Bible Strands
Ezekiel 21:14
‘So then, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword strike two times, even three. It is a sword that slays, a sword of great slaughter closing in on every side!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ezekiel as "son of man" during a prophetic declaration of impending military judgment against Jerusalem. The command occurs amid a sequence of visions detailing the failure of the royal scepter and the approach of a conquering army.
The words — The Hebrew phrase וְ/הַ֖ךְ (ve./Hakh) paired with כַּ֣ף אֶל־כָּ֑ף (kaf 'el-Kaf) literally reads "and strike palm to palm," denoting a deliberate, repeated striking gesture accompanying the command to prophesy.
The thread — The motif of foreign invasion and royal subjugation recurs in 2 Kings 24:1, where Jehoiakim becomes a vassal to Nebuchadnezzar after three years of resistance. The theme of multiplied divine discipline for persistent hostility appears in Leviticus 26:21, which promises sevenfold plagues when obedience fails.
Why it lands — The text commands a visible prophetic act to underscore that the approaching sword will not stop until its purpose of slaughter is fulfilled. It requires the reader to recognize that the stated judgment is a direct, measured response to the despised scepter and the people's continued hostility.
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
Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: it is the sword of the great men that are slain, which entereth into their privy chambers.
Cross-references
- Numbers 24:10 Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together and said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times.
- 2 Kings 24:1 During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.
- Leviticus 26:21 If you walk in hostility toward Me and refuse to obey Me, I will multiply your plagues seven times, according to your sins.
- Leviticus 26:24 then I will act with hostility toward you, and I will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
- 2 Kings 24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
- Ezekiel 6:11 This is what the Lord GOD says: Clap your hands, stomp your feet, and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked abominations of the house of Israel, who will fall by sword and famine and plague.
- 1 Kings 20:30 The rest of them fled into the city of Aphek, where the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the remaining men. Ben-hadad also fled to the city and hid in an inner room.
- 1 Kings 22:25 Micaiah replied, “You will soon see, on that day when you go and hide in an inner room.”
- 2 Kings 25:1 So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his entire army. They encamped outside the city and built a siege wall all around it.
- Ezekiel 8:12 “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”