Bible Strands
Ezekiel 24:9
Yes, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the city of bloodshed! I, too, will pile the kindling high.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through the prophet Ezekiel to the exiled community, delivering a declaration of judgment immediately after describing how He exposed Jerusalem’s blood on the bare rock to provoke His wrath.
The words — כֹּה (koh) = thus and א֖וֹי ('o) = woe! frame the oracle, while עִ֣יר ('ir) הַ/דָּמִ֑ים (ha./da.Mim) literally renders "city of bloods" to identify the target of the pronouncement.
The thread — The oracle echoes Ezekiel 24:6’s identical indictment, parallels Habakkuk 2:12’s warning against building by bloodshed, and aligns with Isaiah 30:33’s imagery of a prepared funeral pyre for the king.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that systemic violence provokes divine intervention and that the coming siege will execute a thorough, inescapable destruction.
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
Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Habakkuk 2:12 Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by iniquity!
- Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- Isaiah 31:9 Their rock will pass away for fear, and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 22:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
- Ezekiel 22:31 So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
- Nahum 3:1 Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without prey.
- Luke 13:34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8 in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- 2 Peter 3:7 And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.