Ezekiel 20

The original text of this chapter is written in the Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 49 verses.

It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month,

that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, and sat before me. (NKJV)[5]

The opening of chapter 8 has similar wording. The recorded date of the occurrence in chapter 20 would fall in July–August 591 BC,[6] calculated to be August 14, 591 BCE, based on an analysis by German theologian Bernhard Lang.[7]

Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them?

Then make known to them the abominations of their fathers. (NKJV)[8]

• "Will you judge them?" - a recurrent theme, also seen in Ezekiel 22:2 and 23:36.[9]
• "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ḇen-’ā-ḏām): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.[10]
• "Abomination" (Hebrew plural: תּוֹעֲבֹ֥ת tō-‘ă-ḇōṯ; singular: תּוֹעֵבָה tôʻêbah, to-ay-baw'): something loathsome or objectionable, especially for "Jehovah" (Proverbs 3:32; 21:27), "specially used for things belonging to the worship of idols" or idolatrous practices and objects.[11][12]

“Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “On the day when I chose Israel and raised My hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I raised My hand in an oath to them, saying, ‘I am the Lord your God.’"[13]

The text in the King James Version makes no reference to God's oath in this verse.[14]

Then I said to them, "What is this high place to which you go?" So its name is called Bamah to this day.[15]

"Bamah" means "high place". Theologian Andrew B. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel uses "a punning and contemptuous derivation of the word", using what (mah) and go (ba):

What (mah) is the high place whereunto ye go (ba)?"

Whilst he disagrees with the interpretation, Davidson notes that "some have supposed that “go” has the sense of “go in” (e.g. Genesis 38:2: Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite ... and he married her and went in to her) and that the allusion is to the immoralities practised on the high places".[1]

And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there I will plead My case with you face to face.[16]

The "wilderness of the peoples" is alternatively translated as "the wilderness of the nations" (NIV),[17] or "a desert surrounded by nations" (Contemporary English Version).[18] Davidson suggests it refers to "the Syro-Babylonian wilderness, adjoining the peoples among whom they were dispersed",[1] perhaps the modern-day Syrian Desert. Davidson suggests that Ezekiel may have followed Hosea's words here:

Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

Bring her into the wilderness

And speak kindly to her.[19]

“I will make you pass under the rod,

and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; (NKJV)[20]

• "Bond" (Hebrew: מסרת mā-sō-reṯ): "band" or "terms" in New Living Translation; contraction of מַאֲסֹרֶת, used in relation to the "covenant", the same root as the word "mesorah".[21][22]

• Av: Fifth month in Hebrew calendar
• Exodus
• Egypt
• Israel
• Jacob
• Sabbath
• Ten Commandments
• Tisha B'Av
• Related Bible parts: Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, Romans 6, Galatians 5

• Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995). International Standard Bible Encyclopedia: vol. iv, Q-Z. Eerdmans. ISBN 9780802837844.
• Brown, Francis; Briggs, Charles A.; Driver, S. R. (1994). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprint ed.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN 978-1565632066.
• Clements, Ronald E (1996). Ezekiel. Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 9780664252724.
• Gesenius, H. W. F. (1979). Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index. Translated by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (7th ed.). Baker Book House.
• Joyce, Paul M. (2009). Ezekiel: A Commentary. Continuum. ISBN 9780567483614.
• Kee, Howard Clark; Meyers, Eric M.; Rogerson, John; Levine, Amy-Jill; Saldarini, Anthony J. (2008). Chilton, Bruce (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Bible (2, revised ed.). Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521691406.
• Würthwein, Ernst (1995). The Text of the Old Testament. Translated by Rhodes, Erroll F. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-0788-7. Retrieved January 26, 2019.