Ezekiel 24:17

Groan quietly; do not mourn for the dead. Put on your turban and strap your sandals on your feet; do not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God speaks to Ezekiel at the moment his wife is about to die, commanding him to perform a specific prophetic sign.

The words — The text commands הֵאָנֵק (he.'a.Nek, groaning) and דֹּם (Dom, be silent) to describe restrained grief, while פְאֵרְךָ (fe.'e.re./Kha, turban) and חֲב֣וֹשׁ (cha.Vo.osh, bind) describe maintaining normal attire.

The thread — This sign parallels David's barefoot mourning on the Mount of Olives (2 Samuel 15:30) and contrasts with the priestly prohibition against disheveled hair (Leviticus 10:6), while echoing Hosea's warning about unaccepted sacrifices (Hosea 9:4).

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to recognize that prophetic obedience sometimes demands suppressing culturally mandated grief to signal a specific divine judgment.

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

Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of thine head upon thee, and put on thy shoes upon thy feet, and cover not thy lips, and eat not the bread of men.

Cross-references

Hosea 9:4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, and their sacrifices will not please Him, but will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat will be defiled. For their bread will be for themselves; it will not enter the house of the LORD.
2 Samuel 15:30 But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went up. His head was covered, and he was walking barefoot. And all the people with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.
Leviticus 10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not let your hair become disheveled and do not tear your garments, or else you will die, and the LORD will be angry with the whole congregation. But your brothers, the whole house of Israel, may mourn on account of the fire that the LORD has ignited.
Leviticus 21:10 The priest who is highest among his brothers, who has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been ordained to wear the priestly garments, must not let his hair hang loose or tear his garments.
Jeremiah 16:4 “They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and beasts of the earth.”
Leviticus 13:45 A diseased person must wear torn clothes and let his hair hang loose, and he must cover his mouth and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean!’
Psalms 37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
Psalms 39:9 I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.
Psalms 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted over the earth.”
Ezekiel 24:22 Then you will do as I have done: You will not cover your lips or eat the bread of mourners.