Ezekiel 33:23-29

33:23 The word of the Lord came to me: 33:24 “Son of man, the ones living in these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land, but we are many; surely the land has been given to us for a possession.’ ¹  33:25 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: You eat the meat with the blood still in it, ²  pray to ³  your idols, and shed blood. Do you really think you will possess ⁴  the land? 33:26 You rely ⁵  on your swords and commit abominable deeds; each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’

33:27 “This is what you must say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: As surely as I live, those living in the ruins will die ⁶  by the sword, those in the open field I will give to the wild beasts for food, and those who are in the strongholds and caves will die of disease. 33:28 I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them. 33:29 Then they will know that I am the Lord when I turn the land into a desolate ruin because of all the abominable deeds they have committed.’ ⁷ 

¹ sn Outside of its seven occurrences in Ezekiel the term translated “possession” appears only in Exod 6:8 and Deut 33:4.

² sn This practice was a violation of Levitical law (see Lev 19:26).

³ tn Heb “lift up your eyes.”

⁴ tn Heb “Will you possess?”

⁵ tn Heb “stand.”

⁶ tn Heb “fall.”

⁷ sn The judgments of vv. 27-29 echo the judgments of Lev 26:22, 25.