Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because they say to you, You are a devourer of men, and have been a bereaver of your nation;
Parallel translations
- KJV Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because they say unto you, Thou land devourest up men, and hast bereaved thy nations;
- BSB For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because people say to you, ‘You devour men and deprive your nation of its children,’
- NKJV ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Because they say to you, ‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’
- NASB “The Lord God says this: ‘Since they say to you, “You are a devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,”
- NLT “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: The other nations taunt you, saying, ‘Israel is a land that devours its own people and robs them of their children!’
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 nations slandered the land as a devourer of people that bereaved its own nation. God acknowledges the taunt before overturning it.
Overview
The surrounding peoples mocked the land of Israel as one that 'devours men'—through famine, invasion, and the loss of its inhabitants. God repeats this reproach in order to reverse it in the following verses. The taunt reflected the very real desolation under judgment, but God will not let His land bear such shame permanently, for His people's disgrace touches His own honor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Num 13:32They brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out to the children of Israel, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eats up its inhabitants; and all the people who we saw in it are men of great stature.
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 36:13 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
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.