New English Translation
Ezekiel 13:4
4Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel.
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 are now prophesying. Say to the prophets who prophesy from their imagination: ‘Hear the word of the Lord! 3This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit but have seen nothing! Your prophets have become like jackals among the ruins, O Israel. 5You have not gone up in the breaks in the wall, nor repaired a wall for the house of Israel that it would stand strong in the battle on the day of the Lord. 6They see delusion and their omens are a lie. They say, “the Lord declares,” though the Lord has not sent them; yet they expect their word to be confirmed.
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 lying windbag should come and say, ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ he would be just the right preacher for these people!
- Micah 3:5This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people are as good as dead. If someone gives them enough to eat, they offer an oracle of peace. But if someone does not give them food, they are ready to declare war on him.
- Matthew 7:15“Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.
- Romans 16:18For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds of the naive.
- 2 Corinthians 11:13For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
- Galatians 2:4Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves.
- Ephesians 4:14So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:9The arrival of the lawless one will be by Satan’s working with all kinds of miracles and signs and false wonders,
- 1 Timothy 4:1Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings,
- Revelation 13:11Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.
- Revelation 19:20Now the beast was seized, and along with him the false prophet who had performed the signs on his behalf – signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
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