Ezekiel 24:6

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed, to the pot now rusted, whose rust will not come off! Empty it piece by piece; cast no lots for its contents.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord Yahweh speaks through Ezekiel to the exiled community, delivering a formal judgment immediately after the cooking pot parable. This pronouncement targets Jerusalem at a moment of impending siege and destruction.

The words — The Hebrew אוֹי (‘Oy) translates to "woe!" and serves as a prophetic alarm. The phrase עִיר הַדָּמִים (‘ir ha-daMim) literally means "city of bloods," naming the target by its specific guilt.

The thread — The title "city of bloodshed" appears in Ezekiel 22:2, where the prophet is commanded to confront Jerusalem. It also mirrors Nahum 3:1, which applies the same designation to Nineveh, and aligns with 2 Kings 24:4 regarding the shedding of innocent blood in Jerusalem.

Why it lands — The text commands emptying the pot piece by piece without casting lots, describing a complete and undetermined-by-chance removal of the city's inhabitants. A reader must acknowledge that the accumulated violence has reached a threshold where divine judgment operates as a fixed, systematic execution rather than a negotiable outcome.

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

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 22:2 “As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
Nahum 3:1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
2 Kings 24:4 and also for the innocent blood he had shed. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was unwilling to forgive.
Ezekiel 22:27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
Obadiah 1:11 On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gate and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were just like one of them.
Micah 7:2 The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
Nahum 3:10 Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her infants were dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains.
Joshua 7:16 So Joshua arose early the next morning and had Israel come forward tribe by tribe, and the tribe of Judah was selected.
Joshua 10:22 Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out to me.”
1 Samuel 14:40 Then Saul said to all Israel, “You stand on one side, and I and my son Jonathan will stand on the other side.” “Do what seems good to you,” the troops replied.