Bible Strands
Ezekiel 20:6
On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the descendants of Jacob through Ezekiel, recalling the moment He chose Israel and revealed Himself in Egypt. He declares the oath He swore on that specific day to deliver them from Egyptian bondage.
The words — נָשָׂאתִי יָדִי (na.Sa.ti ya.D.i) literally means "I lifted up my hand," functioning as a sworn oath formula. לְהוֹצִיאָם (le.ho.tzi.'A/m) means "to bring them out," specifying the act of deliverance God committed to perform.
The thread — The phrase "a land flowing with milk and honey" appears in Exodus 3:8 and Jeremiah 32:22 as a recurring description of the promised inheritance. Ezekiel 20:15 immediately follows by contrasting this initial oath with God's later decision to withhold the land due to wilderness rebellion.
Why it lands — The verse records God's prior commitment to provide a specific, fertile territory for Israel before demanding covenant loyalty. It requires the reader to recognize that divine provision establishes the basis for the subsequent command to abandon Egyptian idols.
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
In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands:
Cross-references
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Jeremiah 32:22 You gave them this land that You had sworn to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Ezekiel 20:15 Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—
- Psalms 48:2 Beautiful in loftiness, the joy of all the earth, like the peaks of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the great King.
- Daniel 8:9 From one of these horns a little horn emerged and grew extensively toward the south and the east and toward the Beautiful Land.
- Zechariah 7:14 But I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known, and the land was left desolate behind them so that no one could come or go. Thus they turned the pleasant land into a desolation.”
- Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- Exodus 3:17 And I have promised to bring you up out of your affliction in Egypt, into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’
- Exodus 14:1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
- Leviticus 20:24 But I have told you that you will inherit their land, since I will give it to you as an inheritance—a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the peoples.