Ezekiel 13:19 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 13:19
And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
handfuls
בְּשַׁעֲלֵ֣יbe.sha.'a.Lei
H8168
the palm · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
barley
שְׂעֹרִים֮se.'o.Rim
H8184
barley (as villose) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
pieces
וּבִפְת֣וֹתֵיu.vif.To.tei
H6595
a bit · conjunction + preposition + noun, common feminine plural construct
bread
לֶחֶם֒le.Chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
slay
לְהָמִ֤יתle.ha.Mit
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · preposition + verb, hiphil infinitive construct
souls
נְפָשׁוֹת֙ne.fa.shOt
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
die
תְמוּתֶ֔נָהte.mu.Te.nah
H4191
to die (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
save
וּלְחַיּ֥וֹתu.le.chai.Yot
H2421
to live · conjunction + preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct
souls
נְפָשׁ֖וֹתne.fa.Shot
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine plural absolute
alive
תִֽחְיֶ֑ינָהtich.Yei.nah
H2421
to live · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person feminine plural
live
חָיָהchâyâh
H2421
to live
lying
בְּכַ֨זֶּבְכֶ֔םbe.Kha.zev.Khem
H3576
to lie (i.e. deceive) · preposition + verb, piel infinitive construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine plural
people
לְעַמִּ֖יle.'a.Mi
H5971
a people (as a congregated unit) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
hear
שֹׁמְעֵ֥יsho.me.'Ei
H8085
to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural construct
lies
כָזָֽבkha.Zav
H3577
falsehood · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Proverbs 28:21 To have respect of persons is not good: for for a piece of bread that man will transgress.
Micah 3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not int…
Jeremiah 23:14 I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of e…
Jeremiah 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagin…
Ezekiel 20:39 As for you, O house of Israel, thus saith the Lord GOD; Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, and hereafter also, if ye will not hearken unto…
Ezekiel 22:26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have…
1 Samuel 2:16-17 And if any man said unto him, Let them not fail to burn the fat presently, and then take as much as thy soul desireth; then he would answer…
Micah 3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean up…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 13:17–end
As God has promised that when he pours out his Spirit upon his people both their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, so the devil, when he acts as a spirit of lies and falsehood, is so in the mouth not only of false prophets, but of false prophetesses too, and those are the deceivers whom the prophet is here directed to prophesy against; for they are not such despicable enemies to God's truths as deserve not to be taken notice of, nor yet will either the weakness of their sex excuse their sin or the tenderness and respect that are owing to it exempt them from the reproaches and threatenings of the word of God. No: Son of man, set they face against the daughters of thy people, Eze 13:17.…
handfuls--expressing the paltry gain for which they bartered immortal souls (compare Mic 3:5, Mic 3:11; Heb 12:16). They "polluted" God by making His name the cloak under which they uttered falsehoods.
among my people--an aggravation of their sin, that they committed it "among the people" whom God had chosen as peculiarly His own, and among whom He had His temple. It would have been a sin to have done so even among the Gentiles, who knew not God; much more so among the people of God (compare Pro 28:21).
slay . . . souls that should not die, &c.--to predict the slaying or perdition of the godly whom I will save. As true ministers are said to save and slay their hearers, according to the s…
That sew pillows to all arm holes - I believe this refers to those cushions which are so copiously provided in the eastern countries for the apartments of women; on which they sit, lean, rest their heads, and prop up their arms. I have several drawings of eastern ladies, who are represented on sofas; and often with their arm thrown over a pillow, which is thereby pressed close to their side, and against which they thus recline. The prophet's discourse seems to point out that state of softness and effeminacy to which the predictions of those false prophetesses allured the inhabitants of Jerusalem. A careless voluptuous life is that which is here particularly reprehended.
And make kerchiefs -…
The Church Fathers
There were, it is likely, in the time of our forefathers also, some who "weakened the hands of the people," and brought into practice that which is mentioned by Ezekiel,—or rather who did the works of the false prophets, who "profaned God among His people for handfuls of barley"; a thing, by the way, done methinks by some even at this day. When, for example, we say that he who calleth his brother a fool shall depart into hell-fire, others say, "What? Is he that calls his brother a fool to depart into hell-fire? Impossible," say they. And again, when we say that "the covetous man is an idolater," in this too again they make abatements, and say the expression is hyperbolical. And in this manner they underrate and explain away all the commandments.
It often happens that a Pastor is moved by hatred or favor toward any neighbor; but those who follow their own hatreds or favor in the cases of their subjects cannot judge worthily concerning their subjects. Whence it is rightly said through the prophet: They were putting to death souls that do not die, and giving life to souls that do not live. For he puts to death one who is not dying who condemns the just. And he strives to give life to one who will not live who attempts to absolve the guilty from punishment. Therefore the causes must be weighed, and then the power of binding and loosing must be exercised. It must be seen what fault preceded, or what repentance followed after the fault, so that those whom almighty God visits through the grace of compunction, the sentence of the pastor may absolve. For then the absolution of the one presiding is true, when it follows the judgment of the internal Judge.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bribery · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And will ye pollute me among my people,.... Defile the name of the Lord, by abusing it, to cover their wicked designs and practices, pretending they were seat by him, when they were not; that what they said came from him, though he spoke not by them; and that it was his will they declared, when it was their own, and what came out of their own hearts and heads: so the Targum, "will ye pollute my will among my people"; to profane his name among the Gentiles was a great sin, but to pollute it among his own people was greater; attempting to draw them aside from his fear and worship, and that for gain, for small gain too:
for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread; which shows them to be aba…
Ezekiel 13:19
19. And will ye pollute me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?
19. Et profanastis me erga populum meum in pugillis hordeorum [24] propter frusta [25] panis: ut occidaris animas quae non moriebantur, et ad vivificandum animas quae non vivebant, decipiendo populum meum audientes mendacium. [26]
Here God accuses these women of a double crime; one crime was that which I have mentioned, cruelly to destroy the souls which were sacred to God, and hence were destined to be saved; but he added a more atrocious crime -- th…
Against the False Prophetesses
As the Lord had not endowed men only with the gifts of prophecy, but sometimes women also, e.g., Miriam, Deborah, and Huldah; so women also rose up along with the false prophets, and prophesied out of their own hearts without being impelled by the Spirit of God. Eze 13:17-19. Their conduct. - Eze 13:17. And thou, son of man, direct thy face towards the daughters of thy people, who prophesy out of their heart and prophesy against them, Eze 13:18. And say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Woe to those who sew coverings together over all the joints of my hands, and make caps for the head of every size, to catch souls! Ye catch the souls of my people, and keep your sou…
Like the false male prophets (13:1-16), some women prophets proclaimed words that came only from their own imaginations. The false male prophets had been using conventional forms of prophecy, but the women used magical techniques involving charms and veils. Motivated by personal gain (a few handfuls of barley or a piece of bread), they promised life and death (cp. 3:17-21; 33:1-9), but to the wrong people.
Rashi on Ezekiel 13:19
for fistfuls of barley Heb. בְּשֳּׁעֲלֵי, like (Isa. 40:12): “Who measured water with his fist (בְּשָּׁעֳלוֹ)?” Jaloynes in Old French, double-handfuls. Another explanation: an expression of a measure.
and for morsels of bread E an piyezes in Old French, and with morsels, that you take as your fee.
to slay souls that will not die i.e., to say about souls that will not die, “These will die,” and to say about souls that will not live, “These will live,” for your divinations are false, and My people accept your false divinations.
