Ezekiel 7:23

23 “ ‘Prepare chains! For the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.

Ezekiel 7:23 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
English Standard Version (ESV)
23 "Forge a chain!For the land is full of bloody crimes and the city is full of violence.
New Living Translation (NLT)
23 “Prepare chains for my people, for the land is bloodied by terrible crimes. Jerusalem is filled with violence.
The Message Bible (MSG)
23 A bloody massacre, as crime and violence fill the city.
American Standard Version (ASV)
23 Make the chain; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
23 "Get the chains ready! The land is filled with murder, and the city is filled with violence.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
23 Forge the chain, for the land is filled with crimes of bloodshed, and the city is filled with violence.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
23 " 'Ezekiel, get ready to put my people in chains. The land is full of murderers. They are harming one another all over Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 7:23 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 7:23

Make a chain
To bind them; not the robbers, the Chaldeans, but the Jews; in order either to bring them to the bar to be tried for capital crimes hereafter mentioned, or to be led bound in chains into captivity; see ( Nehemiah 3:10 ) ; for the land is full of bloody crimes;
or, "judgment of bloods" F13; capital crimes, such as are deserving of death, particularly murder, or shedding of innocent blood; so the Targum interprets it of sins of murder: and the city is full of violence;
rapine, oppression, and injury done to the poor, the widow, and the fatherless; meaning the city of Jerusalem, where was the great court of judicature, and where justice ought to have been administered.


FOOTNOTES:

F13 (Mymd jpvm) "judicio sanguiuum", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Polanus, Starckius; "criminibus capitalibus", Piscator; "sanguianariis judiciis", Castalio.

Ezekiel 7:23 In-Context

21 I will give their wealth as plunder to foreigners and as loot to the wicked of the earth, who will defile it.
22 I will turn my face away from the people, and robbers will desecrate the place I treasure. They will enter it and will defile it.
23 “ ‘Prepare chains! For the land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of violence.
24 I will bring the most wicked of nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the mighty, and their sanctuaries will be desecrated.
25 When terror comes, they will seek peace in vain.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S 2 Kings 21:16; S Isaiah 1:15; S Ezekiel 22:9
  • 2. S Genesis 6:11; Ezekiel 11:6
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