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In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood: and in thee they eat upon the mountains: in the midst of thee they commit lewdness.
Ezekiel 22:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Slanderous men have been in you to shed blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains. They have committed lewdness among you.
  • BSB Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.
  • NKJV In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness.
  • NASB Slanderous men have been among you for the purpose of shedding blood, and among you they have eaten at the mountain shrines. In your midst they have committed outrageous sin.
  • NLT People accuse others falsely and send them to their death. You are filled with idol worshipers and people who do obscene things.

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

Slanderers in the city incite bloodshed, people worship at idol shrines on the mountains, and commit lewd acts. Speech, worship, and conduct are all corrupted.

Overview

False accusation leads to murder, idolatrous feasts defile their worship, and sexual immorality abounds. The catalog widens to show how thoroughly sin has saturated the community. These offenses reveal a people estranged from God's law in word, devotion, and behavior alike.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 31

  • Hos 4:14I will not punish your daughters when they commit whoredom, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for themselves are separated with whores, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people that doth not understand shall fall.
  • Hos 4:2By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood.
  • Lev 19:16Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
  • Hos 4:10For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
  • Exod 20:16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.
  • Prov 10:18He that hideth hatred with lying lips, and he that uttereth a slander, is a fool.
  • Ps 50:20Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son.
  • Rev 12:9–10And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
  • Ezek 18:11And that doeth not any of those duties, but even hath eaten upon the mountains, and defiled his neighbour’s wife,
  • Ezek 16:43Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
  • 1 Cor 10:18–21Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
  • Matt 26:59Now the chief priests, and elders, and all the council, sought false witness against Jesus, to put him to death;
  • Ezek 18:6And hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, neither hath defiled his neighbour’s wife, neither hath come near to a menstruous woman,
  • Ezek 18:15That hath not eaten upon the mountains, neither hath lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hath not defiled his neighbour’s wife,
  • Ps 101:5Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.
  • Jer 38:4–6Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
  • Jer 37:13–15And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans.
  • Hos 6:9And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
  • Prov 26:22The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
  • Prov 18:8The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.
  • Ps 106:28They joined themselves also unto Baalpeor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead.
  • Jer 6:28They are all grievous revolters, walking with slanders: they are brass and iron; they are all corrupters.
  • Acts 24:5For we have found this man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes:
  • Acts 6:11–13Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
  • Ezek 24:13In thy filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee.
  • Exod 23:1Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
  • Hos 7:4They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.
  • Judg 20:6And I took my concubine, and cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel: for they have committed lewdness and folly in Israel.
  • 1 Kgs 21:10–13And set two men, sons of Belial, before him, to bear witness against him, saying, Thou didst blaspheme God and the king. And then carry him out, and stone him, that he may die.
  • Jer 9:4Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders.
  • Acts 24:13Neither can they prove the things whereof they now accuse me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

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 22:9YouTube · 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 22:9 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.