Israel's Continuing Rebellion

Ezekiel 20

1 It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that a certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me. 2 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 3 "Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live," says the Lord GOD, b "I will not be inquired of by you." ' 4 "Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Then c make known to them the abominations of their fathers. 5 "Say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "On the day when d I chose Israel and raised My hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made Myself e known to them in the land of Egypt, I raised My hand in an oath to them, saying, f 'I am the LORD your God.' 6 "On that day I raised My hand in an oath to them, g to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, h 'flowing with milk and honey,' i the glory of all lands. 7 "Then I said to them, 'Each of you, j throw away k the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with l the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'

8 "But they rebelled against Me and would not 1 obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, 'I will m pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.' 9 n "But I acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles among whom they were, in whose sight I had made Myself o known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. 10 "Therefore I p made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. 11 q "And I gave them My statutes and 2 showed them My judgments, r 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them.' 3 12 "Moreover I also gave them My s Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.

13 "Yet the house of Israel t rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they u despised My judgments, v 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them'; and they greatly w defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the x wilderness, to consume them. 14 y "But I acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out. 15 "So z I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, a 'flowing with milk and honey,' b the glory of all lands, 16 c "because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for d their heart went after their idols. 17 e "Nevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.

18 "But I said to their children in the wilderness, 'Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. 19 'I am the LORD your God: f Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; 20 g 'hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.'

21 "Notwithstanding, h the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, i 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them'; 4 but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. 22 "Nevertheless I 5 withdrew My hand and acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out. 23 "Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that j I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, 24 k "because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and l their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols. 25 "Therefore m I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live; 26 "and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all 6 their firstborn to pass n through the fire, that I might make them desolate and that they o might know that I am the LORD." '

27 "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "In this too your fathers have p blasphemed Me, by being unfaithful to Me. 28 "When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and q they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their r sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings. 29 "Then I said to them, 'What is this 7 high place to which you go?' So its name is called 8 Bamah 9 to this day." '

30 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your s fathers, and committing harlotry according to their t abominations? 31 "For when you offer u your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will v not be inquired of by you.

32 w "What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, 'We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.'

  1. Cross References
    Ezekiel 8:1
    And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.
    Ezekiel 8:11
    And there stood before them seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up.
    Ezekiel 8:12
    Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.'
    Ezekiel 14:1
    Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
  2. Cross References
    Ezekiel 7:26
    Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders.
    Ezekiel 14:3
    Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?
  3. Cross References
    Ezekiel 16:2
    Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations.
    Ezekiel 22:2
    Now, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations!
    Matthew 23:32
    Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt.
  4. Cross References
    Exodus 6:6 - 8
    Therefore say to the children of Israel: 'I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
    Deuteronomy 7:6
    For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.
  5. Cross References
    Exodus 3:8
    So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
    Exodus 4:31
    So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
    Deuteronomy 4:34
    Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
  6. Cross References
    Exodus 20:2
    I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
  7. Cross References
    Exodus 3:8
    So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
    Exodus 3:17
    "and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'
    Deuteronomy 8:7 - 9
    For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills.
    Jeremiah 32:22
    'You have given them this land, of which You swore to their fathers to give them - "a land flowing with milk and honey."
  8. Cross References
    Exodus 3:8
    So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
  9. Cross References
    Exodus 3:8
    So I have come down to deliver them out of the ...
    Exodus 3:17
    "and I have said I will bring you up out of the...
    Exodus 13:5
    And it shall be, when the LORD brings you into ...
    Exodus 33:3
    " Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; ...
    Psalms 48:2
    Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole ea...
    Jeremiah 11:5
    "that I may establish the oath which I have swo...
    Jeremiah 32:22
    'You have given them this land, of which You sw...
    Ezekiel 20:15
    So I also raised My hand in an oath to them in ...
    Daniel 8:9
    And out of one of them came a little horn which...
    Zechariah 7:14
    "But I scattered them with a whirlwind among al...
  10. Cross References
    Ezekiel 18:31
    Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
  11. Cross References
    2 Chronicles 15:8
    And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the LORD that was before the vestibule of the LORD.
  12. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:3
    According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances.
    Deuteronomy 29:16
    (for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the nations which you passed by.
    Joshua 24:14
    Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD!
  13. Cross References
    Ezekiel 7:8
    Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, And spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations.
  14. Cross References
    Numbers 14:13
    And Moses said to the LORD: "Then the Egyptians will hear it, for by Your might You brought these people up from among them.
  15. Cross References
    Joshua 2:10
    For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.
    Joshua 9:9
    So they said to him: "From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt.
    Joshua 9:10
    And all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan - to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
  16. Cross References
    Exodus 13:18
    So God led the people around by way of the wilderness of the Red Sea. And the children of Israel went up in orderly ranks out of the land of Egypt.
  17. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 4:8
    And what great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?
    Nehemiah 9:13
    You came down also on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven, And gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments.
    Psalms 147:19
    He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His judgments to Israel.
  18. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:5
    You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.
    Ezekiel 20:13
    Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them'; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
    Romans 10:5
    For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them.
    Galatians 3:12
    Yet the law is not of faith, but "the man who does them shall live by them.
  19. Cross References
    Exodus 20:8
    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
    Deuteronomy 5:12
    Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.
    Nehemiah 9:14
    You made known to them Your holy Sabbath, And commanded them precepts, statutes and laws, By the hand of Moses Your servant.
  20. Cross References
    Numbers 14:22
    Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice.
    Psalms 78:40
    How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!
    Ezekiel 20:8
    "But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said, 'I will pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.'
  21. Cross References
    Proverbs 1:25
    Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke.
  22. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:5
    You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.
  23. Cross References
    Exodus 16:27
    Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
  24. Cross References
    Numbers 14:29
    The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above.
    Psalms 106:23
    Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
  25. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:9
    But I acted for My name's sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles among whom they were, in whose sight I had made Myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
    Ezekiel 20:20
    'hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.'
  26. Cross References
    Numbers 14:28
    Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you:
    Psalms 95:11
    So I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'
    Psalms 106:26
    Therefore He raised up His hand in an oath against them, To overthrow them in the wilderness.
  27. Cross References
    Exodus 3:8
    So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.
  28. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:6
    On that day I raised My hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, 'flowing with milk and honey,' the glory of all lands.
  29. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:13
    Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them'; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
    Ezekiel 20:24
    Because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers' idols.
  30. Cross References
    Numbers 15:39
    And you shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the LORD and do them, and that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined.
    Psalms 78:37
    For their heart was not steadfast with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
    Amos 5:25
    Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings In the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
    Acts 7:42
    Then God turned and gave them up to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the Prophets: 'Did you offer Me slaughtered animals and sacrifices during forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
  31. Cross References
    Psalms 78:38
    But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, And did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away, And did not stir up all His wrath.
  32. Cross References
    Deuteronomy 5:32
    Therefore you shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.
  33. Cross References
    Isaiah 58:13
    If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words.
    Isaiah 58:14
    Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
    Jeremiah 17:22
    Nor carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work, but hallow the Sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.
  34. Cross References
    Numbers 25:1
    Now Israel remained in Acacia Grove, and the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab.
    Deuteronomy 9:23
    Likewise, when the LORD sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, 'Go up and possess the land which I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of the LORD your God, and you did not believe Him nor obey His voice.
  35. Cross References
    Leviticus 18:5
    You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.
  36. Cross References
    Leviticus 26:33
    I will scatter you among the nations and draw out a sword after you; your land shall be desolate and your cities waste.
    Deuteronomy 28:64
    Then the LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known - wood and stone.
    Psalms 106:27
    To overthrow their descendants among the nations, And to scatter them in the lands.
    Jeremiah 15:4
    I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
  37. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:13
    Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, 'which, if a man does, he shall live by them'; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
    Ezekiel 20:16
    Because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.
  38. Cross References
    Ezekiel 6:9
    Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.
  39. Cross References
    Psalms 81:12
    So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels.
    Romans 1:24
    Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves.
    2 Thessalonians 2:11
    And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie.
  40. Cross References
    2 Kings 17:17
    And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger.
    2 Chronicles 28:3
    He burned incense in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel.
    Jeremiah 32:35
    'And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.'
    Ezekiel 16:20
    Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter.
  41. Cross References
    Ezekiel 6:7
    The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
    Ezekiel 20:12
    Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
    Ezekiel 20:20
    'hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.'
  42. Cross References
    Numbers 15:30
    But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the LORD, and he shall be cut off from among his people.
    Isaiah 65:7
    Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together," Says the LORD, "Who have burned incense on the mountains And blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.
    Romans 2:24
    For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.
  43. Cross References
    1 Kings 14:23
    For they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree.
    Psalms 78:58
    For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
    Isaiah 57:5 - 7
    Inflaming yourselves with gods under every green tree, Slaying the children in the valleys, Under the clefts of the rocks?
    Jeremiah 3:6
    The LORD said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: "Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.
    Ezekiel 6:13
    Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offered sweet incense to all their idols.
  44. Cross References
    Ezekiel 16:19
    Also My food which I gave you - the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you - you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says the Lord GOD.
  45. Cross References
    Judges 2:19
    And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they reverted and behaved more corruptly than their fathers, by following other gods, to serve them and bow down to them. They did not cease from their own doings nor from their stubborn way.
  46. Cross References
    Jeremiah 7:26
    Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.
    Jeremiah 16:12
    And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.
  47. Cross References
    Psalms 106:37 - 39
    They even sacrificed their sons And their daughters to demons.
    Jeremiah 7:31
    And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.
    Ezekiel 16:20
    Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter.
    Ezekiel 20:26
    "and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire, that I might make them desolate and that they might know that I am the LORD."'
  48. Cross References
    Ezekiel 20:3
    "Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you."'
  49. Cross References
    Ezekiel 11:5
    Then the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said to me, "Speak! 'Thus says the LORD: "Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.
New King James Version (NKJV) Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
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