Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations that surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor executed My ordinances, nor acted in accordance with the ordinances of the nations around you,’
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Because you are turbulent more than the nations that are around you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my ordinances, neither have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you;
- KJV Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because ye multiplied more than the nations that are round about you, and have not walked in my statutes, neither have kept my judgments, neither have done according to the judgments of the nations that are round about you;
- BSB Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You have been more insubordinate than the nations around you; you have not walked in My statutes or kept My ordinances, nor have you even conformed to the ordinances of the nations around you.’
- NKJV Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have multiplied disobedience more than the nations that are all around you, have not walked in My statutes nor kept My judgments, nor even done according to the judgments of the nations that are all around you’—
- NLT “Therefore, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: You people have behaved worse than your neighbors and have refused to obey my decrees and regulations. You have not even lived up to the standards of the nations around you.
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
Because Jerusalem was more turbulent and disobedient than the nations, judgment is coming. She failed even to live up to the order kept by pagans.
Overview
The Lord indicts Jerusalem for being more lawless than the nations, not even matching the basic ordinances pagans observed. Her covenant standing makes the failure especially grievous. This 'therefore' opens the formal sentence of judgment, showing that God's justice responds precisely to a people's measured guilt.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Jer 2:10–11For pass over to the islands of Kittim, and see; and send to Kedar, and consider diligently; and see if there has been such a thing.
- 2 Chr 33:9Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that they did more evil than the nations whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel did.
- 2 Kgs 21:9–11But they didn’t listen, and Manasseh seduced them to do that which is evil more than the nations did whom Yahweh destroyed before the children of Israel.
- Ezek 16:54that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.
- Ezek 16:47–48Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done after their abominations; but, soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.
- Ezek 5:11Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity.
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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 5:7 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
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