Ezekiel 13:23

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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וְקֶ֖סֶם

qeçem

H7081

“and · divination”

Conjunction + Noun, Common, Masculine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 11× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Numbers 22:7

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7080

TWOT: 2044a

divination, witchcraft - of the nations, Balaam - of false prophets - in a good sense (king's lips as oracles)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

16: words
15: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is וְקֶ֖סֶם divination H7081 — appearing just 11 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

וְקֶ֖סֶם divination H7081 occurs in 11 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
5 nouns
1 pronoun
1 conjunction
2 adverbs
3 particles

Verb forms

תֶחֱזֶ֔ינָה Qal · Imperfect
תִקְסַ֣מְנָה Qal · Imperfect
וְהִצַּלְתִּ֤י Hiphil · Sequential Perfect
וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ן Qal · Sequential Perfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

לֹ֣א not H3808 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 28 words from the Hebrew and 33 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 16 Hebrew tokens and 25 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 13:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Ezekiel 13:21 Your kerchiefs also will I tear, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they shall be no more in your hand to be hunted; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 12:24 For there shall be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
Micah 3:6 "Therefore night is over you, with no vision, And it is dark to you, that you may not divine; And the sun will go down on the prophets, And the day will be black over them.
Ezekiel 34:10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.
Zechariah 13:3 It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, 'You must die, because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh;' and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.
Revelation 12:9 The great dragon was thrown down, the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Revelation 12:11 They overcame him because of the Lamb's blood, and because of the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life, even to death.
Deuteronomy 18:20 But the prophet, who shall speak a word presumptuously in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.

Ezekiel 13:6–16 They have seen falsehood and lying divination, who say, Yahweh says; but Yahweh has not sent them: and they have made men to hope that the word would be confirmed.
Ezekiel 14:8 and I will set my face against that man, and will make him an astonishment, for a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of my people; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 15:7 I will set my face against them; they shall go forth from the fire, but the fire shall devour them; and you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them.
Matthew 24:24 For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
Mark 13:22 For there will arise false christs and false prophets, and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones.
1 Corinthians 11:19 For there also must be factions among you, that those who are approved may be revealed among you.
2 Timothy 3:9 But they will proceed no further. For their folly will be evident to all men, as theirs also came to be.
Jude 1:24 Now to him who is able to keep them from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory in great joy,

Revelation 13:5 A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.
Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
Revelation 15:2 I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who overcame the beast, his image, and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 13:23 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

לָכֵ֗ן שָׁ֚וְא לֹ֣א תֶחֱזֶ֔ינָה וְקֶ֖סֶם לֹא תִקְסַ֣מְנָה ע֑וֹד וְהִצַּלְתִּ֤י אֶת עַמִּי֙ מִיֶּדְכֶ֔ן וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ן כִּֽי אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה

Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 13:23 Septuagint · lemma form

διά οὗτος ψευδής οὐ μή ὁράω καί μαντεία οὐ μή μαντεύομαι ἔτι καί ῥύομαι ὁ λαός ἐγώ ἐκ χείρ σύ καί γιγνώσκω ὅτι ἐγώ κύριος

therefore you⌃ shall not see false visions, and you⌃ shall no more utter prophecies: but I will deliver my people out of your hand; and you⌃ shall know that I am the Lord.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

בְּכֵן שְׁקַר לָא תִתְנַבְּאוּן וְאוּלְפַן לָא תֵילְפוּן עוֹד וַאֲשֵׁיזִיב יַת עַמִי מִיֶדְכוֹן וְתִידְעוּן אֲרֵי אֲנָא יְיָ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 13:23 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 13:23 Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations: for I will deliver my people out of your hand: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD.

Ver. 23. Therefore ye shall see no more vanity.] By rendering you not only contemptible, but ridiculous. Or by redding the world of such pestilent people.

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.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown

ye shall see no more vanity--The event shall confute your lies, involving yourselves in destruction (Eze 13:9; Eze 14:8; Eze 15:7; Mic 3:6).

Next: Ezekiel Chapter 14

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 23. Ye shall see no more vanity] They pretended visions; but they were empty of reality.

Nor divine divinations] As God would not speak to them, they employed demons. Where God is not, because of the iniquity of the people, the devil is, to strengthen and support that iniquity. And if he cannot have his priests, he will have his priestesses; and these will have a Church like themselves, full of lying doctrines, and bad works.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Calvin's Commentaries

It follows, you shall not see a lie any more. He has hitherto explained the reason why God grew so warm against these women, because they destroyed miserable souls either by their cruelty or their flatteries, and thus were like false prophets: now he adds, you shall not see a lie any more. This ought not to be understood as if God promised these women a sound mind, so that they should cease to hurt the people by their lies: but he confirms the sentiment previously expressed, namely, that they should be subject to the taunts of all men, as boys themselves acknowledge that what they boasted to be oracles were mere imposture. It is just as if he had said — I will make you ashamed, so that hereafter you may be deprived of the use of the prophetic name, as you have hitherto used it. Although these women persisted in their madness, yet they saw vanity no more, since it became openly apparent that those wretched ones who trusted in them were deceived. Lastly, this thought to be adapted not to any change of feeling in these women, but rather to a failure in the effect. It is just as if any one were to say to a foolish fellow boasting himself to be a Lawyer or a physician, — I will take care that you profit no more as either a Lawyer or a physician; and yet that foolish person should not be able to put away the opinion which he had ever formed of his own skin. But this is said, because the mere vanity of his boasting should be evident to all. So also God now speaks. This addition has the same meaning: you shall not divine divination any more. And yet there is no doubt that they desired by all means to invent new prophecies, and to boast in new revelations: but they were despised, because God had detected their lies when Jerusalem was taken, and the people dragged into exile: then because they promised the people a speedy return, when the same God refuted them by prolonging their exile. When, therefore, any one suffers the just penalty of his impiety, then the vanity of those women was detected: in this way they ceased to divine. He repeats — I will free my people from your hand: and you shall know that I am Jehovah. Since I have lately explained this phrase I now pass it by. 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.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(23) Ye shall see no more vanity.—As so often the judgment is expressed in the same form with the Sin. These false prophetesses had sinned by their lying visions, and they should see them no more, because the event should soon expose their utter falsity to the eyes of all. The result would be the deliverance of God’s people, whom they sought to ensnare, and their own conviction, not in penitence, but under judgment, that He is the Lord.

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

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

23. The judgment of God is at hand which shall make an end of all false prophecy and divination. Ch. Eze_12:24; Mic_3:6-7; Amo_8:11. The issue of these judgments shall be that Jehovah shall be known in truth.

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

See Eze 12:24. Either these prophetesses with the prophets of the same stamp shall perish in the day of calamity, and of the miseries that they persnaded others to slight and contemn. Or else, if they live, they shall live to see all their predictions of prosperity vanish, to see the righteous, whom they threatened, escape, and the wicked, whom they spake good of, fall under miseries; this shall so confound them, they shall cease for ever, and pretend no more visions. Your credit shall be gone, and you found false dreamers, you shall never more be able to keep up any power over or interest in my people. Not one just, righteous soul shall ever grieve, or apprehend cause of fear, from what you threaten, and the unrighteous shall no more joy in the expectation of these lying promises. All shall know that I am the Lord, who fulfil promises to the just and execute threats on the bad.

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

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

See no more vanity - They shall see all their predictions vanish, which shall so confound them, that they shall pretend no more to visions.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 16 words (15 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is qeçem (“divination”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “divination” (qeçem) shape what this verse is saying?
Numbers 22:7 shares the word «divination» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“not” occurs 2× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «תֶחֱזֶ֔ינָה» is Qal Imperfect. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Jamieson, Fausset & Brown read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 16 Hebrew ↔ 25 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 20 words in this verse.
“not” occurs 2× in this single verse.
15 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 16 words in this verse.