Ezekiel 13:12

Eze 13:12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where [is] the daubing wherewith ye have daubed [it]?

Ver. 12. Lo, when the wall is fallen.] As fall it will, and with a force, because made of ill mortar; and they that stand under it for shelter shall perish, as did sometimes seven and twenty thousand of Benhadad’s men in Aphek. Vocat autem eloquentiara secularem et rhetoricam inanem, lutum sine palea, &c., saith Oecolampadius here - i.e., by untempered mortar is meant worldly eloquence and empty rhetoric in sermons; this is as sand without lime, or as lime without litter, hair, chaff, or the like stuff to hold it together.

Where is the daubing?] What is your false doctrine come to? your work is lost, if not your souls. {1Co 3:15}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

shall it not be said--Your vanity and folly shall be so manifested that it shall pass into a proverb, "Where is the daubing?"

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

He confirms the last sentence, namely, that the false prophets would be a laughing-stock to all when their prophecies and divinations came to nothing, for the event would show them to be liars. For when the city was taken it sufficiently appeared that they were the devil’s ministers of deceit, for they were trained in wickedness and boldness when they put forth the name of God. Now the Prophet teaches that a common proverb would arise when the wall fell; for by saying, shall it not be said to them, he signifies that their folly and vanity would be completely exposed, so that this proverb should be everywhere current — where is the daubing with which you daubed it? It follows —

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(12) Where is the daubing?—The basis of all their false prophesying being destroyed by the coming judgments, the folly and falsehood of their words would be exposed to the eyes of all. As it is said in Eze_13:14, the wall itself being thrown down to its very foundation, they who have tried to make the people trust in it shall be overwhelmed in its ruin.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12. Confusion of the false prophets.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So will I break down the wall that ye have daubed with untempered mortar,.... Which is repeated and expressed in these words, both for the sake of confirmation and explanation of what is before said:

and bring it down to the ground, so that the foundation thereof shall be discovered; meaning the city of Jerusalem, and by these phrases declaring the utter destruction of it; whereby also would be discovered the vain assurances and lying predictions of the false prophets, and which would appear to be entirely groundless: so the Targum,

"and I will destroy the city in which ye have prophesied false prophecies; and I will cause it to fall to the ground, and its foundations shall be discovered:''

and it shall fall, and ye shall be consumed in the midst of it; the false prophets perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, and not one of them escaped:

and ye shall know that I am the Lord; who is true to his word, and able to accomplish it, whether of punishment or of threatening.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Will not men thenceforth laugh you to scorn? you that built, you that daubed, you that applauded the wall, will they not upbraid you with your folly?

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

12. Where is the daubing — Without God and holiness the defenses of the city are rotten, and the prophet’s work is but the veneer which shall make the wreck more conspicuous. Many a weak place may be hidden from men’s eyes by the prophet’s brush, but when God blows against it with his mighty wind there is no daubing of cracks that can save it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where is the plaster When the calamity comes, such will be said to you: “Where is the peace that you promised?”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.