Ezekiel 13:1–14:11

False Prophets Denounced

13:1 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 13:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination:1 ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 13:3 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing! 13:4 Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel. 13:5 You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord. 13:6 They see delusion and their omens are a lie.2 They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them;3 yet they expect their word to be confirmed.4 13:7 Have you not seen a false vision and announced a lying omen when you say, “the Lord declares,” although I myself never spoke?

13:8 “ ‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you have spoken false words and forecast delusion, look,5 I am against you,6 declares the sovereign Lord. 13:9 My hand will be against the prophets who see delusion and announce lying omens. They will not be included in the council7 of my people, nor be written in the registry8 of the house of Israel, nor enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the sovereign Lord.

13:10 “ ‘This is because they have led my people astray saying, “All is well,”9 when things are not well. When anyone builds a wall without mortar,10 they coat it with whitewash. 13:11 Tell the ones who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. When there is a deluge of rain, hailstones11 will fall and a violent wind will break out.12 13:12 When the wall has collapsed, people will ask you, “Where is the whitewash you coated it with?”

13:13 “ ‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: In my rage I will make a violent wind break out. In my anger there will be a deluge of rain and hailstones in destructive fury. 13:14 I will break down the wall you coated with whitewash and knock it to the ground so that its foundation is exposed. When it falls you will be destroyed beneath it,13 and you will know that I am the Lord. 13:15 I will vent my rage against the wall, and against those who coated it with whitewash. Then I will say to you, “The wall is no more and those who whitewashed it are no more—13:16 those prophets of Israel who would prophesy about Jerusalem14 and would see visions of peace for it, when there was no peace,” declares the sovereign Lord.’

13:17 “As for you, son of man, turn toward15 the daughters of your people who are prophesying from their imagination.16 Prophesy against them 13:18 and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands17 on all their wrists18 and make headbands19 for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives!20 Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives? 13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and scraps of bread. You have put to death people21 who should not die and kept alive those who should not live by your lies to my people, who listen to lies!

13:20 “ ‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Take note22 that I am against your wristbands with which you entrap people’s lives23 like birds. I will tear them from your arms and will release the people’s lives, which you hunt like birds. 13:21 I will tear off your headbands and rescue my people from your power;24 they will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the Lord. 13:22 This is because you have disheartened the righteous person with lies (although I have not grieved him), and because you have encouraged the wicked person not to turn from his evil conduct and preserve his life. 13:23 Therefore you will no longer see false visions and practice divination. I will rescue my people from your power, and you25 will know that I am the Lord.’ ”

Well-Deserved Judgment

14:1 Then some men from Israel’s elders came to me and sat down in front of me. 14:2 The word of the Lord came to me: 14:3 “Son of man, these men have erected their idols in their hearts and placed the obstacle leading to their iniquity1 right before their faces. Should I really allow them to seek2 me? 14:4 Therefore speak to them and say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: When any one from the house of Israel erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally according to the enormity of his idolatry.3 14:5 I will do this in order to capture the hearts of the house of Israel, who have alienated themselves from me on account of all their idols.’

14:6 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Return! Turn from your idols, and turn your faces away from your abominations. 14:7 For when anyone from the house of Israel, or the foreigner who lives in Israel, separates himself from me and erects his idols in his heart and sets the obstacle leading to his iniquity before his face, and then consults a prophet to seek something from me, I the Lord am determined to answer him personally. 14:8 I will set my face against that person and will make him an object lesson and a byword4 and will cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

14:9 “ ‘As for the prophet, if he is made a fool by being deceived into speaking a prophetic word—I, the Lord, have made a fool of5 that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel. 14:10 They will bear their punishment;6 the punishment of the one who sought an oracle will be the same as the punishment of the prophet who gave it7 14:11 so that the house of Israel will no longer go astray from me, nor continue to defile themselves by all their sins. They will be my people and I will be their God,8 declares the sovereign Lord.’ ”

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1	tn Heb “from their mind.” sn Who prophesy from their imagination. Note the testimony of Moses in Num 16:28, which contains a similar expression.
2	sn The same description of a false prophet is found in Micah 2:11.
3	sn The Lord has not sent them. A similar concept is found in Jer 14:14; 23:21.
4	tn Or “confirmed”; NIV “to be fulfilled”; TEV “to come true.”
5	tn The word hinnēh indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
6	tn Or “I challenge you.” The phrase “I am against you” may be a formula for challenging someone to combat or a duel. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:201–2, and P. Humbert, “Die Herausforderungsformel ‘hinnenî êlêkâ,’ ” ZAW 45 (1933): 101–8.
7	tn The Hebrew term may refer to the secret council of the Lord (Jer 23:18; Job 15:8), but here it more likely refers to a human council comprised of civic leaders (Gen 49:6; Jer 6:11; 15:17 Ps 64:3; 111:1).
8	tn The reference here is probably to a civil list (as in Ezra 2:16; Neh 7:64) rather than to a “book of life” (Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Ps 69:29; Dan 12:1). This registry may have been established at the making of David’s census (2 Sam 24:2, 9).
9	tn Or “peace.”
10	tn The Hebrew word only occurs here in the Bible. According to L. C. Allen (Ezekiel [WBC], 1:202–3) it is also used in the Mishnah of a wall of rough stones without mortar. This fits the context here comparing the false prophetic messages to a nice coat of whitewash on a structurally unstable wall.
11	tn Heb “and you, O hailstones.”
12	sn A violent wind will break out. God’s judgments are frequently described in storm imagery (Pss 18:7–15; 77:17–18; 83:15; Isa 28:17; 30:30; Jer 23:19; 30:23).
13	tn Or “within it,” referring to the city of Jerusalem.
14	map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.
15	tn Heb “set your face against.”
16	tn Heb “from their heart.”
17	sn The wristbands mentioned here probably represented magic bands or charms. See D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:413.
18	tn Heb “joints of the hands.” This may include the elbow and shoulder joints.
19	tn The Hebrew term occurs in the Bible only here and in v. 21. It has also been understood as a veil or type of head covering. D. I. Block (Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:414) suggests that given the context of magical devices, the expected parallel to the magical arm bands, and the meaning of this Hebrew root (סָפַח [safakh, “to attach” or “join”]), it may refer to headbands or necklaces on which magical amulets were worn.
20	tn Heb “human lives” or “souls” (three times in v. 18 and twice in v. 19).
21	tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
22	tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.
23	tn Heb “human lives” or “souls.”
24	tn Heb “from your hand(s).” This refers to their power over the people.
25	tn The Hebrew verb is feminine plural, indicating that it is the false prophetesses who are addressed here.
1	tn Heb “the stumbling block of their iniquity.” This phrase is unique to the prophet Ezekiel.
2	tn Or “I will not reveal myself to them.” The Hebrew word is used in a technical sense here of seeking an oracle from a prophet (2 Kgs 1:16; 3:11; 8:8).
3	tn Heb “in accordance with the multitude of his idols.”
4	tn Heb “proverbs.”
5	tn The translation is uncertain due to difficulty both in determining the meaning of the verb’s stem and its conjugation in this context. In the Qal stem the basic meaning of the verbal root פָּתַה (patah) is “to be gullible, foolish.” The doubling stems (the Pual and Piel used in this verse) typically give such stative verbs a factitive sense, hence either “make gullible” (i.e., “entice”) or “make into a fool” (i.e., “to show to be a fool”). The latter represents the probable meaning of the term in Jer 20:7, 10 and is followed here (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:193; R. Mosis “Ez 14, 1–11—ein Ruf zur Umkehr,” BZ 19 [1975]: 166–69 and ThWAT 4:829–31). In this view, if a prophet speaks when not prompted by God, he will be shown to be a fool, but this does not reflect negatively on the Lord because it is God who shows him to be a fool. Secondly, the verb is in the perfect conjugation and may be translated “I have made a fool of him” or “I have enticed him,” or to show determination (see IBHS 439–41 §27.2f and g), or in certain syntactical constructions as future. Any of these may be plausible if the doubling stems used are understood in the sense of “making a fool of.” But if understood as “to make gullible,” more factors come into play. As the Hebrew verbal form is a perfect, it is often translated as present perfect: “I have enticed.” In this case the Lord states that he himself enticed the prophet to cooperate with the idolaters. Such enticement to sin would seem to be a violation of God’s moral character, but sometimes he does use such deception and enticement to sin as a form of punishment against those who have blatantly violated his moral will (see, e.g., 2 Sam 24). If one follows this line of interpretation in Ezek 14:9, one would have to assume that the prophet had already turned from God in his heart. However, the context gives no indication of this. Therefore, it is better to take the perfect as indicating certitude and to translate it with the future tense: “I will entice.” In this case the Lord announces that he will judge the prophet appropriately. If a prophet allows himself to be influenced by idolaters, then the Lord will use deception as a form of punishment against that deceived prophet. A comparison with the preceding oracles also favors this view. In 14:4 the perfect of certitude is used for emphasis (see “I will answer”), though in v. 7 a participle is employed. For a fuller discussion of this text, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 23–25.
6	tn Or “They will bear responsibility for their iniquity.” The Hebrew term “iniquity” (three times in this verse) often refers by metonymy to the consequence of sin (see Gen 4:13).
7	tn Or “As is the guilt of the inquirer so is the guilt of the prophet.”
8	sn I will be their God. See Exod 6:7; Lev 26:12; Jer 7:23; 11:4.

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