Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘“But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They didn’t walk in my statutes, and they rejected my ordinances, which if a man keeps, he shall live in them. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- KJV But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- NKJV Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
- NASB But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and they rejected My ordinances, which, if a person follows them, then he will live by them; and they greatly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them.
- NLT “But the people of Israel rebelled against me, and they refused to obey my decrees there in the wilderness. They wouldn’t obey my regulations even though obedience would have given them life. They also violated my Sabbath days. So I threatened to pour out my fury on them, and I made plans to utterly consume them in the wilderness.
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
Israel rebelled in the wilderness, breaking God's statutes and profaning His Sabbaths. Again God threatened to consume them in His wrath.
Overview
Despite receiving the law, the wilderness generation rejected God's ordinances and desecrated the sign of His covenant. Their rebellion repeats the pattern of Egypt, showing that the problem was a heart turned from God, not a lack of revelation. The threatened wrath underscores the seriousness of despising the gifts of a holy God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 32
- Ezek 20:21But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness.
- Ezek 20:8But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.
- Ezek 20:24For they did not practice My ordinances, but they rejected My statutes and profaned My Sabbaths, fixing their eyes on the idols of their fathers.
- Deut 9:8At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.
- Isa 56:6And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to minister to Him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be His servants—all who keep the Sabbath without profaning it and who hold fast to My covenant—
- Num 14:22not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—
- Exod 32:10Now leave Me alone, so that My anger may burn against them and consume them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Num 14:11–12And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?
- Num 14:29Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.
- Num 16:45“Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.
- Num 15:31–36He shall certainly be cut off, because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken His commandment; his guilt remains on him.”
- Heb 10:28–29Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
- Exod 32:8How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
- Neh 9:16–18But they and our fathers became arrogant and stiff-necked and did not obey Your commandments.
- Prov 13:13He who despises instruction will pay the penalty, but the one who respects a command will be rewarded.
- Prov 1:25because you neglected all my counsel, and wanted none of my correction,
- Deut 31:27For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!
- Num 26:25These were the clans of Issachar, and their registration numbered 64,300.
- Lev 26:15and if you reject My statutes, despise My ordinances, and neglect to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant,
- Ps 106:13–33Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.
- Num 16:20–21And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
- Lev 26:43For the land will be abandoned by them, and it will enjoy its Sabbaths by lying desolate without them. And they will pay the penalty for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and abhorred My statutes.
- 1 Th 4:8Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.
- Exod 16:27–28Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find anything.
- 2 Sam 12:9Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites.
- Amos 2:4This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, even four, I will not revoke My judgment, because they reject the Law of the LORD and fail to keep His statutes; they are led astray by the lies in which their fathers walked.
- Ezek 20:16because they kept rejecting My ordinances, refusing to walk in My statutes, and profaning My Sabbaths; for their hearts continually went after their idols.
- Ps 95:8–11do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Isa 63:10But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.
- 1 Sam 8:8Just as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking Me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
- Ps 78:40–41How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert!
- Deut 9:12–24And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.”
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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 20:13 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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