And I will make the land desolate because my people have been unfaithful to me. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”
Parallel translations
- WEB I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- KJV And I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass, saith the Lord GOD.
- BSB Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ declares the Lord GOD.”
- NKJV Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord God.”
- NASB So I will make the land desolate, because they have acted unfaithfully,’ ” declares the Lord God.
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
God will make the land desolate because of the people's unfaithfulness ('trespass'). Covenant betrayal brings ruin.
Overview
The oracle ends by naming the cause: a 'trespass,' a term for treacherous covenant breach, often involving idolatry. The land's desolation is the just consequence of spiritual infidelity. This sets the stage for chapter 16, which exposes that unfaithfulness in vivid, extended detail.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- 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. ’”
- 2 Chr 36:14–16Moreover all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted Yahweh’s house which he had made holy in Jerusalem.
- Ezek 17:20I will spread my net on him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.
- Isa 24:3–12The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste; for Yahweh has spoken this word.
- 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,
- Zeph 1:18Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.
- Ezek 33:29Then shall they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed.
- Ezek 14:13–21“Son of man, when a land sins against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand on it, and break the staff of its bread, and send famine on it, and cut off from it man and animal;
- Jer 25:10–11Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.
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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 15:8 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
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