Ezekiel 20


Ezekiel 20 is the twentieth chapter of the Book of Ezekiel in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet/priest Ezekiel, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. In chapters 20 to 24 there are "further predictions regarding the fall of Jerusalem". In this chapter, Ezekiel speaks on God's behalf to some of the elders of Israel.

Text

The original text of this chapter is written in the Hebrew language. Chapters and [verses of the Bible|This chapter is divided into] 49 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis, the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets, Aleppo Codex, Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Marchalianus.

Verse 1

The opening of chapter 8 has similar wording. The recorded date of the occurrence in chapter 20 would fall in July–August 591 BC, calculated to be August 14, 591 BCE, based on an analysis by German theologian Bernhard Lang.

Verse 4

  • "Will you judge them?" - a recurrent theme, also seen in and.
  • "Son of man" : this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.
  • "Abomination" '': something loathsome or objectionable, especially for "Jehovah", "specially used for things belonging to the worship of idols" or idolatrous practices and objects.

Verse 5

The text in the King James Version makes no reference to God's oath in this verse.

Verses 6–10

Scholars have noted that Ezekiel 20:6–10 recounts Israel’s departure from Egypt without mentioning slavery. Gili Kugler argues that this omission reflects an alternative tradition in which Egypt was remembered as the place of God’s revelation and Israel’s initiation as his people, rather than as a house of slavery. In this reading, Israel’s departure is not an act of deliverance from oppression but the outcome of God’s unilateral election and desire to assert his authority.

Verse 25

"Therefore, I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live."
Biblical scholar Gili Kugler interprets that the prophet claims God indeed gave Israel “statutes that were not good.” According to this view, such laws, including practices like child sacrifice, functioned as a means to ensure the continued sinfulness of future generations. This, in turn, made the punishment of exile deserved, just as it would have been during their ancestors’ sojourn in Egypt Ezekiel 20:6–10 and during their wanderings in the desert. Kugler refers to this theological perspective as a form of "cruel theology," in which God deliberately imposes statutes in order to ensure that Israel’s wrongful behavior continued into future generations, thereby providing the grounds for their punishment.

Verse 29

"Bamah" means "high place". Theologian Andrew B. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel uses "a punning and contemptuous derivation of the word", using what and go :
Whilst he disagrees with the interpretation, Davidson notes that "some have supposed that “go” has the sense of “go in” and that the allusion is to the immoralities practised on the high places".

Verse 35

The "wilderness of the peoples" is alternatively translated as "the wilderness of the nations", or "a desert surrounded by nations". Davidson suggests it refers to "the Syro-Babylonian wilderness, adjoining the peoples among whom they were dispersed", perhaps the modern-day Syrian Desert. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel may have followed Hosea's words here:

Verse 37

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Christian

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