Ezekiel 12:4

Bring out your baggage for exile by day, as they watch. Then in the evening, as they watch, go out like those who go into exile.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — God addresses the prophet Ezekiel during the Babylonian siege, commanding him to enact a public sign of impending exile. The text explicitly orders Ezekiel to bring out his baggage by day and depart in the evening while observers watch.

The words — The command relies on הוֹצֵאתָ (ho.tze.Ta), meaning "you will bring out," and כֵלֶיךָ (khe.Lei./kha), meaning "your baggage."

The thread — Ezekiel 12:3 and 12:5 frame the command as a public demonstration, while Jeremiah 39:4 and 2 Kings 25:4 record the historical fulfillment when Zedekiah’s forces fled by night. Ezekiel 12:12 later describes the prince’s parallel departure at dusk.

Why it lands — The text demands a visible, deliberate act of preparation for displacement to confront a rebellious audience with an unavoidable reality.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְהוֹצֵאתָ֨ve./ho.tze.Taand/ you will bring out כֵלֶ֜יךָkhe.Lei./khabaggage<s>/ your כִּכְלֵ֥יki/kh.Leilike/ baggage<s> of גוֹלָ֛הgo.Lahexile יוֹמָ֖םyo.Mamby day לְעֵֽינֵיהֶ֑םle./'ei.nei./Hemto/ eyes/ their וְאַתָּ֗הve./'a.Tahand/ you תֵּצֵ֤אte.Tze'you will go out בָעֶ֙רֶב֙va./'E.revin the/ evening לְעֵ֣ינֵיהֶ֔םle./'Ei.nei./Hemto/ eyes/ their כְּמוֹצָאֵ֖יke./mo.tza.'Eilike/ goings out of גּוֹלָֽה׃go.Lahexile

King James Version

Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

Cross-references

Jeremiah 39:4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and they went out along the route to the Arabah.
2 Kings 25:4 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,
Ezekiel 12:12 And at dusk the prince among them will lift his bags to his shoulder and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring him out. He will cover his face so he cannot see the land.
Jeremiah 52:7 Then the city was breached; and though the Chaldeans had surrounded the city, all the men of war fled the city by night by way of the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden. They headed toward the Arabah,