Bible Strands
Ezekiel 5:8
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks directly to Jerusalem through the prophet Ezekiel during a formal declaration of impending judgment. This utterance follows immediately after a charge of insubordination for failing to follow divine statutes or conform to surrounding nations.
The words — The phrase הִנְ/נִ֥י עָלַ֖יִ/ךְ (hi./Ni 'a.La.yi/kh) literally renders "here I am on you," signaling direct divine opposition. It follows לָ/כֵ֗ן כֹּ֤ה (la./Khen koh), meaning "therefore thus," which anchors the declaration in the preceding judgment.
The thread — The motif of God setting His face against His people appears in Ezekiel 15:7 and Jeremiah 21:5, where divine opposition is paired with wrath and fire. The public nature of the judgment echoes Jeremiah 24:9, which describes Israel becoming an object of scorn to all kingdoms.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant failure triggers direct divine confrontation rather than mere historical consequence. It requires the reader to accept that God’s judgments are executed openly before nations, leaving no room for hidden or private reckoning.
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; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 24:9 I will make them a horror and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace and an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing wherever I have banished them.
- Ezekiel 15:7 And I will set My face against them. Though they may have escaped the fire, yet another fire will consume them. And when I set My face against them, you will know that I am the LORD.
- Jeremiah 21:5 And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm, with anger, fury, and great wrath.
- Jeremiah 21:13 Behold, I am against you who dwell above the valley, atop the rocky plateau—declares the LORD—you who say, “Who can come against us? Who can enter our dwellings?”
- Ezekiel 21:3 and tell her that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am against you, and I will draw My sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
- Leviticus 26:17 And I will set My face against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one pursues you.
- Deuteronomy 29:20 The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
- Deuteronomy 29:23 All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His fierce anger.
- 1 Kings 9:8 And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’
- Jeremiah 22:8 And many nations will pass by this city and ask one another, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?’