Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:40
They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, depicted as an unfaithful wife, pronouncing judgment immediately after describing her stripping by her "lovers" (Ezekiel 16:39). The declaration occurs at the moment of escalated retribution for covenant violation.
The words — The Hebrew קָהָל (qaḥal) denotes a gathered company or mob, and בִּתְקוּךְ (vitḳukh) means to cut or hack to pieces. These terms describe the specific physical actions the mob will take against the city.
The thread — This exact sequence of mob stoning and sword execution reappears in Ezekiel 23:47 against the sister cities, and aligns with the summoned foreign nations described in Jeremiah 25:9 and Habakkuk 1:6.
Why it lands — The text states that covenant unfaithfulness triggers concrete historical consequences delivered through human agents. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment operates through tangible violence and irreversible outcomes rather than abstract principles.
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
They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 23:47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
- Habakkuk 1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
- Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will summon all the families of the north, declares the LORD, and I will send for My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, whom I will bring against this land, against its residents, and against all the surrounding nations. So I will devote them to destruction and make them an object of horror and contempt, an everlasting desolation.
- Ezekiel 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.
- Ezekiel 24:21 Tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I am about to desecrate My sanctuary, the pride of your power, the desire of your eyes, and the delight of your soul. And the sons and daughters you left behind will fall by the sword.’
- John 8:5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such a woman. So what do You say?”