Ezekiel 33:2

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman:

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Son	בֶּן ben-	H1121	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
speak	דַּבֵּ֤ר da.Ber	H1696	perhaps properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
children	בְּנֵֽי be.nei-	H1121	a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct
people	עַמְּךָ֙ 'a.me.Kha	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
say	וְאָמַרְתָּ֣ ve.'a.mar.Ta	H559	to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
bring	אָבִ֥יא 'a.Vi'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common singular
sword	חָ֑רֶב Cha.rev	H2719	drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
land	אֶ֕רֶץ 'E.retz	H776	the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute
people	עַם 'am-	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · noun, common masculine singular construct
land	הָאָ֜רֶץ ha.'A.retz	H776	the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
take	וְלָקְח֨וּ ve.la.ke.Chu	H3947	to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
a	אֶחָד֙ 'e.Chad	H259	properly · cardinal number, feminine singular absolute
man	אִ֤ישׁ 'ish	H376	a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
coasts	מִקְצֵיהֶ֔ם mik.tzei.Hem	H7097	an extremity · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
set	וְנָתְנ֥וּ ve.na.te.Nu	H5414	to give · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
watchman	לְצֹפֶֽה le.tzo.Peh	H6822	properly · preposition + verb, qal active participle, 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 33:30 Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one…
Ezekiel 3:11 And go, get thee to them of the captivity, unto the children of thy people, and speak unto them, and tell them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; whe…
Ezekiel 14:17 Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it:
Ezekiel 33:17 Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal.
Isaiah 62:6 I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep no…
Jeremiah 15:2-3 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for…
Ezekiel 3:27 But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; He that heareth, let him hear; and…
Zechariah 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 33:1-9

The prophet had been, by express order from God, taken off from prophesying to the Jews, just then when the news came that Jerusalem was invested, and close siege laid to it, Eze 24:27. But now that Jerusalem is taken, two years after, he is appointed again to direct his speech to them; and there his commission is renewed. If God had abandoned them quite, he would not have sent prophets to them; nor, if he had not had mercy in store for them, would he have shown them such things as these. In these verses we have, I. The office of a watchman laid down, the trust reposed in him, the charge given him, and the conditions adjusted between him and those that employ him, Eze 33:2, Eze 33:6. 1. It i…

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Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 33:2

Son of man - if the people of the land take a man - The first ten verses of this chapter are the same with Eze 3:17-22; and to what is said there on this most important and awful subject I must refer the reader. Here the People choose the watchman; there, the Lord appoints him. When God chooses, the people should approve.

John Gill on Ezekiel 33:2

Son of man, speak to the children of thy people,.... The Jews, of whom the prophet was; and designs those who were with him in the captivity; and who, having behaved so ill, the Lord will not own them for his people, but calls them the prophet's people, and the children of them: and say unto them, when I bring the sword upon a land; a foreign enemy with an army to invade it, or any other judgment; for there is no public calamity whatever that comes upon a people, but what is by the order, direction, or permission of the Lord. The Targum is, "those that kill with the sword;'' an army of men that enter into a land sword in hand, with an intent to conquer and destroy: if the people of the la…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 33:1-9

Calling of the Prophet for the Future - Ezekiel 33:1-20 The prophet's office of watchman. Eze 33:1. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Eze 33:2. Son of man, speak to the sons of thy people, and say to them, When I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from their company and set him for a watchman, Eze 33:3. And he seeth the sword come upon the land, and bloweth the trumpet, and warneth the people; Eze 33:4. If, then, one should hear the blast of the trumpet and not take warning, so that the sword should come and take him away, his blood would come upon his own head. Eze 33:5. He heard the blast of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood will come up…

The Church Fathers

These words teach that it is God who gives peace to people because of goodness and allows wars to happen because of the wickedness of people who bring disaster on themselves.
— Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:33

Mine is the burden that you just heard about when the prophet Ezekiel was read. It is not enough that the day itself admonishes us to reflect on the burden; in addition such a lesson was read to excite great fear in us, so we will think about what we are carrying. Unless the One who imposed the burden on us carried it with us, we fail.
— Caesarius of Arles, SERMON 231:2

How are we affected by Ezekiel, the beholder and expositor of the mighty mysteries and visions? By his injunction to the watchmen not to keep silence concerning vice and the sword impending over it, a course that would profit neither themselves nor the sinners, but rather to keep watch and forewarn and thus benefit at any rate those who gave warning, if not both those who spoke and those who heard.
— Gregory of Nazianzus, IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:64

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

Ezekiel, Book of — Consists mainly of three groups of prophecies. After an account of his call to the prophetical office (1-3:21), Ezekiel (1) utters words of denunciation against the Jews (3:22-24), warning them of…
Watches — The periods into which the time between sunset and sunrise was divided. They are so called because watchmen relieved each other at each of these periods. There are frequent references in Scripture to…
Opportunity · THE MEASURE OF RESPONSIBILITY — THE MEASURE OF RESPONSIBILITY
Responsibility · ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE — ACCORDING TO PRIVILEGE
Watchmen · In time of danger: Sounded an alarm at the approach of enemies — In time of danger: Sounded an alarm at the approach of enemies

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).

Ezekiel 33:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 33:1-9

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 33:2

John Gill on Ezekiel 33:2

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 33:1-9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Ezekiel 33:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 33:1-9

Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 33:2

John Gill on Ezekiel 33:2

Keil & Delitzsch on Ezekiel 33:1-9

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Ezekiel 33:2-4

Rashi on Ezekiel 33:2