Bible Strands
Ezekiel 13:4
Your prophets, O Israel, are like foxes among the ruins.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Ezekiel to Israel, confronting individuals who claim prophetic authority while operating on their own spirit rather than divine revelation.
The words — The verse employs שֻׁעָלִים (shu'ālim) = foxes and חֳרָב֑וֹת (cho rabot) = ruins to depict the prophets' destructive presence.
The thread — This metaphor aligns with Song of Solomon 2:15, which identifies foxes as creatures that ruin vineyards, and stands in direct contrast to Ezekiel 13:5, which accuses the same group of failing to repair the nation's protective wall.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to evaluate spiritual claims by their structural impact, rejecting leadership that follows personal impulse because it actively weakens communal stability rather than preserving it.
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
King James Version
O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
Cross-references
- Revelation 19:20 But the beast was captured along with the false prophet, who on its behalf had performed signs deceiving those who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. Both the beast and the false prophet were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
- Song of Solomon 2:15 Catch for us the foxes—the little foxes that ruin the vineyards—for our vineyards are in bloom.
- Micah 2:11 If a man of wind were to come and say falsely, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,” he would be just the preacher for this people!
- Micah 3:5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:
- Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.
- Romans 16:18 For such people are not serving our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- Galatians 2:4 This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
- Ephesians 4:14 Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9 The coming of the lawless one will be accompanied by the working of Satan, with every kind of power, sign, and false wonder,