Show the city under siege. Build a wall around it so no one can escape. Set up the enemy camp, and surround the city with siege ramps and battering rams.
Parallel translations
- WEB Lay siege against it, build forts against it, and cast up a mound against it. Also set camps against it and plant battering rams against it all around.
- KJV And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
- BSB Then lay siege against it: Construct a siege wall, build a ramp to it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams around it on all sides.
- NKJV Lay siege against it, build a siege wall against it, and heap up a mound against it; set camps against it also, and place battering rams against it all around.
- NASB Then lay siege against it, build a siege wall, pile up an assault ramp, set up camps, and place battering rams against it all around.
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
Ezekiel is to model a siege against the city with forts, mounds, camps, and battering rams. He dramatizes Jerusalem's coming military destruction.
Overview
The prophet builds miniature siegeworks against the depicted city, picturing Babylon's assault. Every detail of siege warfare foretells the real devastation to come. This sober enactment warned the exiles that Jerusalem's fall was certain. It underscored that judgment for sin was no empty threat but imminent reality.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ezek 21:22In his right hand was the lot for Jerusalem, to set battering rams, to open the mouth in the slaughter, to lift up the voice with shouting, to set battering rams against the gates, to cast up mounds, to build forts.
- Jer 6:6For Yahweh of Armies said, “Cut down trees, and cast up a mound against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression within her.
- Jer 52:4In the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, and encamped against it; and they built forts against it round about.
- Luke 19:42–44saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
- Jer 39:1–2When Jerusalem was taken, (in the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:2 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.