Ezekiel 22:4 kjv
Thou art become guilty in thy blood that thou hast shed; and hast defiled thyself in thine idols which thou hast made; and thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years: therefore have I made thee a reproach unto the heathen, and a mocking to all countries.
Ezekiel 22:4 nkjv
You have become guilty by the blood which you have shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries.
Ezekiel 22:4 niv
you have become guilty because of the blood you have shed and have become defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close, and the end of your years has come. Therefore I will make you an object of scorn to the nations and a laughingstock to all the countries.
Ezekiel 22:4 esv
You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time of your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries.
Ezekiel 22:4 nlt
you are guilty because of the blood you have shed. You are defiled because of the idols you have made. Your day of destruction has come! You have reached the end of your years. I will make you an object of mockery throughout the world.
Ezekiel 22 4 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ezekiel 22:4 | "You have become guilty of your blood shed within you, and you are defiled by your idols which you have made." | Judgement on Jerusalem's Sins |
| Isaiah 1:21 | "How the faithful city has become a harlot! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers." | Jerusalem's Corruption |
| Jeremiah 7:9-10 | "Will you steal and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and make offerings to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, 'We are delivered!'—only to go on doing all these abominations?" | Idolatry and Wickedness in God's House |
| Lamentations 1:8 | "Jerusalem has profoundly sinned; therefore she has become a mockingstock." | Jerusalem's Sin and Mockery |
| Ezekiel 5:8-10 | "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you and will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations." | Divine Judgment on Jerusalem |
| Romans 1:29-32 | "...full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them." | Examples of Heinous Sins |
| Ezekiel 36:18 | "So I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land, and because they had defiled it with their idols." | Wrath for Shed Blood and Idolatry |
| Jeremiah 2:33-35 | "How well you equip yourself to seek love! So even your own ways have taught you to seek love. Yes, also in your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent poor. You did not find them by secret holes, but upon all these." | Sin of Shedding Innocent Blood |
| Micah 3:10 | "Who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity!" | Building with Blood and Iniquity |
| 2 Timothy 3:1-5 | "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, implacable, slanderous, controlling, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, reckless, slanderous, not loving good, not loving God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people." | Characteristics of Last Days Wickedness |
| Psalm 50:16-18 | "But to the wicked God says: 'What right have you to recite my statutes or inscribe my covenant to your lips? ... When you see a thief, you consent with him, and you keep company with adulterers.'" | Professing Godliness While Sinning |
| 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 | "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." | Those Who Will Not Inherit the Kingdom |
| Revelation 18:24 | "And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on the earth." | Babylon's Guilt for Shed Blood |
| Matthew 23:35 | "so that on you may come all righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar." | Responsibility for All Shed Blood |
| Deuteronomy 24:16 | "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. Each is to be put to death for his own sin." | Individual Accountability for Sin |
| Leviticus 17:11 | "For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life." | The Significance of Blood |
| Jeremiah 51:7 | "Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD's hand, making all the earth drunk through her wine. Nations have drunk her wine; therefore the nations are bewildered." | Babylon as a Symbol of Corruption |
Ezekiel 22 verses
Ezekiel 22 4 Meaning
This verse pronounces a severe judgment upon Jerusalem for its deep-seated sinfulness and impurity. It signifies God’s condemnation of the city’s corrupt practices, predicting its exposure and humiliation before all nations as a consequence of its wickedness. The imagery suggests that Jerusalem has become a place defiled by sin, leading to divine retribution.
Ezekiel 22 4 Context
Ezekiel 22 presents a comprehensive list of the sins of Jerusalem, framing the city as a focal point of pervasive wickedness within Israel. The prophet details various forms of corruption: injustice, violence, disregard for parents, oppression of foreigners, mistreatment of widows and orphans, profanation of the Sabbath, idolatry, adultery, and the shedding of innocent blood. Verse 4 specifically addresses two key areas of this sin: the guilt incurred by the people through bloodshed within the city, and their defilement through idolatry. This chapter serves as a powerful indictment preceding the impending destruction of Jerusalem and its temple, emphasizing that God’s judgment is a direct consequence of their accumulated iniquities. The historical context is during the Babylonian exile, with Jerusalem already under siege or its fall imminent.
Ezekiel 22 4 Word Analysis
- "You": Refers to Jerusalem as a personified entity.
- "have become": Indicates a process of sinful degradation, not a sudden state.
- "guilty": Implies culpability and deserving of punishment. Hebrew: ashmah (אשמה), meaning guilt, fault, offense. It relates to a feeling or state of guilt, often leading to accountability.
- "of your": Possessive, attributing the cause of guilt directly to their own actions.
- "blood": Symbolizes violence and the taking of human life unjustly.
- "shed": Hebrew: damymayim (דמיימ), dual form, emphasizing the shedding of blood.
- "within you": Locates the sin and its perpetrators inside the city itself, highlighting internal corruption.
- "and": Connects two distinct but related sins.
- "you are": A statement of condition or state of being.
- "defiled": Hebrew: tummei (טומטום), meaning made impure, unclean, or contaminated. This word strongly connects to ritual impurity and moral corruption.
- "by": Indicates the source of defilement.
- "your idols": Refers to the false gods and objects of worship that the people turned to.
- "which you have made": Emphasizes the man-made nature of these false objects, contrasting with the true God, highlighting human creation of their own spiritual downfall.
Words-group by words-group Analysis
- "guilty of your blood shed within you": This phrase encapsulates the crime of murder and injustice committed by the inhabitants against each other or against those they deemed worthy of death unjustly, making the city inherently stained with blood guilt. It points to internal violence and the judicial corruption that allowed such acts to go unpunished, or worse, be perpetuated by authorities.
- "defiled by your idols which you have made": This group highlights the spiritual prostitution of Jerusalem. Turning to idols signifies a betrayal of the covenant with Yahweh. The phrase "which you have made" underscores that these objects of worship were human constructs, revealing the absurdity and folly of abandoning the Creator for created things, resulting in deep moral and spiritual pollution.
Ezekiel 22 4 Bonus Section
The concept of being "defiled by your idols" is deeply rooted in the Old Testament's emphasis on covenant faithfulness and the unique status of Israel as holy to the Lord. Idolatry was not merely a religious mistake; it was a spiritual adultery that corrupted all aspects of life. This defilement carried legal and ritual consequences in the Mosaic Law, signifying a separation from God's presence and favor. The prophet's pronouncement of guilt for bloodshed connects to the Mosaic command that "blood pollutes the land, and the land can be purified only by the blood of the one who shed it" (Numbers 35:33). Jerusalem's internal bloodshed made it irredeemable without divine judgment, a point echoed in the New Testament's understanding of sin leading to judgment and the necessity of Christ's atoning blood for cleansing from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7, 9). The judgment described is a profound testament to God's holiness and His unwavering demand for justice and faithfulness from His covenant people.
Ezekiel 22 4 Commentary
Ezekiel 22:4 serves as a concise summary of Jerusalem's gravest offenses. The "blood shed within you" points to a society consumed by internal violence, lawlessness, and possibly ritualistic murder, making the city a place that legally and morally carried the stain of unjustified death. Simultaneously, the "defiled by your idols" reveals their spiritual bankruptcy. By turning to pagan deities and practices, they corrupted their worship, their lives, and the very land, violating the covenant that separated them as God’s people. This dual transgression—societal violence and spiritual betrayal—sealed their fate, leading to the devastating judgments prophesied by Ezekiel. It illustrates that outward observance of religion is meaningless when internal sin and idolatry persist, tainting both individual lives and the corporate body of the nation.