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Ezekiel 12

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The word of the Lord also came unto me, saying,

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Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.

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Therefore, thou son of man, prepare thee stuff for removing, and remove by day in their sight; and thou shalt remove from thy place to another place in their sight: it may be they will consider, though they be a rebellious house.

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Then shalt thou bring forth thy stuff by day in their sight, as stuff for removing: and thou shalt go forth at even in their sight, as they that go forth into captivity.

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Dig thou through the wall in their sight, and carry out thereby.

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In their sight shalt thou bear it upon thy shoulders, and carry it forth in the twilight: thou shalt cover thy face, that thou see not the ground: for I have set thee for a sign unto the house of Israel.

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And I did so as I was commanded: I brought forth my stuff by day, as stuff for captivity, and in the even I digged through the wall with mine hand; I brought it forth in the twilight, and I bare it upon my shoulder in their sight.

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And in the morning came the word of the Lord unto me, saying,

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Son of man, hath not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said unto thee, What doest thou?

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Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

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Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

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And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

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My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

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And I will scatter toward every wind all that are about him to help him, and all his bands; and I will draw out the sword after them.

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And they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall scatter them among the nations, and disperse them in the countries.

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But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the Lord.

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Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

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Son of man, eat thy bread with quaking, and drink thy water with trembling and with carefulness;

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And say unto the people of the land, Thus saith the Lord God of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and of the land of Israel; They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein.

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And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate; and ye shall know that I am the Lord.

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And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

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Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?

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Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord God; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.

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For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

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For I am the Lord: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God.

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Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

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Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.

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Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord God.

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Ezekiel 12

Ezekiel performs sign-acts of exile: bringing out household goods through a wall breach to symbolize Judean captivity, trembling while eating defiled bread to represent the siege's terror, and then interprets a proverb about the distant day being confused with the immediate day. These enacted prophecies clarify that the imminent exile is not distant or abstract but immediate reality, countering false prophets who deny or delay judgment. The sign-acts compress temporal distances: what appears as future becomes present through prophetic action, demanding immediate response and readiness. God addresses the people's skepticism about whether the prophecies will occur, establishing that divine word accomplishes its purpose (cf. Isaiah 55:11) and does not return empty. The prophet's trembling and anxiety embody the psychological reality of siege and exile, making prophecy viscerally participatory rather than merely intellectual. This chapter's repeated assertion that

Ezekiel 12:10

Prince-and-people exile-interpretation: sign-act depicts Jerusalem's leadership and inhabitants' coming captivity.

Ezekiel 12:11

Prophet becomes sign; enacted actions prefigure and symbolize people's fate.

Ezekiel 12:12

Prince's forced-dark-flight carrying possessions, wall-breaching, face-covering exactly mirrors Ezekiel's prophetic-performance.

Ezekiel 12:1

New oracle and sign-act series introduction.

Ezekiel 12:2

Ezekiel dwells among spiritually-blind and -deaf people possessing capacity for perception yet refusing to exercise it; fundamental rebellion characterizes them.

Ezekiel 12:3

Sign-act commission: pack belongings as though preparing-to-leave and move between locations in exiles' view; visible action enactment might penetrate people's resistance.

Ezekiel 12:4

Daytime possession-bringing and evening departure as captives-leaving specifies sign-act details.

Ezekiel 12:5

Wall-breaching escape-mimicry depicts besieged-city-flight means; public action ensures witness-requirement.

Ezekiel 12:6

Shoulder-carried possession (exile-bearing), face-covering (mourning or siege-anguish), and signature-status establish prophet's self as divine-sign vehicle.

Ezekiel 12:7

Obedient sign-act-performance: possessions-carrying, wall-breaching, twilight-departure in exiles' view.

Ezekiel 12:8

Morning divine-word-arrival providing interpretation.

Ezekiel 12:9

Exiles observe and question prophet's meaning.

Ezekiel 12:13

Divine-net spreads upon prince; Babylon-captivity captures him; blinding prevents sight of land where death occurs. Prophecy's historical accuracy: Zedekiah captured, blinded, brought to Babylon dying blind.

Ezekiel 12:14

Prince's entourage (court and military) scatters to all directions, pursued by sword; royal-retinue dispersal and destruction.

Ezekiel 12:15

Judgment's scattering achieves YHWH-knowledge; dispersion produces divine-reality recognition.

Ezekiel 12:16

Survivor-remnant preservation allows testimony: few escape sword, famine, plague to declare abominations among nations; witness-preservation ensures judgment and YHWH's involvement known beyond Israel.

Ezekiel 12:17

Another sign-act introduction.

Ezekiel 12:18

Visible-fear eating and drinking execution becomes sign-act depicting siege-distress.

Ezekiel 12:19

Interpretation: Jerusalem and Israel inhabitants will eat and drink with distress and fear during siege; land desolates through dweller-violence.

Ezekiel 12:20

Inhabited-cities destruction and land-desolation achieved; comprehensive judgment empties territory.

Ezekiel 12:21

Final-oracle introduction.

Ezekiel 12:22

Exiles' mocking-proverb noted: days prolong, visions fail; prophecy-skepticism reflects skepticism about prophesied judgment.

Ezekiel 12:23

Proverb-silencing effected through judgment-arrival; vision-fulfillment discredits mocking-speech.

Ezekiel 12:24

False-prophet vain-visions and flattering-divinations cease when YHWH executes prophesied-judgment.

Ezekiel 12:25

YHWH's word speedily fulfilled; exiles' days witness accomplished speech and performed word-speech assurance.

Ezekiel 12:26

Final-message introduction.

Ezekiel 12:27

Continuing people-resistance: prophecy-claimed future-distant occurrence rendering immediate-irrelevance.

Ezekiel 12:28

YHWH's word prolonged-no-more; speedily-arriving fulfillment promise near-term rather than distant-future, assuring judgment's imminence and prophecy-fulfillment.