Bible Strands
Ezekiel 36:18
So I poured out My wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Ezekiel regarding Israel's past conduct in their land. This statement follows the description of their moral defilement and immediately precedes the announcement of their dispersion among the nations.
The words — The Hebrew verb וָ/אֶשְׁפֹּךְ ('eshpokh) literally means "I poured out," paired with חֲמָתִי (chemati), "My rage." The text uses these terms to describe a deliberate, measured outflow of judgment rather than an uncontrolled outburst.
The thread — The imagery of God pouring out wrath appears in Ezekiel 7:8 and Lamentations 2:4, where divine anger is similarly directed against Israel for covenant violations. The same verb and land-defilement motif connect these passages to the bloodshed that triggered the judgment.
Why it lands — The verse states that idolatry and violence directly corrupt the earth and provoke divine intervention. It requires the reader to accept that God's judgment is a calculated response to specific human actions, not an arbitrary punishment.
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 I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
Cross-references
- 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah concerning the words in the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that has been poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the LORD by doing all that is written in this book.”
- Ezekiel 7:8 Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you and vent My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and repay you for all your abominations.
- Lamentations 2:4 He has bent His bow like an enemy; His right hand is positioned. Like a foe He has killed all who were pleasing to the eye; He has poured out His wrath like fire on the tent of the Daughter of Zion.
- Lamentations 4:11 The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.
- 2 Chronicles 34:26 But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘As for the words that you heard,
- Isaiah 42:25 So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.
- Jeremiah 7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and the produce of the land, and it will burn and not be extinguished.
- Jeremiah 44:6 Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.
- Ezekiel 14:19 Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out My wrath upon it through bloodshed, cutting off from it both man and beast,
- Ezekiel 16:36 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,