Amplified Bible
Ezekiel 13:4
4O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among the ruins.
Ezekiel 13:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts.
- New International Version (NIV)Your prophets, Israel, are like jackals among ruins.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Your prophets have been like jackals among ruins, O Israel.
- New King James Version (NKJV)O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts.
Context of Ezekiel 13:4
2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy from their own inspiration, ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 3Thus says the Lord God, “Woe (judgment is coming) to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit [claiming to have seen things] but have [in fact] seen nothing. O Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among the ruins. 5You have not gone up into the gaps or breaches, nor built the wall around the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6They have seen falsehood and lying divination, saying, ‘The Lord says,’ but the Lord has not sent them. Yet they hope and make men to hope for the confirmation of their word.
Read all of Ezekiel 13Ezekiel 13:4 word by word
כְּשֻׁעָלִ֖ים בָּחֳרָב֑וֹת נְבִיאֶ֥יךָ יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל הָיֽוּ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ezekiel 13:4
- Micah 2:11If a man walking in a false spirit [spouting deception] Should lie and say, ‘I will prophesy to you [O Israel] of wine and liquor (greed, sensual pleasure),’ He would be the acceptable spokesman of this people.
- Micah 3:5Thus says the Lord concerning the [false] prophets who lead my people astray; When they have something good to bite with their teeth, They call out, “Peace,” But against the one who gives them nothing to eat, They declare a holy war.
- Matthew 7:15“Beware of the false prophets, [teachers] who come to you dressed as sheep [appearing gentle and innocent], but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
- Romans 16:18For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites and base desires. By smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting [the innocent and the naive].
- 2 Corinthians 11:13For such men are counterfeit apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
- Galatians 2:4My concern was because of the false brothers [those people masquerading as Christians] who had been secretly smuggled in [to the community of believers]. They had slipped in to spy on the freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us back into bondage [under the Law of Moses].
- Ephesians 4:14So that we are no longer children [spiritually immature], tossed back and forth [like ships on a stormy sea] and carried about by every wind of [shifting] doctrine, by the cunning and trickery of [unscrupulous] men, by the deceitful scheming of people ready to do anything [for personal profit].
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9The coming of the [Antichrist, the lawless] one is through the activity of Satan, [attended] with great power [all kinds of counterfeit miracles] and [deceptive] signs and false wonders [all of them lies],
- 1 Timothy 4:1But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly and unmistakably declares that in later times some will turn away from the faith, paying attention instead to deceitful and seductive spirits and doctrines of demons,
- Revelation 13:11Then I saw another beast rising up out of the earth; he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon.
- Revelation 19:20And the beast (Antichrist) was seized and overpowered, and with him the false prophet who, in his presence, had performed [amazing] signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were hurled alive into the lake of fire which blazes with brimstone.
Commentaries on Ezekiel 13:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts - The cunning of the fox in obtaining his prey has been long proverbial. These false prophets are represented as the foxes who, having got their prey by great subtlety, run to the desert to hide both themselves and it. So the false prophets, when the event did not answer to their prediction, got out of the way, that they might not be overwhelmed with the reproaches and indignation of the people.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4In the deserts - Foxes find a home among ruins etc. Lamentations 5:18. So the prophets find their profit in the ruin of their country.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-5People compare false prophets to jackals that dig in ruins to hunt small animals. These false prophets did not fix the broken walls by urging people to repent, live holy lives, and resist evil. Instead, they gained prestige, and possibly money, by spreading lies that encouraged rebellion. Like jackals, these false prophets were tearing down walls, not building them up (see Nehemiah 4:3).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. foxes--which cunningly "spoil the vines" (So 2:15), Israel being the vineyard (Psa 80:8-15; Is 5:1-7; 27:2; Jr 2:21); their duty was to have guarded it from being spoiled, whereas they themselves spoiled it by corruptions. in ... deserts--where there is nothing to eat; whence the foxes become so ravenous and crafty in their devices to get food. So the prophets wander in Israel, a moral desert, unrestrained, greedy of gain which they get by craft.Read the comment
Topics related to Ezekiel 13:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ezekiel 13
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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