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Tell the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with fearfulness, and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein.
Ezekiel 12:19 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord GOD of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.
  • BSB Then tell the people of the land that this is what the Lord GOD says about those living in Jerusalem and in the land of Israel: ‘They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in dread, for their land will be stripped of everything in it because of the violence of all who dwell in it.
  • NKJV And say to the people of the land, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the land of Israel: “They shall eat their bread with anxiety, and drink their water with dread, so that her land may be emptied of all who are in it, because of the violence of all those who dwell in it.
  • NASB Then say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the Lord God says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water with horror, because their land will be stripped of its fullness on account of the violence of all who live in it.
  • NLT Tell the people, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says concerning those living in Israel and Jerusalem: They will eat their food with trembling and sip their water in despair, for their land will be stripped bare because of their violence.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Ezekiel announces that Jerusalem's people will eat and drink in dread as their land is stripped bare because of their violence.

Overview

The coming desolation is explicitly tied to the people's violence, showing judgment as the just wage of their sin. The land laid waste fulfills the covenant warnings for unfaithfulness. God's discipline answers human cruelty with sober, measured justice.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 23

  • Zech 7:14“but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
  • Ezek 6:14I will stretch out my hand on them, and make the land desolate and waste, from the wilderness toward Diblah, throughout all their habitations: and they will know that I am Yahweh. ’”
  • Mic 7:13Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
  • Ezek 6:6–7In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.
  • Jer 10:22The voice of news, behold, it comes, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a dwelling place of jackals.
  • Ezek 7:23“‘Make chains; for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
  • 1 Cor 10:28But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience. For “the earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness.”
  • Jer 6:7As a well produces its waters, so she produces her wickedness: violence and destruction is heard in her; before me continually is sickness and wounds.
  • Ezek 36:3therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;
  • Jer 33:10Yahweh says: “Yet again there shall be heard in this place, about which you say, ‘It is waste, without man and without animal, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without animal,’
  • Ps 24:1A Psalm by David. The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
  • Jer 32:28Therefore Yahweh says: Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the Chaldeans, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall take it:
  • 1 Kgs 17:10–12So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
  • Jer 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
  • Mic 3:10–12They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
  • Ezek 4:16Moreover he said to me, “Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight, and with fearfulness; and they shall drink water by measure, and in dismay;
  • Jer 33:12Yahweh of Armies says: “Yet again shall there be in this place, which is waste, without man and without animal, and in all its cities, a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down.
  • Gen 6:11–13The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
  • 1 Cor 10:26for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”
  • Isa 6:11Then I said, “Lord, how long?” He answered, “Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,
  • Ps 107:34and a fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
  • Jer 9:10–11I will weep and wail for the mountains, and lament for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are burned up, so that no one passes through; neither can men hear the voice of the livestock. Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled. They are gone.
  • Jer 4:27For Yahweh says, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet will I not make a full end.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 12:19YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.

How Ezekiel 12:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.