Bible Strands
Ezekiel 14:13
“Son of man, if a land sins against Me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out My hand against it to cut off its supply of food, to send famine upon it, and to cut off from it both man and beast,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses Ezekiel as "Son of man" immediately after delivering a prior oracle and before introducing the limits of righteous intercession.
The words — The Hebrew מַ֔עַל (maʿal) means unfaithfulness or treachery, coupled with תֶחֱטָא־ (teḥṭāʾ), meaning "it will sin," to establish a conditional sequence of covenant betrayal.
The thread — The theme of divinely withheld provision runs through Leviticus 26:26, Ezekiel 4:16, and Isaiah 3:1, where the Lord removes bread or food supply as a direct response to national rebellion.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to acknowledge that corporate judgment proceeds regardless of individual righteousness, demanding a clear-eyed assessment of systemic unfaithfulness and its inevitable consequences.
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
Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it:
Cross-references
- Leviticus 26:26 When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will bake your bread in a single oven and dole out your bread by weight, so that you will eat but not be satisfied.
- Ezekiel 4:16 Then He told me, “Son of man, I am going to cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. They will anxiously eat bread rationed by weight, and in despair they will drink water by measure.
- Isaiah 3:1 For behold, the Lord GOD of Hosts is about to remove from Jerusalem and Judah both supply and support: the whole supply of food and water,
- Isaiah 24:20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a shack. Earth’s rebellion weighs it down, and it falls, never to rise again.
- Jeremiah 32:43 And fields will be bought in this land about which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; it has been delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans.’
- Ezekiel 5:16 When I shower you with the deadly arrows of famine and destruction that I will send to destroy you, I will intensify the famine against you and cut off your supply of food.
- Ezekiel 14:17 Or if I bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through it,’ so that I cut off from it both man and beast,
- Ezekiel 14:19 Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, cutting off from it both man and beast,
- Ezekiel 14:21 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem My four dire judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague—in order to cut off from it both man and beast?
- Ezekiel 15:8 Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”