UNROLL
Evening over Judah’s hill country from a high ridge: empty terraces and a walled town small on a far hill, and low on the horizon a heavy bank of dark storm cloud gathering from the north.

Signs of the siege

Ezekiel 7

What are you holding on to that couldn’t save you on the last day?

27 verses≈ 6 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

  1. 1–3Visions of gloryBy the Kebar, about 593 BC: the throne, the scroll, the watchman
  2. 4–7Signs of the siegeA brick, a ration, a razor: the end has comeChapter 7
  3. 8–11The glory departsAbout 592 BC: the temple’s abominations, the mark, the glory goes east
  4. 12–15False hopesExile acted out, false prophets, a useless vine
  5. 16–19Parables and lamentsAn unfaithful bride, two eagles, the one who sins
  6. 20–24The sword drawnRebellion retold; the siege begins, about 588 BC
  7. 25–32The nations judgedAmmon to Egypt: the LORD is Judge of all the earth
  8. 33–36A new heartThe city falls; the Good Shepherd; cleansed and made new
  9. 37–39Dry bones liveOne people raised up, and Gog of Magog defeated
  10. 40–48The LORD is thereAbout 573 BC: the new temple, the river, the land

The Hour of Doom

God

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “O son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says to the land of Israel: ‘The end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.

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God

The end is now upon you,

and I will unleash My anger against you.

I will judge you according to your ways

and repay you for all your abominations.

I will not look on you with pity,

nor will I spare you,

but I will punish you for your ways

and for the abominations among you.

Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

God

This is what the Lord GOD says:

‘Disaster! An unprecedented disaster—

behold, it is coming!

The end has come!

The end has come!

It has roused itself against you.

Behold, it has come!

Doom has come to you,

O inhabitants of the land.

The time has come;

the day is near;

there is panic on the mountains

instead of shouts of joy.

God

Very soon I will pour out My wrath upon you

and vent My anger against you;

I will judge you according to your ways

and repay you for all your abominations.

I will not look on you with pity,

nor will I spare you,

but I will punish you for your ways

and for the abominations among you.

Then you will know that it is I, the LORD,

who strikes the blow.

God
In harsh noon light against a mud-brick wall, a straight dry wooden rod stands upright in a crack in the ground, bursting along its length into hard buds and a few pale blossoms, thorns among them.

Behold, the day is here!

It has come!

Doom has gone out,

the rod has budded,

arrogance has bloomed.

Their violence has grown into a rod

to punish their wickedness.

None of them will remain:

none of their multitude,

none of their wealth,

and nothing of value.

God
The open square inside a town gate at morning: a merchant’s stone bench with a beam balance and stone weights left on it, a half-filled sack of grain beside it, a rolled sealed deed on a cloth, and no one there.

The time has come;

the day has arrived.

Let the buyer not rejoice

and the seller not mourn,

for wrath is upon the whole multitude.

The seller will surely not recover what he sold

while both remain alive.

For the vision concerning the whole multitude

will not be revoked,

and because of their iniquity,

not one of them will preserve his life.

Question

Quick question

Read 7:2–6 again and listen for the word that keeps ringing out.

Which word does the LORD repeat at the start of chapter 7?

The Desolation of Israel

God
Dusk on the flat walkway of a city wall: a long ram’s horn lying on the stones where it was dropped, a rack of spears leaning untouched against the wall, the walkway empty both ways.

They have blown the trumpet

and made everything ready,

but no one goes to war,

for My wrath is upon the whole multitude.

The sword is outside;

plague and famine are within.

Those in the country will die by the sword,

and those in the city will be devoured

by famine and plague.

God
Gray morning in a steep rocky ravine of the Judean hills: gray rock doves huddled on narrow ledges and in crevices of the cliff, feathers ruffled, a thin stream far below.

The survivors will escape

and live in the mountains,

moaning like doves of the valley,

each for his own iniquity.

Every hand will go limp,

and every knee will turn to water.

God

They will put on sackcloth,

and terror will overwhelm them.

Shame will cover all their faces,

and all their heads will be shaved.

God
Close on a stony Jerusalem lane at dusk: silver rings, small rough ingots and gold bracelets lying scattered in the dust and the gutter where they were flung, an open doorway behind.

They will throw their silver into the streets,

and their gold will seem unclean.

Their silver and gold cannot save them

in the day of the wrath of the LORD.

They cannot satisfy their appetites

or fill their stomachs with wealth,

for it became the stumbling block

that brought their iniquity.

God
A smith’s workbench in a dim stone workshop: a small clay crucible of molten gold glowing, a heap of earrings and bracelets beside it waiting to be melted, a small cast figure of a god standing on the bench, tongs at rest.

His beautiful ornaments

they transformed into pride

and used them to fashion

their vile images and detestable idols.

Therefore I will make these

into something unclean for them.

And I will hand these things over

as plunder to foreigners

and loot to the wicked of the earth,

who will defile them.

I will turn My face away from them,

and they will defile My treasured place.

Violent men will enter it,

and they will defile it.

God

Forge the chain,

for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed,

and the city is full of violence.

So I will bring the most wicked of nations

to take possession of their houses.

I will end the pride of the mighty,

and their holy places will be profaned.

God
A stony road climbing toward a walled hill town at evening: one messenger far off, running hard with his cloak flying and dust behind him, a few small figures waiting at the gate.

Anguish is coming!

They will seek peace, but find none.

Disaster upon disaster will come,

and rumor after rumor.

Then they will seek a vision from a prophet,

but instruction from the priests will perish,

as will counsel from the elders.

The king will mourn,

the prince will be clothed with despair,

and the hands of the people of the land will tremble.

I will deal with them according to their conduct,

and I will judge them by their own standards.

Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

0:33

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

Pray

LORD, my silver and gold cannot save me on Your day. Turn my heart from what I trust in place of You, and teach me to seek Your word while it may be found. Amen.

You’ve experienced

Ezekiel 7

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A verse to carry with you

Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD.

Ezekiel 7:19

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