Bible Strands
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?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord God speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled elders who have gathered to inquire of Him, immediately after declaring that even Noah, Daniel, and Job could not save others from Jerusalem's corruption.
The words — The Hebrew כֹּה (koh, "thus") and אָמַר (amar, "says") anchor the divine declaration, while אַף (af, "indeed" or "will I indeed") introduces the rhetorical question that heightens the severity of the impending judgment.
The thread — The four judgments are explicitly listed in Ezekiel 14:21, while related divine punishments are recorded in Ezekiel 5:17 and Ezekiel 33:27.
Why it lands — The text states that God will send sword, famine, wild beasts, and plague to Jerusalem to cut off both people and animals, demanding that readers acknowledge the total scope of the coming disaster before considering the partial mercy described in the following verse.
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
For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 5:17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring a sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
- Ezekiel 33:27 Tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘As surely as I live, those in the ruins will fall by the sword, those in the open field I will give to be devoured by wild animals, and those in the strongholds and caves will die by plague.
- 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,
- Ezekiel 14:15 Or if I send wild beasts through the land to leave it childless and desolate, with no man passing through it for fear of the beasts,
- 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 5:12 A third of your people will die by plague or be consumed by famine within you, a third will fall by the sword outside your walls, and a third I will scatter to every wind and unleash a sword behind them.
- Ezekiel 6:11 This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague.
- Amos 4:6 “I afflicted all your cities with cleanness of teeth and all your towns with lack of bread, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 15:2 If they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you are to tell them that this is what the LORD says: ‘Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; and those destined for captivity, to captivity.’