Bible Strands
Ezekiel 25:5
I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels, and Ammon a resting place for sheep. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through the prophet Ezekiel to pronounce judgment on the Ammonites. The declaration immediately follows a warning that eastern invaders will occupy their land and consume its agricultural yield.
The words — The Hebrew verb נָתַתִּי (naṯattî) means "I will make," paired with לִנְוֵה (linvēh) rendered as "pasture" or "resting place." These terms frame Rabbah and the people of Ammon as territory reduced to animal grazing ground.
The thread — This desolation motif echoes Isaiah 17:2, where abandoned cities are left to flocks, and corresponds to the historical capture of Rabbah recorded in 2 Samuel 12:26. Ezekiel 21:20 further references the city by ordering a road marked for the sword to advance against it.
Why it lands — The text states that God will strip a capital of its sovereignty so the people will recognize His authority. It asks the reader to acknowledge divine judgment over nations without softening the reality of the described desolation.
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
And I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the Ammonites a couchingplace for flocks: and ye shall know that I am the Lord.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 21:20 Mark out one road for the sword to come against Rabbah of the Ammonites, and another against Judah into fortified Jerusalem.
- 2 Samuel 12:26 Meanwhile, Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal fortress.
- Isaiah 17:2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken; they will be left to the flocks, which will lie down with no one to fear.
- Deuteronomy 3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)
- Psalms 83:18 May they know that You alone, whose name is the LORD, are Most High over all the earth.
- Isaiah 32:14 For the palace will be forsaken, the busy city abandoned. The hill and the watchtower will become caves forever—the delight of wild donkeys and a pasture for flocks—
- Isaiah 37:20 And now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.”
- Ezekiel 24:24 ‘Thus Ezekiel will be a sign for you; you will do everything that he has done. When this happens, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’
- Ezekiel 25:8 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the other nations,”
- Ezekiel 26:6 and the villages on her mainland will be slain by the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’