Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘An evil! A unique evil! Behold, it comes.
- BSB This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster—behold, it is coming!
- NKJV “Thus says the Lord God: ‘A disaster, a singular disaster; Behold, it has come!
- NASB “This is what the Lord God says: ‘A disaster, a unique disaster, behold, it is coming!
- NLT “This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Disaster after disaster is coming your way!
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
God announces a singular, unprecedented disaster is coming. The judgment will be unlike anything before.
Overview
The Lord declares an evil, a uniquely severe calamity, is about to arrive. The emphatic language stresses the gravity and finality of this judgment on Judah. Such warnings of unparalleled disaster heighten the urgency of repentance and foreshadow the truth that sin's wages are uniquely dreadful apart from God's mercy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Nah 1:9What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
- Ezek 5:9And I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations.
- 2 Kgs 21:12–13Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle.
- Dan 9:12And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
- Matt 24:21For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
- Amos 3:2You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
Resources, by level
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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 7:5 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.