Ezekiel 11 KJV
Judgment and Promise
Ezekiel Chapter 11: Judgment and Promise
The leaders' cauldron metaphor in verse 3 is directly inverted by God in verses 7-11, transforming their claim of invulnerability into a prediction that Jerusalem will become the very pot in which their corpses are cooked during the siege.
1oreover the spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of the LORDโs house, which looketh eastward: and behold at the door of the gate five and twenty men; among whom I saw Jaazaniah the son of Azur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
2 Then said he unto me, Son of man, these are the men that devise mischief, and give wicked counsel in this city:
3 Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.
4 Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man.
5 And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said unto me, Speak; Thus saith the LORD; Thus have ye said, O house of Israel: for I know the things that come into your mind, every one of them.
6 Ye have multiplied your slain in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the slain.
7 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Your slain whom ye have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron: but I will bring you forth out of the midst of it.
8 Ye have feared the sword; and I will bring a sword upon you, saith the Lord GOD.
9 And I will bring you out of the midst thereof, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.
10 Ye shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.
11 This city shall not be your caldron, neither shall ye be the flesh in the midst thereof; but I will judge you in the border of Israel:
12 And ye shall know that I am the LORD: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you.
13 And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?
14 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
15 Son of man, thy brethren, even thy brethren, the men of thy kindred, and all the house of Israel wholly, are they unto whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Get you far from the LORD: unto us is this land given in possession.
16 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Although I have cast them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
17 Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.
18 And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence.
19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh:
20 That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21 But as for them whose heart walketh after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their way upon their own heads, saith the Lord GOD.
22 Then did the cherubims lift up their wings, and the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.
23 And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24 Afterwards the spirit took me up, and brought me in a vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25 Then I spake unto them of the captivity all the things that the LORD had shewed me.
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Did You Know?
The leaders' cauldron metaphor in verse 3 is directly inverted by God in verses 7-11, transforming their claim of invulnerability into a prediction that Jerusalem will become the very pot in which their corpses are cooked during the siege.
Pelatiah's death in verse 13 functions as an immediate prophetic sign-act within the vision, occurring simultaneously with the oracle and serving as confirmation that the word spoken in Babylon is effecting judgment in distant Jerusalem.
Ezekiel's protest in verse 13 echoes Abraham's intercession for Sodom (Genesis 18), marking a pivotal shift from total annihilation to the preservation of a remnant and introducing the theological tension between judgment and mercy that structures the rest of the book.
The promise of a 'new spirit' and removal of the 'stony heart' (verses 19-20) constitutes one of the earliest explicit articulations of internal covenant renewal, paralleling yet predating Jeremiah 31 and forming a key bridge to New Testament pneumatology.
The glory's departure to the Mount of Olives in verse 23 creates a deliberate geographical trajectory that later biblical texts reverse: Zechariah 14 envisions the Lord's return to the same mountain, while Acts 1 places the ascension there, linking Ezekiel's vision to messianic restoration.
Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain east gate โ to which the glory of God had moved itself (Eze 10:19), the chief entrance of the sanctuary; the portico or porch of Solomon. The Spirit moves the prophet thither, to wโฆ
Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Ezekiel 11 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Prophecy of the destruction of the corrupt "princes of the people;" pelatiah dies; Promise of grace to the believing remnant; Departure of the glory of God from the city; Ezekiel's return to the captives.
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- east gate โ to which the glory of God had moved itself (Eze 10:19), the chief entrance of the sanctuary; the portico or porch of Solomon. The Spirit moves the prophet thither, to witness, in the presence of the divine glory, a new scene of destruction. five and twenty men โ The same as the twenty-five (that is, twenty-four heads of courses, and the high priest) sun-worshippers seen in Eze 8:16. The leading priests were usually called "princes of the sanctuary" (Isa 43:28) and "chiefs of the priests" (2Ch 36:14); but here two of them are called "princes of the people," with irony, as using their priestly influence to be ringleaders of the people in sin (Eze 11:2). Already the wrath of God had visited the people represented by the elders (Eze 9:6); also the glory of the Lord had left its place in the holy of holies, and, like the cherubim and flaming sword in Eden, had occupied the gate into the deserted sanctuary. The judgment on the representatives of the priesthood naturally follows here, just as the sin of the priests had followed in the description (Eze 8:12, 16) after the sin of the elders. Jaazaniah โ signifying "God hears." son of Azur โ different from Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan (Eze 8:11). Azur means "help." He and Pelatiah ("God delivers"), son of Benaiah ("God builds"), are singled out as Jaazaniah, son of Shaphan, in the case of the seventy elders (Eze 8:11, 12), because their names ought to have reminded them that "God" would have "heard" had they sought His "help" to "deliver" and "build" them up. But, neglecting this, they incurred the heavier judgment by the very relation in which they stood to God [FAIRBAIRN].
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- he โ the Lord sitting on the cherubim (Eze 10:2). wicked counsel โ in opposition to the prophets of God (Eze 11:3).
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