Ezekiel 23:47 kjv
And the company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire.
Ezekiel 23:47 nkjv
The assembly shall stone them with stones and execute them with their swords; they shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.
Ezekiel 23:47 niv
The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
Ezekiel 23:47 esv
And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses.
Ezekiel 23:47 nlt
For their enemies will stone them and kill them with swords. They will butcher their sons and daughters and burn their homes.
Ezekiel 23 47 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference (Short Note) |
|---|---|---|
| Eze 16:37-40 | "...strip you naked and bare... And I will bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you..." | Parallel judgment for spiritual harlotry & stripping. |
| Eze 24:21 | "...my sanctuary, the pride of your power... and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword." | Destruction of temple and loss of children. |
| Jer 2:13 | "My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me... and hewed out cisterns..." | Spiritual unfaithfulness as abandoning God. |
| Jer 3:6-9 | "Have you seen what faithless Israel did...? she went up on every high hill...played the harlot...and faithless Judah did not fear..." | Israel and Judah's spiritual harlotry. |
| Hos 4:12 | "My people inquire of a piece of wood... a spirit of harlotry has led them astray..." | Spiritual prostitution linked to idolatry. |
| Rev 17:16 | "...the ten horns and the beast...will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked...and burn her up with fire." | Echoes the judgment on spiritual harlotry. |
| Isa 1:7-8 | "Your country is desolate... Your cities are burned with fire...desolate, like a lodge in a cucumber field..." | Prophecy of desolation by invaders. |
| Jer 21:10 | "For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon..." | God delivering city to enemy for destruction. |
| 2 Ki 25:9 | "He burned the house of the LORD, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down with fire." | Historical record of Jerusalem's burning. |
| Lam 2:19-20 | "...children and infants faint in the streets... 'Should women eat their offspring, the children of their tender care?'" | Lament over starving and dying children in siege. |
| Hos 13:16 | "Samaria shall bear her guilt... their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open." | Brutal judgment including death of children. |
| Jer 19:9 | "...make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters..." | Extreme horror of consuming one's own children during siege. |
| Deut 29:23 | "the whole land burned out with sulfur and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing...like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah..." | Total, fire-based desolation. |
| Deut 13:10 | "...you shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God..." | Stoning as penalty for inciting idolatry. |
| Lev 20:10 | "If a man commits adultery with another man's wife...both the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death." | Legal basis for capital punishment for adultery. |
| Lev 20:2 | "Anyone of the people of Israel or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech shall surely be put to death. The people of the land shall stone him with stones." | Stoning for child sacrifice/idolatry. |
| Hab 1:6 | "For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings..." | God using the Chaldeans as instruments of judgment. |
| Jer 25:9 | "I will send for all the tribes of the north...and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land..." | Babylonian king as God's instrument. |
| Isa 10:5-6 | "Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger... Against a godless nation I send him..." | Another nation used as God's disciplinary "rod." |
| Zeph 1:17 | "I will bring distress on mankind...their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung." | Graphic description of violent death and dishonor. |
| Eze 9:5-6 | "...pass through the city after him, and strike. Your eye shall not spare, nor shall you have pity. Kill old men outright, young men and young women, little children and women..." | Comprehensive and merciless killing in judgment. |
| James 4:4 | "You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?" | NT warns against spiritual adultery (worldliness). |
| 1 Cor 10:11 | "Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come." | OT judgments serve as warnings for believers today. |
| Deut 32:41-42 | "...If I sharpen my glittering sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and repay those who hate me." | God's divine vengeance on the unfaithful. |
Ezekiel 23 verses
Ezekiel 23 47 Meaning
Ezekiel 23:47 details the severe and multifaceted judgment God would bring upon Judah (personified as Oholibah) for her spiritual infidelity, which is depicted as harlotry. The verse prophesies that her former "lovers," specifically the invading armies of Babylon and Chaldea, would execute divine wrath. This judgment would involve stoning (symbolizing judicial condemnation for harlotry), dispatching with swords (military conquest and violent death), slaying the children (annihilating future generations and causing profound suffering), and burning their houses with fire (utter destruction of property and their dwelling places, signifying total desolation and the erasure of their heritage). The cumulative effect describes a complete and absolute national catastrophe due to corporate covenant breaking and idolatry.
Ezekiel 23 47 Context
Ezekiel chapter 23 vividly portrays the unfaithfulness of God's people through the allegorical tale of two sisters, Oholah (Samaria, representing the Northern Kingdom of Israel) and Oholibah (Jerusalem, representing the Southern Kingdom of Judah). Both sisters prostituted themselves by engaging in idolatry and forming foreign alliances with powerful nations like Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, instead of remaining faithful to the Lord. After describing Oholah's downfall due to her debauchery, the prophet focuses on Oholibah, who learned nothing from her sister's fate but rather became even more corrupt. She lusted after the Babylonians and Chaldeans, making covenants with them and adopting their practices, only to eventually turn against them. Verse 47 describes the ultimate judgment promised against Oholibah. The very "lovers" with whom she committed spiritual adultery (the Babylonians) are turned against her by God's decree to inflict the prescribed punishment for her egregious unfaithfulness, leading to the historical destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. This passage explains why Jerusalem faced such a devastating fate, attributing it directly to her profound spiritual apostasy.
Ezekiel 23 47 Word analysis
- And the company (וּקְהַל, uqqahal): The prefixed 'וּ' (u) means "and" or "but." Qahal signifies an assembly, congregation, or, in this military context, a host or multitude of people, specifically referring to the organized forces of the Babylonians and Chaldeans. It suggests a collective and deliberate act, not random violence, carrying out the divine decree.
- shall stone them (וְרָגְמוּ אֹתָן, wəragəmû ʾôtan): Ragamu means "to stone," a severe form of capital punishment under Mosaic Law for specific offenses like idolatry and adultery (Lev 20:10, Deut 22:20-21). Here, it symbolically and perhaps literally indicates their condemnation and execution for spiritual harlotry. The pronoun 'them' refers to Oholibah (Judah/Jerusalem) and, by extension, her inhabitants.
- with stones (בָּאֲבָנִים, bāʾăbanim): Redundancy emphasizes the traditional, deliberate nature of stoning as a form of judicial punishment, even when carried out by an invading army as an instrument of divine judgment.
- and dispatch them (וּבִקְּעוּ אֹתָן, ubiqqəʿû ʾôtan): Bāqaʿ means "to cleave, split, pierce, or tear apart." It signifies violent death through cutting or piercing. Paired with swords, it underscores a brutal, forceful end to life during conquest.
- with their swords (בְּחַרְבוֹתָם, bəḥarəbôṯam): Refers to military blades. This specifies the weapon, highlighting the warfare aspect and the ferocity of the assault carried out by the "company" (Babylonian armies).
- they shall slay their sons and their daughters (בְּנֵיהֶן וּבְנוֹתֵיהֶן יַהֲרֹגוּ, bənehên ûḇənoṯehên yahărogû): Haragu is a general verb for killing. The explicit mention of "sons and daughters" emphasizes the absolute and devastating nature of the judgment, ensuring the termination of the lineage and future generations, thereby causing unimaginable suffering and destroying the very hope of the nation.
- and burn up their houses with fire (וּבָתֵּיהֶן בָּאֵשׁ יִשְׂרְפוּ, uvattehen bāʾēš yiśrəfû): Sarafu means "to burn," and ʾēš is "fire." This act signifies total destruction and desolation of homes, property, and, by extension, the cultural and physical fabric of their society. It symbolizes the complete obliteration of their settled existence and heritage.
Words-group analysis:
- "The company shall stone them with stones, and dispatch them with their swords": This grouping illustrates a dual aspect of judgment. Stoning connects to the legal, religious punishment for the "harlotry" (idolatry), suggesting a divinely sanctioned execution of justice. The "swords" point to the brutal military conquest, signifying the physical devastation and warfare orchestrated by the agents of judgment. Together, they represent both legal retribution and martial destruction.
- "They shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses with fire": This highlights the comprehensive scope of the destruction. Killing "sons and daughters" signifies the obliteration of future generations and family lines, plunging the populace into ultimate despair and sorrow. Burning "their houses" signifies the complete loss of all tangible possessions, shelter, and cultural memory, resulting in utter desolation and dispossession.
Ezekiel 23 47 Bonus section
- The vivid and explicit imagery in Ezekiel, particularly in chapter 23, is characteristic of prophetic literature intended to shock the audience into recognizing the gravity of their sin and the certainty of divine judgment. The language aims to strip away any lingering illusions of safety or divine leniency despite their repeated transgressions.
- The concept of using former allies/lovers as instruments of judgment is a recurring motif in Ezekiel's prophecies (e.g., Ezekiel 16), underscoring the irony and divine justice where the very source of Israel's sinful pleasure becomes the source of her pain.
- This specific judgment functions as a stark contrast to the blessings of the Mosaic Covenant, which promised life, prosperity, and continuation of family within the land for faithfulness (Deut 28). Here, the curse is equally absolute, promising death, displacement, and total destruction for unfaithfulness.
- While the New Testament does not advocate literal stoning for spiritual unfaithfulness, it consistently upholds the principle of divine judgment against ungodliness and warns against spiritual adultery (e.g., friendship with the world in James 4:4), reminding believers that ultimate fidelity belongs to Christ alone.
Ezekiel 23 47 Commentary
Ezekiel 23:47 delivers a grim prophecy of total devastation against Jerusalem and Judah for their relentless spiritual harlotry with foreign powers and idols. The "company" here represents the Chaldean armies, whom God used as instruments of His righteous indignation. The methods of punishment—stoning, sword, killing children, and burning houses—are layered with meaning. Stoning symbolically enacts the legal judgment for harlotry, emphasizing divine condemnation of their covenant unfaithfulness. The swords represent the brute force of military conquest, showing that the "lovers" Judah courted would ultimately be her destroyers. The slaying of children targets the very continuity of the nation, while the burning of homes erases physical heritage and ensures complete desolation. This verse is not just a description of war; it is a profound theological statement on the just consequences of God's people's prolonged and unrepentant apostasy, demonstrating God's unwavering justice when His covenant is violated.