Ezekiel 24 16

Ezekiel 24:16 kjv

Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

Ezekiel 24:16 nkjv

"Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.

Ezekiel 24:16 niv

"Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes. Yet do not lament or weep or shed any tears.

Ezekiel 24:16 esv

"Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.

Ezekiel 24:16 nlt

"Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears.

Ezekiel 24 verses

Ezekiel 24 16 Meaning

This verse recounts a profound personal tragedy for the prophet Ezekiel: God informs him that He is about to take away "the delight of his eyes," which refers to Ezekiel's beloved wife, through a sudden, swift blow. However, a startling command follows: Ezekiel is forbidden to mourn, weep, or shed tears, setting aside the customary rites and natural expressions of grief. This personal suffering is a direct, enacted prophetic sign intended to mirror the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple – the "delight of God's eyes" – and to prefigure the extreme, unmournable nature of the people's grief and shock over that catastrophic loss.

Ezekiel 24 16 Context

Ezekiel 24 stands as a pivotal chapter within the book, marking a significant shift in Ezekiel's prophetic ministry. It is dated precisely to "the tenth day of the tenth month in the ninth year" (Ezek 24:1-2), the very day Nebuchadnezzar began his final siege of Jerusalem (2 Kgs 25:1; Jer 52:4). The chapter combines the allegory of the rusty cooking pot (Ezek 24:3-14), symbolizing Jerusalem as a defiled city filled with wickedness ready for divine judgment, with the deeply personal tragedy of Ezekiel's wife's sudden death (Ezek 24:15-27). This dual message underscores the reality that the impending judgment on Jerusalem will be both widespread and intensely personal, affecting every individual. The command not to mourn Ezekiel's wife, a profound deviation from ancient cultural norms, serves as a shocking and impactful sign-act. It foreshadows the overwhelming grief and stupefaction the exiles will experience when they hear of Jerusalem's fall, rendering traditional mourning rituals inadequate or impossible due to the sheer scale of the catastrophe and their dispersed state.

Ezekiel 24 16 Word analysis

• "Son of man" (ben-adam - בֶּן־אָדָם): A recurring address to Ezekiel (93 times in the book), emphasizing his humanity, mortality, and dependence on God, contrasting sharply with the divine speaker. It positions him as a representative human among the people, making his suffering relatable yet uniquely commanded.
• "behold" (hinneh - הִנֵּה): An emphatic particle demanding immediate attention to what follows. It highlights the gravity, immediacy, and certainty of the divine declaration.
• "I am about to take away" (lōqēaḥ mimmekhā - לֹקֵחַ מִמְּךָ): The verb is a present participle, conveying imminent action with divine certainty and control. It signifies God's direct agency in this event, not mere chance or natural occurrence. "Take away" here means to remove or seize.
• "from you" (mimmekhā - מִמְּךָ): Reinforces the personal, direct impact on Ezekiel.
• "the delight of your eyes" (maḥmad ʿêneykha - מַחְמַד עֵינֶיךָ): Literally "the desire of your eyes" or "the precious object of your gaze." This idiom most naturally refers to his cherished wife, though "maḥmad" can denote anything highly treasured or delightful. The strong emotional attachment emphasizes the depth of the impending loss. The word "maḥmad" is also used in Lam 1:7 (Lamentations) to refer to Zion's precious things taken by the adversary, creating a deliberate parallel with Jerusalem/Temple.
• "with a blow" (bəmağğēfāh - בְּמַגֵּפָה): Often translated "with a stroke" or "a plague." It suggests a sudden, sharp, and decisive action of divine origin. It denotes a calamitous striking down, possibly fatal illness, implying swiftness and inevitability.
• "yet you shall not mourn" (wəlōʾ tispōd - וְלֹא תִסְפֹּד): A direct prohibition against traditional, demonstrative acts of lamentation which often involved beating the breast, wailing, and tearing clothes. This is a severe abrogation of cultural practice.
• "or weep" (wəlōʾ tibkeh - וְלֹא תִבְכֶּה): Forbids the general act of shedding tears and showing sorrow, implying even the private expression of grief is to be suppressed.
• "nor shall your tears run down" (wəlōʾ-tāvōʾ dimʿātəkhā bābbôʾ - וְלֹא־תָבוֹא דִּמְעָתֶךָ בַבּוֹא): This phrasing is an intensified restatement, emphatically stressing the command to prevent any outward sign of tears, even by preventing their initial flow. It indicates complete emotional restraint.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "Son of man, behold, I am about to take away from you": This opening sets a divine decree directly against human fragility, emphasizing God's sovereign hand in personal and national calamity. The "Son of man" addresses a human figure directly involved in a divine, inescapable plan.
• "the delight of your eyes with a blow": This phrase captures the immediate, profound, and painful nature of Ezekiel's loss. It underscores the preciousness of what is taken and the swift, divine agency of its removal. This object of affection will be abruptly extinguished, demonstrating God's ultimate power over life and human joy.
• "yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down": This tripartite negation of grieving rituals and natural emotional expression is the core of the prophetic sign. It signifies an unparalleled crisis, where customary forms of processing grief are disallowed or rendered impossible, indicating the sheer enormity of the coming judgment on Jerusalem that will overwhelm even the capacity to mourn.

Ezekiel 24 16 Bonus section

The term "delight of your eyes" (מַחְמַד עֵינֶיךָ) strongly links Ezekiel's personal loss to the destruction of the Temple, referred to by the similar phrase "the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes" (Ezek 24:21). This linguistic connection is crucial. It elevates the symbolic weight of Ezekiel's wife, showing that her value to the prophet is analogous to the Temple's value to the exiles and, ultimately, its significance in God's eyes as the dwelling place for His Name. Therefore, Ezekiel's inability to mourn outwardly parallels the people's expected lack of traditional mourning for the Temple, not because they are unfeeling, but because the desolation will be so catastrophic it will transcend typical human responses, leaving them speechless and in profound spiritual agony.

Ezekiel 24 16 Commentary

Ezekiel 24:16 encapsulates a poignant, radical sign-act in prophetic literature. God reveals to Ezekiel that his beloved wife will die suddenly, yet he is forbidden all customary expressions of mourning. This command is not meant to imply an absence of natural human grief for Ezekiel but rather a suppression of outward displays of it, transforming his personal tragedy into a living, visual parable for the exiled Israelites. Just as Ezekiel’s wife, the "delight of his eyes," will be swiftly taken, so too will Jerusalem and its Temple—the "delight of their eyes," and truly the "delight of God's eyes"—be destroyed without reprieve. The prohibition on mourning for Ezekiel mirrors the future experience of the people: when the news of Jerusalem’s fall reaches them, they will be too numb with shock, sorrow, and perhaps shame to engage in traditional rituals. Their grief will be too profound and overwhelming, their dispersed state preventing collective lamentation, and the understanding of God’s just judgment paralyzing any ordinary expression. This passage underlines God's severe but righteous judgment and His sovereign control over both individual lives and national destinies, transforming personal sorrow into a public lesson of divine purpose.