Bible Strands
Ezekiel 20:32
When you say, ‘Let us be like the nations, like the peoples of the lands, serving wood and stone,’ what you have in mind will never come to pass.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord God speaks through Ezekiel to the house of Israel, addressing their ongoing idolatry and refusal to be consulted after they vow to emulate surrounding nations by serving wood and stone idols. This declaration occurs immediately after God rejects their consultation and before He announces His impending rule over them with a strong hand and outpoured wrath.
The words — The phrase עַל־רוּחֲכֶם ('al-ru.cha.Khem) translates literally to "on your spirit," denoting the internal inclination or mindset driving their proposed actions. The verb תִּהְיֶה (tih.Yeh) combined with לֹא (lo') forms a firm negative prediction that their intended course will not occur.
The thread — The rejection of emulating foreign nations in idolatry echoes the warning in Deuteronomy 4:28 about serving man-made gods of wood and stone that cannot perceive. This theme of misguided devotion to created objects recurs in Jeremiah 44:17, where the people vow to continue burning incense to the Queen of Heaven despite prophetic warnings.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that human plans to adopt foreign religious practices cannot override divine sovereignty. It requires the reader to abandon self-directed spiritual emulation and submit to God’s revealed authority rather than pursuing culturally convenient worship.
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 that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 11:5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me and told me to declare that this is what the LORD says: “That is what you are thinking, O house of Israel; and I know the thoughts that arise in your minds.
- Jeremiah 44:17 Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- Deuteronomy 4:28 And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
- Psalms 139:2 You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Daniel 5:4 As they drank the wine, they praised their gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone.
- Revelation 9:20 Now the rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the works of their hands. They did not stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk.
- Deuteronomy 28:36 The LORD will bring you and the king you appoint to a nation neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone.
- Deuteronomy 28:64 Then the LORD will scatter you among all the nations, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
- Deuteronomy 29:17 You saw the abominations and idols among them made of wood and stone, of silver and gold.
- 1 Samuel 8:5 “Look,” they said, “you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the other nations.”