Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
judge	הֲתִשְׁפֹּ֣ט ha.tish.Pot	H8199	to judge · interrogative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
man	אָדָ֑ם 'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
judge	הֲתִשְׁפּ֖וֹט ha.tish.Pot	H8199	to judge · interrogative particle + verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
know	הוֹדִיעֵֽם ho.di.'Em	H3045	to know (properly · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
abominations	תּוֹעֲבֹ֥ת to.'a.Vot	H8441	properly · noun, common feminine plural construct
fathers	אֲבוֹתָ֖ם 'a.vo.Tam	H1	father · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural

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

Ezekiel 22:2 Now, thou son of man, wilt thou judge, wilt thou judge the bloody city? yea, thou shalt shew her all her abominations.
Ezekiel 23:36 The LORD said moreover unto me; Son of man, wilt thou judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, declare unto them their abominations;
Isaiah 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard.
Jeremiah 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.
Jeremiah 11:14 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto m…
Jeremiah 14:11-14 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
Jeremiah 15:1 Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight,…
Ezekiel 14:14 Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GO…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 20:1-4

Here is, 1. The occasion of the message which we have in this chapter. That sermon which we had ch. 18 was occasioned by their presumptuous reflections upon God; this was occasioned by their hypocritical enquiries after him. Each shall have his own. This prophecy is exactly dated, in the seventh year of the captivity, about two years after Ezekiel began to prophesy. God would have them to keep account how long their captivity lasted, that they might see how the years went on towards their deliverance, though very slowly. Certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of the Lord, not statedly (as those Eze 8:1), but, as it should seem, occasionally, and upon a particular emergency. Whether…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge? . . . judge--The emphatical repetition expresses, "Wilt thou not judge? yes, judge them. There is a loud call for immediate judgment." The Hebrew interrogative here is a command, not a prohibition [MAURER]. Instead of spending time in teaching them, tell them of the abomination of their fathers, of which their own are the complement and counterpart, and which call for judgment.

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge them - If thou wilt enter into any discussion with them, show them the abomination of their fathers. The whole chapter is a consecutive history of the unfaithfulness ingratitude, rebellion, and idolatry of the Jews, from the earliest times to that day; and vindicates the sentence which God had pronounced against them, and which he was about to execute more fully in delivering them and the city into the hands of the Chaldeans.

John Gill on Ezekiel 20:4

Wilt thou judge them, son of man?.... Excuse them, patronise them, defend their cause, and plead for them? surely thou wilt not; or rather, wilt thou not reprove and correct them, judge and condemn them, for their sins and wickedness? this thou oughtest to do: wilt thou judge them? this is repeated, to show the vehemency of the speaker, and the duty of the prophet: cause them to know the abominations of their fathers: the sins they committed, which were abominable in themselves, and rendered them abominable unto God, and what came upon them for them; by which they would be led to see the abominable evils which they also had been guilty of, in which they had imitated their fathers, and what…

The Church Fathers

(Verse 4) If you judge them: if you judge, O son of man. LXX: if I avenge them with vengeance, O son of man: They have indeed come to interrogate me, desiring to know about those things about which they are in doubt, and the future; but you, O son of man, judge them, so that the prophet's response may not be, but rather the sentence of the judge for the injustices they have committed, and for following the crimes of their fathers. Or certainly, if I avenge them with vengeance, it can be understood in this sense: They are so covered in wickedness that they are not even worthy of correction and reproof, according to what is said by the prophet: I will no longer visit your daughters, and your daughters-in-law, when they commit adultery (Hosea 4). Wherefore sinners, who have descended into the depths of sin, are forgiven to fulfill the desires of their hearts (Prov. XVIII). Show them the abominations of their fathers, and you shall say to them: 'LXX: Rebuke them for the iniquities of their fathers, and you shall say to them: If the sins of the fathers do not flow over to their children, why are the abominations and iniquities of the fathers now placed upon the elders? Clearly it is for this reason, that similar actions may be shown to be done by their parents, and that they may drag the longest rope of inherited evils, so that they may fear the punishments of those whose vices they imitate.'
— Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Ezekiel 20:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 20:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 20:4

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:4

John Gill on Ezekiel 20:4

The Church Fathers

Ezekiel 20:4

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 20:1-4

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 20:4

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 20:4

John Gill on Ezekiel 20:4

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on Ezekiel 20:4

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 20:1-4

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ezekiel 20:4-26

Rashi on Ezekiel 20:4