And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
- KJV And I will bring you into the wilderness of the people, and there will I plead with you face to face.
- NKJV And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.
- NASB and I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face.
- NLT I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will judge you face to face.
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 bring them into a wilderness of the peoples to judge them face to face. He will deal personally and directly with His people in a place of testing.
Overview
Just as the first exodus passed through wilderness testing, so this new gathering involves a season of refining judgment. The 'face to face' encounter signals an intensely personal reckoning with the holy God. This sifting purpose shows that God's restoration includes purification, separating the rebellious from the faithful remnant.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Hos 2:14“Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly.
- Jer 2:35you say, ‘I am innocent. Surely His anger will turn from me.’ Behold, I will judge you, because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
- Rev 12:14But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle to fly from the presence of the serpent to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.
- Ezek 20:36Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.
- Ezek 19:13Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
- Ezek 17:20I will spread My net over him and catch him in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and execute judgment upon him there for the treason he committed against Me.
- Ezek 38:22I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Mic 4:10Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will leave the city and camp in the open fields. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued; there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies!
- Ezek 38:8After a long time you will be summoned. In the latter years you will enter a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and all now dwell securely.
- Jer 2:9Therefore, I will contend with you again, declares the LORD, and I will bring a case against your children’s children.
- Mic 7:13–15Then the earth will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.
- Hos 4:1Hear the word of the LORD, O children of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the people of the land: “There is no truth, no loving devotion, and no knowledge of God in the land!
- Jer 25:31The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth because the LORD brings a charge against the nations. He brings judgment on all mankind and puts the wicked to the sword,’” declares the LORD.
- Mic 6:1–2Hear now what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
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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 20:35 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.