Ezekiel 21:28 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 21:28
And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; even say thou, The sword, the sword is drawn: for the slaughter it is furbished, to consume because of the glittering:
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine singular construct
man
אָדָ֗ם'a.Dam
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
prophesy
הִנָּבֵ֤אhi.na.Ve'
H5012
to prophesy · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
say
וְאָֽמַרְתָּ֙ve.'a.mar.Ta
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
saith
אָמַר֙'a.Mar
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Lord
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai
H136
the Lord (used as a proper name of God only) · proper noun, a title
GOD
יְהֹוִ֔הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Ammonites
בְּנֵ֥יbe.Nei
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
reproach
חֶרְפָּתָ֑םcher.pa.Tam
H2781
contumely · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
say
וְאָמַרְתָּ֗ve.'a.mar.Ta
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
sword
חֶ֣רֶבChe.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sword
חֶ֤רֶבChe.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
drawn
פְּתוּחָה֙pe.tu.Chah
H6605
to open wide (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal passive participle, feminine singular absolute
slaughter
לְטֶ֣בַחle.Te.vach
H2874
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
furbished
מְרוּטָ֔הme.ru.Tah
H4803
to polish · verb, qal passive participle, feminine singular absolute
consume
אָכַלʼâkal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively)
glittering
בָּרָֽקba.Rak
H1300
lightning · 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
Ezekiel 21:9-10 Son of man, prophesy, and say, Thus saith the LORD; Say, A sword, a sword is sharpened, and also furbished:
Ezekiel 21:20 Appoint a way, that the sword may come to Rabbath of the Ammonites, and to Judah in Jerusalem the defenced.
Zephaniah 2:8-10 I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the revilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have reproached my people, and magnified themsel…
Jeremiah 12:12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even…
Jeremiah 49:1-5 Concerning the Ammonites, thus saith the LORD; Hath Israel no sons? hath he no heir? why then doth their king inherit Gad, and his people dw…
Ezekiel 25:2-7 Son of man, set thy face against the Ammonites, and prophesy against them;
Amos 1:13-15 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 21:28–end
The prediction of the destruction of the Ammonites, which was effected by Nebuchadnezzar about five years after the destruction of Jerusalem, seems to come in here upon occasion of the king of Babylon's diverting his design against Rabbath, when he turned it upon Jerusalem. Upon this the Ammonites grew very insolent, and triumphed over Jerusalem; but the prophet must let them know that forbearance is no acquittance; the reprieve is not a pardon; their day also is at hand; their turn comes next, and it will be but a poor satisfaction to them that they are to be devoured last, to be last executed.
I. The sin of the Ammonites is here intimated; it is their reproach, Eze 21:28. 1. The reproach t…
Lest Ammon should think to escape because Nebuchadnezzar had taken the route to Jerusalem, Ezekiel denounces judgment against Ammon, without the prospect of a restoration such as awaited Israel. Jer 49:6, it is true, speaks of a "bringing again of its captivity," but this probably refers to its spiritual restoration under Messiah; or, if referring to it politically, must refer to but a partial restoration at the downfall of Babylon under Cyrus.
their reproach--This constituted a leading feature in their guilt; they treated with proud contumely the covenant-people after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Eze 25:3, Eze 25:6; Zep 2:9-10), and appropriated Israel's territory (Jer 49:1;…
Concerning the Ammonites - They had reproached and insulted Judea in its low estate, see Ezekiel 25. This prophecy against them was fulfilled about five years after the taking of Jerusalem. See Joseph. Ant. lib. 10 c. 11; and Jeremiah 27, 48, 49; Ezekiel 25.
John Gill on Ezekiel 21:28
And thou, son of man, prophesy, and say,.... Here begins a new prophecy, or rather an enlargement on part of the former; two ways being marked out for the sword of the Chaldeans to come in; the one leading to Jerusalem, the other to Rabbath of the Ammonites; the prophecy being finished concerning the former, here an account is given of the latter; how the sword should move that way, and what execution it would do:
thus saith the Lord God concerning the Ammonites, and concerning their reproach; Nebuchadnezzar, agreeably to the above prophecy, having taken his route to Jerusalem, as his divination directed him, and destroyed that, returned to Babylon, without making any attempt upon the Ammon…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 28 and following) And you, son of man, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God to the sons of Ammon and to their disgrace. And you shall say: Sword, sword, draw yourself out for slaughter: hone yourself to kill and to shine. Although they seem vain to you and their divinations are lies, so that you may be given over to the necks of the wicked wounded, whose appointed day has come in the time of iniquity. Return to your sheath, in the place where you were created: in the land of your birth I will judge you. And I will pour out my indignation upon you; I will blow upon you the fire of my wrath, and I will deliver you into the hands of brutish men, skillful to destroy. You shall be fuel for the fire; your blood shall be in the midst of the land; you shall be forgotten, for I the Lord have spoken." The sword of the king of Babylon has been at the head of the two roads, in the fork of the two ways, to use divination. He has shaken the arrows; he has consulted the household gods; he has looked at the liver. When it is conquered and captured, it is predicted that both his kingdom and priesthood shall perish forever. The rest belonged to the sons of Ammon, and the order of division itself demanded what had happened on the left path. Therefore, the prophet is commanded to speak to the sons of Ammon, and to their reproach, that they themselves are to be captured, and he directs the same sword speech to them: Oh sword, sword, which is ready for slaughter, which is sharpened, so that you may shine and kill: although idols may have responded to you, and everything that is answered by demons is empty, so that you may threaten the necks of the wounded, and fulfill what the Lord had threatened long ago; nevertheless, after completing your work, which you have done against the sons of Ammon, return to your sheath, that is, to Babylon, to the place where you were made and created: so that in the land of your birth I may judge you, and I will pour out my indignation upon you, and you shall be captured by the power of the Medes and Persians. What is said more fully in the book of Isaiah, in a vision against Babylon: Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them. And a little later: And Babylon, that glorious one among kingdoms, renowned for its pride among the Chaldeans, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, it shall never be inhabited until the end (Isa. XIII, 17 et…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Arms, Military · Before using: Burnished — Before using: Burnished
Babylon · Predictions respecting: Conquests by — Predictions respecting: Conquests by
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).
Overthrow of the Ammonites
Eze 21:28. And thou, son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, concerning the sons of Ammon, and concerning their scorn, sword, sword, drawn to slay, polished, that it may devour, that it may flash! Eze 21:29. While they prophesy deceit to thee, while they divine lying to thee, it shall lay thee by the necks of the sinners slain, whose day cometh at the time of the final transgression. Eze 21:30. Put it in its scabbard again. At the place where thou wast created, in the land of thy birth will I judge thee, Eze 21:31. And pour out my anger upon thee, kindle the fire of my wrath against thee, and give thee into the hand of foolish men, of smiths of d…
The Ammonites had no cause to rejoice in the reprieve that came when Nebuchadnezzar went toward Jerusalem rather than Rabbah (21:18-20)—they, too, were among the wicked for whom the day of final reckoning had come.
Rashi on Ezekiel 21:28
And it was to them To Israel what Nebuchadnezzar did.
like a false divination and they will not believe that he would succeed, but indeed, they had seven sevens. Nebuchadnezzar divined forty-nine times, and all the divinations coincided exactly.
and he brings iniquity to be remembered in order that they be seized And Nebuchadnezzar, in his divinations, would cause the iniquities that Israel committed to be remembered, for Ammon and Moab, their neighbors, would make them known to him because they would hear the reproofs of the prophets.
in order that they be seized [lit. to be seized.] That Israel be seized in his hand.
