Ezekiel 6:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 6:11
Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
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
יְהוִ֗הYah.weh
H3069
YHWH · proper noun, a title
Smite
הַכֵּ֨הha.Keh
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
hand
בְכַפְּךָ֜ve.kha.pe.Kha
H3709
the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
stamp
וּרְקַ֤עu.re.Ka'
H7554
to pound the earth (as a sign of passion) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
foot
בְּרַגְלְךָ֙be.rag.le.Kha
H7272
a foot (as used in walking) · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
say
וֶֽאֱמָרve.'e.mor-
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
Alas
אָ֔ח'Ach
H253
Oh! (expressive of grief or surprise) · interjection
evil
רָע֖וֹתra.'ot
H7451
bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, feminine plural construct
abominations
תּוֹעֲב֥וֹתto.'a.Vot
H8441
properly · noun, common feminine plural construct
house
בֵּ֣יתbeit
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֑לYis.ra.'El
H3478
Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
fall
יִפֹּֽלוּyi.Po.lu
H5307
to fall · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
sword
בַּחֶ֛רֶבba.Che.rev
H2719
drought · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
famine
בָּרָעָ֥בba.ra.'Av
H7458
hunger (more or less extensive) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
pestilence
וּבַדֶּ֖בֶרu.va.De.ver
H1698
a pestilence · conjunction + preposition with the article + 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 5:12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall…
Jeremiah 24:10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to…
Jeremiah 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.
Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men t…
Ezekiel 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome bea…
Ezekiel 21:14-17 Thou therefore, son of man, prophesy, and smite thine hands together, and let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain: i…
Ezekiel 25:6 For thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast clapped thine hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced in heart with all thy despite ag…
Joel 1:15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 6:11–end
The same threatenings which we had before in the foregoing chapter, and in the former part of this, are here repeated, with a direction to the prophet to lament them, that those he prophesied to might be the more affected with the foresight of them.
I. He must by his gestures in preaching express the dep sense he had both of the iniquities and of the calamities of the house of Israel (Eze 6:11): Smite with thy hand and stamp with thy foot. Thus he must make it to appear that he was in earnest in what he said to them, that he firmly believed it and laid it to heart. Thus he must signify the just displeasure he had conceived at their sins, and the just dread he was under of the judgments comin…
Gesticulations vividly setting before the hearers the greatness of the calamity about to be inflicted. In indignation at the abominations of Israel extend thine hand towards Judea, as if about to "strike," and "stamp," shaking off the dust with thy foot, in token of how God shall "stretch out His hand upon them," and tread them down (Eze 6:14; Eze 21:14).
Adam Clarke on Ezekiel 6:11
Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot - Show the utmost marks of thy astonishment and indignation, and dread of the evils that are coming upon them. Some have contended for the propriety of clapping and stamping in public worship from these words! It is scarcely a breach of charity to think that such persons are themselves incapable either of attending on or conducting the worship of God. To be consistent, they should copy the prophet in his other typical actions as well as these; and then we shall hear of their lying on their left side for three hundred and ninety days, and on their right side for forty days; shaving their heads, burning their hair, baking their bread with dung, et…
Thus saith the Lord God, smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot,.... These are gestures of persons in distress and agony, who, to show their trouble and grief, smite one hand against the other; or smite with the hand upon the thigh, as in Jeremiah 31:19; and "stretch out", or "make a distension with the foot" (d); as it is in the Hebrew text; extend their thighs; throw out their feet; stamp with them; beat the earth, and make it shake, as the Syriac version; all expressive of anguish and sorrow:
and say, alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! the word "alas", or "woe", as the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, an interjection of mourning and lamentation, explains the a…
The Church Fathers
(Verse 11.) Thus says the Lord God: Strike your hand, and stamp your foot, and say: Alas! for all the abominations of the evil house of Israel. The prophet is commanded to show the magnitude of sins with his hands, feet, and words, so that he may display through the movement of his body and the indignation of his voice, the appearance of one amazed and astonished, weeping and lamenting. For just as when we see something new and marvelous, we tremble both in body and mind, so that we clap our hands and stamp our feet on the ground, and bow our voice to weeping; in the same way, now the prophet, seeing with the eyes of his soul the coming punishments, speaks of all the abominations of the evil house of Israel that follow. We strike spiritually with our hand, when we separate ourselves from evil works. We stomp our foot, when we do not proceed on the path of sin. We weep and cry, when we are displeased with what is happening. What is shown in words, alas. For which Aquila interpreted as ἂ ἂ, Symmachus σχετλίασον, which means to lament or weep. LXX and Theodotion εὖγε, which is more of an insult than a lament. Those who are going to perish by the sword, famine, and plague. This is indeed the cause of weeping, because the inhabitants of the mountains and the worshippers of altars and idols are going to perish by the sword, famine, and plague. Those who are led astray by various errors, and change their faith daily, are tossed about by every wind of doctrine: they are killed by the sword and divided into factions, abandoning the unity of the Catholic faith. But whoever does not have spiritual food dies of hunger, not knowing him who said: I am the life (John XIV, 6). Moreover, those who are devoted to either single or multiple vices cannot be separated from them, as if once they fell from an ancient pestilence, or rather a certain uterine pestilence.
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
Feet, The · Stamped on the ground in extreme joy or grief — Stamped on the ground in extreme joy or grief
Sins, National · Ministers should: Mourn over — Ministers should: Mourn over
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 6:11
11. Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
11. Sic dicit Dominator Iehovah, Percute manu tua [138] et divarica pedes tuos, [139] et dic Hei [140] super omnes abominationes mahas domus Israel: quia gladio, fame et peste cadent.
This confirms what we have formerly seen concerning the slaughter of the ten tribes. The kingdom of Israel had been indeed afflicted, but because those remaining in their own country thought themselves free from further calamity, and gave themselves up to their idolatries more and m…
The general divine instructions. - Eze 3:25. And thou, son of man, lo, they will lay cords upon thee, and bind thee therewith, so that thou canst not go out into their midst. Eze 3:26. And I shall make thy tongue cleave to thy palate, that thou mayest be dumb, and mayest not serve them as a reprover: for they are a stiff-necked generation. Eze 3:27. But when I speak to thee, I will open thy mouth, that thou mayest say to them, Thus sayeth the Lord Jehovah, Let him who wishes to hear, hear, and let him who neglects, neglect (to hear): for they are a stiff necked generation. - The meaning of this general injunction depends upon the determination of the subject in נתנוּ, Eze 3:25. Most exposito…
Ezekiel’s message did not end on the encouraging thought of possible repentance. He returned to the theme of judgment with its three-fold calamity of war and famine and disease.
Rashi on Ezekiel 6:11
and stamp Its context implies that it means to stamp one’s foot on the ground to flatten out the mud, and this is a custom of a mourner.
and say, Ah! A cry of grief and woe.
