Then He spread it before me; and there was writing on the inside and on the outside, and written on it were lamentations and mourning and woe.
Parallel translations
- WEB He spread it before me: and it was written within and without; and there were written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
- KJV And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
- BSB which He unrolled before me. And written on the front and back of it were words of lamentation, mourning, and woe.
- NASB When He spread it out before me, it was written on the front and back, and written on it were songs of mourning, sighing, and woe.
- NLT which he unrolled. And I saw that both sides were covered with funeral songs, words of sorrow, and pronouncements of doom.
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
The scroll is written on both sides with lamentations, mourning, and woe. Its content is overwhelmingly a message of judgment.
Overview
Writing on both sides signals a full, complete message with nothing to add. The themes of lament and woe reveal that judgment dominates Ezekiel's commission to a rebellious people. Yet this sober word is necessary to confront sin honestly. The weight of woe heightens the eventual grace of restoration God will later promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Rev 8:13I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe! Woe! Woe for those who dwell on the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels, who are yet to sound!”
- Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
- Isa 30:8–11Now go, write it before them on a tablet, and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever.
- Jer 36:29–32Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Yahweh says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written therein, saying, ‘The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from there man and animal?’”’
- Rev 11:14The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe comes quickly.
- Hab 2:2Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
- Rev 9:12The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.
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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 2:10 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.