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  1. Tue: Isaiah 14-16
  2. Wed: Judges 1-4
  3. Thu: Romans 14-16
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 the LORD came unto me, saying,

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

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

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

5Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the fence for the house of Israel, to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD.

6They have seen vanity and lying divination, that say, The LORD saith; and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word should be confirmed.

7Have ye not seen a vain vision, and have ye not spoken a lying divination, whereas ye say, The LORD saith; albeit I have not spoken?

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

9And mine 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 writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

10Because, even because they have seduced my people, saying, Peace; and there is no peace; and when one buildeth up a wall, behold, they daub it with untempered mortar:

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

12Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?

13Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even rend it with a stormy wind in my fury; and there shall be an overflowing shower in mine anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it.

14So will I 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 consumed in the midst thereof; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

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

16to wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD.

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

18and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Woe to the women that sew pillows upon all elbows, and make kerchiefs for the head of persons of every stature to hunt souls! will ye hunt the souls of my people, and save souls alive for yourselves?

19And ye have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces 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 hearken unto lies.

20Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms; and I will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.

21Your kerchiefs also will I tear, 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 the LORD.

22Because with lies ye have grieved the heart of the righteous, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, and be saved alive:

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 the LORD.

Ezekiel 14

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

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

3Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be inquired of at all by them?

4Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Every man of the house of Israel that taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;

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

6Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD: 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, which separateth himself from me, and taketh his idols into his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet to inquire for himself of me; I the LORD will answer him by myself:

8and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

9And if the prophet be deceived and speaketh a word, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon 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 him that seeketh unto him;

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

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

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

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

15If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts;

16though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

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

18though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves.

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:

20though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

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

22Yet, behold, therein shall be left a remnant that shall be carried forth, both 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, even concerning 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 GOD.

Ezekiel 15

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

2Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest?

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

4Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel: the fire hath devoured both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burned; is it profitable for any work?

5Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work: how much less, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is burned, shall it yet be meet for any work?

6Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: As the vine tree 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 the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I set my face against them.

8And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.

Revised Version (RV). Revised Version (RV), 1885, public domain.