Bible Strands
Ezekiel 20:13
Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled community, recounting the wilderness generation's defiance. This pronouncement immediately follows His declaration of giving the Sabbaths as a sanctifying sign.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יַּמְרוּ (va/i.yam.ru-) means "they rebelled," capturing the house of Israel's active defiance. The phrase בְּ/חֻקּוֹתַ֨/י לֹא־ הָלָ֜כוּ (be./chu.ko.Ta/i lo'- ha.La.khu) literally renders "they did not walk in My statutes."
The thread — This wilderness rebellion and threatened destruction reappears in Ezekiel 20:8 and Ezekiel 20:21, while Deuteronomy 9:8 records a parallel confrontation at Horeb.
Why it lands — The text establishes that covenant violation provokes divine wrath and that the promise of life through obedience remains unbroken. It requires the reader to accept that persistent rejection of revealed standards carries 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
But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 20:21 But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezekiel 20:8 But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.
- Deuteronomy 9:8 At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.
- Isaiah 56:6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—
- Ezekiel 20:24 For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.
- Exodus 32:10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Numbers 14:11 And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
- Numbers 14:22 not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Numbers 14:29 Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
- Exodus 16:27 Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find anything.