4 Therefore, lo, I am giving thee to sons of the east for a possession, And they set their towers in thee, And have placed in thee their tabernacles. They eat thy fruit, and they drink thy milk,
The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labour, eat up doth a people whom thou hast not known; and thou hast been only oppressed and bruised all the days;
and it hath eaten the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, till thou art destroyed; which leaveth not to thee corn, new wine, and oil, increase of thine oxen, and wealth of thy flock, till it hath destroyed thee.
and the wisdom of Solomon is greater than the wisdom of any of the sons of the east, and than all the wisdom of Egypt;
Your land `is' a desolation, your cities burnt with fire, Your ground, before you strangers are consuming it, And a desolation as overthrown by strangers!
I also do this to you, and I have appointed over you trouble, the consumption, and the burning fever, consuming eyes, and causing pain of soul; and your seed in vain ye have sowed, and your enemies have eaten it;
And he taketh up his simile, and saith: `From Aram he doth lead me -- Balak king of Moab; From mountains of the east: Come -- curse for me Jacob, And come -- be indignant `with' Israel.
And it hath been, if Israel hath sowed, that Midian hath come up, and Amalek, and the sons of the east, yea, they have come up against him, and encamp against them, and destroy the increase of the land till thine entering Gaza; and they leave no sustenance in Israel, either sheep, or ox, or ass; for they and their cattle come up, with their tents; they come in as the fulness of the locust for multitude, and of them and of their cattle there is no number, and they come into the land to destroy it. And Israel is very weak from the presence of Midian, and the sons of Israel cry unto Jehovah.
and Midian and Amalek, and all the sons of the east are lying in the valley, as the locust for multitude, and of their camels there is no number, as sand which `is' on the sea-shore for multitude.
And Zebah and Zalmunna `are' in Karkor, and their camps with them, about fifteen thousand, all who are left of all the camp of the sons of the east; and those falling `are' a hundred and twenty thousand men, drawing sword.
And the noble counselled noble things, And he for noble things riseth up. Women, easy ones, rise, hear my voice, Daughters, confident ones, give ear `to' my saying,
Who stirred up from the east a righteous one? He calleth him to His foot, He giveth before him nations, And kings He causeth him to rule, He giveth `them' as dust `to' his sword, As driven stubble `to' his bow.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 25
Commentary on Ezekiel 25 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 25
Judgment began at the house of God, and therefore with them the prophets began, who were the judges; but it must not end there, and therefore they must not. Ezekiel had finished his testimony which related to the destruction of Jerusalem. As to that he was ordered to say no more, but stand upon his watch-tower and wait the issue; and yet he must not be silent; there are divers nations bordering upon the land of Israel, which he must prophesy against, as Isaiah and Jeremiah had done before; and must proclaim God's controversy with them, chiefly for the injuries and indignities which they had done to the people of God in the day of their calamity. In this chapter we have his prophecy,
That which is laid to the charge of each of them is their barbarous and insolent conduct towards God's Israel, for which God threatens to put the same cup of trembling into their hand. God's resenting it thus would be an encouragement to Israel to believe that though he had dealt thus severely with them yet he had not cast them off, but would still own them and plead their cause.
Eze 25:1-7
Here,
Eze 25:8-17
Three more of Israel's ill-natured neighbours are here arraigned, convicted, and condemned to destruction, for contributing to and triumphing in Jerusalem's fall.