Bible Strands
Ezekiel 25:6
For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you clapped your hands and stomped your feet and rejoiced over the land of Israel with a heart full of contempt,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to announce judgment on Ammon. This declaration occurs within a sequence of oracles against neighboring nations that opposed Israel.
The words — The text highlights מַחְאֲךָ (mach'a'eka), meaning "your clapping," paired with יָד (yad), "hand," to describe the physical gesture of derision. This concrete action accompanies the stated motive of rejoicing with contempt.
The thread — The motif of gloating over a neighbor's downfall appears in Obadiah 1:12 and Zephaniah 2:8, where taunting Israel triggers divine reproach. Zephaniah 2:10 explicitly links this pride to the consequence of being cut off.
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that physical gestures of mockery carry moral weight and provoke divine judgment. It requires readers to reject triumphalism over others' misfortune and acknowledge God's sovereign authority.
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
For thus saith the Lord God; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite against the land of Israel;
Cross-references
- Obadiah 1:12 But you should not gloat in that day, your brother’s day of misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction, nor boast proudly in the day of their distress.
- Zephaniah 2:8 “I have heard the reproach of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, who have taunted My people and threatened their borders.
- Zephaniah 2:10 This they shall have in return for their pride, for taunting and mocking the people of the LORD of Hosts.
- Job 27:23 It claps its hands at him and hisses him out of his place.
- 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.
- Ezekiel 25:15 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance, taking vengeance with malice of soul to destroy Judah with ancient hostility,
- Ezekiel 36:5 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder.
- Nahum 3:19 There is no healing for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news of you applaud your downfall, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty?
- Nehemiah 4:3 Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said, “If even a fox were to climb up on what they are building, it would break down their wall of stones!”
- Job 34:37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”