Bible Strands
Ezekiel 7:16
The survivors will escape and live in the mountains, moaning like doves of the valley, each for his own iniquity.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Ezekiel pronounces this oracle to the house of Israel as the siege closes and divine punishment shifts from internal corruption to external devastation. The prophecy marks the moment when judgment moves from the city's interior to the surrounding countryside.
The words — פָּלַט (pālaṭ) literally means "to escape" or "to deliver," identifying those who flee the coming catastrophe. יוֹנֵי (yōnê) translates directly to "doves," comparing the survivors' mournful cries to the sounds of birds in the valleys.
The thread — The dove imagery for mourning appears in Isaiah 38:14 and Isaiah 59:11, where it expresses grief and helplessness. Ezra 9:15 references the surviving remnant left in guilt, echoing the theme of those who escape but remain under judgment.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that physical survival does not exempt a person from personal responsibility for sin. It confronts the reader with the reality that judgment leaves a remnant, but each individual must still face the consequences of their own iniquity.
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
But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
Cross-references
- Ezra 9:15 O LORD, God of Israel, You are righteous! For we remain this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it no one can stand before You.”
- Isaiah 38:14 I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Isaiah 59:11 We all growl like bears and moan like doves. We hope for justice, but find none, for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Isaiah 37:31 And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
- Zechariah 12:10 Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.
- Ezekiel 6:8 Yet I will leave a remnant, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the nations and throughout the lands.
- Ezekiel 36:31 Then you will remember your evil ways and wicked deeds, and you will loathe yourselves for your iniquities and abominations.
- Proverbs 5:11 At the end of your life you will groan when your flesh and your body are spent,
- Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 31:9 They will come with weeping, and by their supplication I will lead them; I will make them walk beside streams of waters, on a level path where they will not stumble. For I am Israel’s Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.”