Bible Strands
Ezekiel 17:20
I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled community concerning a covenant-breaking king. The declaration occurs immediately after a warning that the king's broken oath will fall upon his own head.
The words — The text emphasizes פָרַשְׂתִּי (parastî, "I will spread") and רִשְׁתִּי (rištî, "my net") to depict inescapable divine capture. It concludes with נִשְׁפַטְתִּי (nishpaṯî, "I will execute judgment"), framing the outcome as a settled legal decree.
The thread — The net imagery and judicial language reappear in Ezekiel 12:13 and align with the covenant lawsuit pattern in Jeremiah 2:35 and Ezekiel 20:35. These passages collectively trace a consistent prophetic theme of God confronting oath-breaking with enforced accountability.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to accept that deliberate covenant treason triggers automatic divine intervention rather than human negotiation. It demands a clear-eyed recognition that self-justification cannot override a settled divine sentence.
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
And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 12:13 But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and there he will die.
- Jeremiah 2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
- Ezekiel 20:35 And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
- Ezekiel 32:3 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will spread My net over you with a company of many peoples, and they will draw you up in My net.
- Jeremiah 39:5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They seized him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
- Ezekiel 38:22 I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Joshua 10:16 Now the five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
- 2 Samuel 18:9 Now Absalom was riding on his mule when he met the servants of David, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head was caught fast in the tree. The mule under him kept going, so that he was suspended in midair.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Job 10:16 Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.