Yes, heap on the wood! Let the fire roar to make the pot boil. Cook the meat with many spices, and afterward burn the bones.
Parallel translations
- WEB Heap on the wood, make the fire hot, boil the meat well, and make the broth thick, and let the bones be burned.
- KJV Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
- BSB Pile on the logs and kindle the fire; cook the meat well and mix in the spices; let the bones be burned.
- NKJV Heap on the wood, Kindle the fire; Cook the meat well, Mix in the spices, And let the cuts be burned up.
- NASB “Heap on the wood, kindle the fire, Cook the meat thoroughly And mix in the spices, And let the bones be burned up.
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 fire is heaped up until the meat is cooked and even the bones are burned. It pictures the complete consumption of the city in judgment.
Overview
Commands to pile on wood, intensify the heat, and burn even the bones convey total destruction, nothing of the besieged city will be spared. The thoroughness of the burning answers to the depth of Jerusalem's guilt. The parable leaves no room for the false comfort that judgment will be partial or light.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Jer 17:3My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.
- Jer 20:5Moreover I will give all the riches of this city, and all its gains, and all the precious things of it, yes, all the treasures of the kings of Judah will I give into the hand of their enemies; and they shall make them captives, and take them, and carry them to Babylon.
- Lam 1:10The adversary has spread out his hand on all her pleasant things: for she has seen that the nations are entered into her sanctuary, concerning whom you commanded that they should not enter into your assembly.
- Lam 2:16All your enemies have opened their mouth wide against you. They hiss and gnash the teeth. They say, “We have swallowed her up. Certainly this is the day that we looked for. We have found it. We have seen it.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 24:10 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.