Ezekiel 34:25 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 34:25
And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
to cut (off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
covenant
בְּרִ֣יתbe.Rit
H1285
a compact (because made by passing between pieces of fl… · noun, common feminine singular construct
peace
שָׁל֔וֹםsha.Lom
H7965
safe · noun, common masculine singular absolute
evil
רָעָ֖הra.'Ah
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, feminine singular absolute
beasts
חַיָּֽהchai.yah-
H2416
alive · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cease
וְהִשְׁבַּתִּ֥יve.hish.ba.Ti
H7673
to repose · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
land
הָאָ֑רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
dwell
וְיָשְׁב֤וּve.ya.she.Vu
H3427
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
safely
לָבֶ֔טַחla.Ve.tach
H983
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
wilderness
בַמִּדְבָּר֙va.mid.Bar
H4057
a pasture (i.e. open field · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
sleep
וְיָשְׁנ֖וּve.ya.she.Nu
H3462
properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 3rd person common plural
woods
בַּיְּעָרִֽיםbai.ye.'a.Rim
H3293
a copse of bushes · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural 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
Isaiah 11:6-9 The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling togeth…
Ezekiel 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them,…
Leviticus 26:6 And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will rid evil beasts out of the land, neithe…
Psalms 4:8 I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety.
Isaiah 35:9 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there:
Jeremiah 23:6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS…
Jeremiah 33:16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our right…
Ezekiel 34:28 And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and none shal…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 34:17–end
The prophet has no more to say to the shepherds, but he has now a message to deliver to the flock. God had ordered him to speak tenderly to them, and to assure them of the mercy he had in store for them. But here he is ordered to make a difference between some and others of them, to separate between the precious and the vile and then to give them a promise of the Messiah, by whom this distinction should be effectually made, partly at his first coming (for for judgment he came into this world, Joh 9:39, to fill the hungry with good things and to send the rich empty away, Luk 1:53), but completely at his second coming, when he shall, as it is here said, judge between cattle and cattle, as a sh…
covenant of peace . . . evil beasts . . . to cease . . . dwell safely--The original promise of the law (Lev 26:6) shall be realized for the first time fully under Messiah (Isa 11:6-9; Isa 35:9; Hos 2:18).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 34:25
I will make with them a covenant of peace - The original is emphatic: וכרתי להם ברית שלום vecharatti lahem berith shalom, "And I will cut with them the peace covenant;" that is, a covenant sacrifice, procuring and establishing peace between God and man, and between man and his fellows. I need not tell the reader that the cutting refers to the ancient mode of making covenants. The blood was poured out; the animal was divided from mouth to tail, exactly in two; the divisions placed opposite to each other; the contracting parties entered into the space, going in at each end, and met in the middle, and there took the covenant oath. He is the Prince of peace, and through him come glory to God in…
And I will make with them a covenant of peace,...., Such the covenant of grace is, made with Christ from everlasting; in which Jehovah proposed terms of peace, and which Christ undertook to answer, and became the peacemaker; and from this article concerning the peace and reconciliation of men the covenant is so called; see Isaiah 54:10, this the Lord promises to make known to his people his flock, to show them their interest in it, and to make it good unto them; for otherwise it was made with Christ, and with them in Christ from all eternity. The Septuagint and Arabic versions read,
"I will make with David a covenant of peace:''
and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land; whic…
The Church Fathers
What is "in the desert"? In solitude. What is in solitude? Inside, in the conscience. It is a solitude indeed, because not only do no other human beings cross it, they do not even see it. Let us dwell there in hope, because we are not yet there in fact. After all, everything we have outside chops and changes with the storms and trials of the world. The desert is inside; that is where we should interrogate our faith.
(Verse 25 onwards) And I will make a covenant (or testament) of peace with them, and I will cause the most harmful beasts to cease from the earth, and those who dwell in the wilderness will sleep safely in the woods. And I will place them around my hill as a blessing, and I will bring rain in its season, and the rains will be a blessing. And the trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the land will give its increase, and they will dwell in their land without fear (or in the hope of peace), and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who have enslaved them. And they will no longer be plundered by the nations, nor will the beasts of the earth devour them, but they will dwell securely (or in hope) without any fear. And I will raise up for them a renowned offspring (or a peaceable plantation), and they will no longer be cut off (or destroyed) by famine in the land, nor bear the reproach of the nations anymore. And they will know that I am the Lord their God, for I am with them, and they are my people, the house of Israel, declares the Lord God. But you, my flock, are men, the flock of my pasture (or sheep), and I am the Lord your God, says the Lord God. Then he will make a covenant of peace with them, not of war or discord, for his dwelling place is in peace (Psalm 75), but the peace of Christ, which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4), who says: My peace I give to you: my peace I leave with you (John 14, 27). And he will cause the most harmful creatures to cease from the earth, vices, or disturbances, by which human souls are tormented: or opposing powers, by which they are attacked. And those who dwell in the wilderness shall sleep securely in the forests. For the Lord will reveal the hidden places of the woods, and in His temple all shall declare glory (Ps. 28:9). And with the beasts driven away and the land reduced to solitude, those who sleep securely shall say: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear (Ps. 26:1)? And He will place them, who sleep securely, around His mountain or hill, and they shall receive blessings. Then he will give rain in its season, and there will be rain of blessings, which he promises in the blessings of Deuteronomy (Deut. XXVIII). And he will give, it is said, the tree of life, of which it is written in Genesis (Genes. II): and the tree of…
Dictionary and topics
Covenant, The · Is a covenant of peace — Is a covenant of peace
Nation · Promises of peace to — Promises of peace to
Peace · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Peace, Spiritual · Established by covenant — Established by covenant
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).
Appointment of David as Shepherd, and Blessing of the People
Eze 34:23. And I will raise up one shepherd over them, who shall feed them, my servant David; he will feed them, and he will be to them a shepherd. Eze 34:24. And I, Jehovah, will be God to them, and my servant David prince in the midst of them: I, Jehovah, have spoken it. Eze 34:25. And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and destroy the evil beasts out of the land, so that they will dwell safely in the desert and sleep in the forests. Eze 34:26. And I will make them and the places round my hill a blessing, and cause the rain to fall in its season: showers of blessing shall there be. Eze 34:27. The tree of the field will gi…
God planned to provide his people with a new and better ruler and to make a covenant of peace with them. Their present experience of dangerous animals, drought, famine, and sword was the outworking of the curses of the covenant made at Sinai (see Lev 26:14-35). From now on, they would camp safely, experiencing the blessings of that covenant; God would send the showers they needed for fruitfulness and peace (see Lev 26:4-13).
Rashi on Ezekiel 34:25
and grow old in the forests [Heb. וְיָשְּׁנוּ.] Jonathan renders: and they will age [from יָשָׁן] in the forest. It may also be interpreted as an expression of sleep (שִּׁינָה).
