Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Because ye speak vanity, and have seen lies, therefore behold, I am against you, saith the Lord Jehovah.

9And my hand shall be against the prophets that see vanity and that divine lies: they shall not be in the council of my people, neither shall they be written in the register of the house of Israel, and they shall not enter into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.

10Because, yea because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace! and there is no peace; and one buildeth up a wall, and lo, they daub it with untempered mortar --

11say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar that it shall fall: there shall be an overflowing rain, and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall, and a stormy wind shall burst forth.

12And lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing with which ye have daubed it?

13Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: I will cause to burst forth a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing rain in mine anger, and hail-stones in fury for utter destruction.

14And I will break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered; and it shall fall, and ye shall be destroyed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

15And I will accomplish my fury upon the wall, and upon them that daub it with untempered mortar, and will say unto you, The wall is no more, neither they that daubed it,

16the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see a vision of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord Jehovah.

17And thou, son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy against them,

18and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Woe unto the women that sew pillows for all wrists, and that make veils for the head of persons of every stature to catch souls! Will ye catch the souls of my people, and will ye save your own souls alive?

19And will ye profane me among my people for handfuls of barley and for morsels of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that listen to lying?

20Wherefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against your pillows, that the souls which ye catch by their means may fly away; and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, the souls that ye catch, that they may fly away.

21And I will tear your veils and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

22Because with falsehood ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and have strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, to save his life:

23therefore ye shall no more see vanity, nor divine divinations; and I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

Ezekiel 14

1And there came certain of the elders of Israel unto me, and sat before me.

2And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

3Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumbling-block of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

4Therefore speak to them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet, I Jehovah will answer him according to this, according to the multitude of his idols:

5that I may take the house of Israel by their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.

6Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Return ye, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

7For every one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn in Israel, who separateth himself from me, and setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumbling-block of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire of me by him, I Jehovah will answer him by myself;

8and I will set my face against that man, and will make him desolate, so that he shall be for a sign and for proverbs, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people: and ye shall know that I am Jehovah.

9And if the prophet be enticed and shall speak a word, I Jehovah have enticed that prophet; and I will stretch out my hand against him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.

10And they shall bear their iniquity: the iniquity of the prophet shall be even as the iniquity of the inquirer;

11that the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither make themselves any more unclean with all their transgressions; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, saith the Lord Jehovah.

12And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

13Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by working unfaithfulness, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off man and beast from it;

14though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, should be in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah.

15If I cause evil beasts to pass through the land, and they bereave it, and it become a desolation, so that no one passeth through because of the beasts;

16-- though these three men should be in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters: they only should be delivered, and the land should be a desolation.

17Or if I bring the sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land, so that I cut off man and beast from it,

18and these three men should be in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only themselves should be delivered.

19Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast,

20and Noah, Daniel, and Job should be in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter: they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

21For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!

22But behold, there shall be left in it those that escape, who shall be brought out of it, sons and daughters. Behold, they shall come forth unto you, and ye shall see their way and their doings; and ye shall be comforted concerning the evil that I have brought upon Jerusalem, as to all that I have brought upon it.

23And they shall comfort you, when ye see their way and their doings; and ye shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Ezekiel 15

1And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2Son of man, what is the wood of the vine more than any wood, the vine-branch, which is among the trees of the forest?

3Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon?

4Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel: the fire consumeth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned; is it fit for any work?

5Behold, when it was whole, it was used for no work; how much less when the fire hath consumed it, and it is burned, should it yet be used for any work?

6Therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah: As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

7And I will set my face against them: they shall go forth from one fire, and another fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am Jehovah when I set my face against them.

8And I will make the land a desolation, because they have wrought unfaithfulness, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Darby Translation (Darby). Public domain.