Ezekiel 13:9

Eze 13:9 And mine hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that divine lies: they shall not be in the assembly of my people, neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord GOD.

Ver. 9. And my hand shall be upon the prophets] God’s hand is a mighty hand; {1Pe 5:6} the heaven is spanned by it, the earth held in the hollow of it.

They shall not be in the assembly of my people,] {a} Or, In the secret, or councils; they shall have no communion with them. A heavy threat; for the communion of saints, next unto communion with God, is the greatest comfort here attainable.

Neither shall they be written,] As members of that commonwealth, - much less of the Jerusalem that is above, {Isa 4:4} - but rooted out of the world, written in the earth (Jer 17:13; see Psa 69:28).

Neither shall they enter.] They shall never come back out of Babylon, nor enter into heaven.

{a} Dicit eos fore prorsus extraneos ab Ecclesia. Tesseris Eeclesiae aspectabilibus abalienati permanebunt. - Jun.

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.

That is, in the book of life, wherein the true Israelites are written.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

mine hand--My power in vengeance.

not . . . in . . . assembly--rather, the "council"; "They shall not occupy the honorable office of councillors in the senate of elders after the return from Babylon" (Ezr 2:1-2).

neither . . . written in . . . Israel--They shall not even have a place in the register kept of all citizens' names; they shall be erased from it, just as the names of those who died in the year, or had been deprived of citizenship for their crimes, were at the annual revisal erased. Compare Jer 17:13; Luk 10:20; Rev 3:5, as to those spiritually Israelites; Joh 1:47, and those not so. Literally fulfilled (Ezr 2:59, Ezr 2:62; compare Neh 7:5; Psa 69:28).

neither . . . enter . . . land--They shall not so much as be allowed to come back at all to their country.

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

Verse 9. They shall not be in the assembly of my people] They shall not be reputed members of my Church. They shall not be reckoned in the genealogy of true Israelites that return from captivity; and they shall never have a possession in the land; they shall be exhereditated and expatriated. They shall all perish in the siege, by the sword, the famine, and the pestilence.

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

Besides, he afterwards points out the punishment; my hand, says he, shall be against the prophets. For although God threatens to become an adversary to the reprobate, yet this is not sufficient to terrify them, they are so stupid. But it is necessary to use another stimulus, namely, that God should display his power. This is the reason why he now adds, his hand should be against the false prophets. The hand is sometimes taken for a blow: but because God sees the impious torpid amidst their sins, he says that he would not only be their enemy and an avenger of his glory, but he brings forward his own hand into the midst. It follows, they shall not be in the counsel of my people. Some explain the noun סוד, sod, more subtlety than they need for that experience of God which is offered to the elect for their salvation. But this explanation is forced, for they are deceived in thinking that the Prophet’s meaning is different in the second clause, where he adds, they shall not be written in the list of the house of Israel: he repeats the same thing in different words: in the first place he had said, they should not be in the secret of the people: for סוד, sod, signifies a secret, but it is taken for counsel: they shall not be therefore in the assembly of the people: afterwards he adds, they shall not be in the catalogue of the house of Israel. He mentions a catalogue, because judges and others elected to any office were written in a list. We see, therefore, what the Prophet intends — for I am compelled to break off here — namely, that those impostors who wished to enjoy the prophetic title, were altogether without the Church, since God had cast them off.

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.

(9) The assembly of my people.—The original word bears also the meanings placed in the margin, but the sense here is correctly given in the text. The several clauses are intended to emphasise the utter exclusion of the false prophets from the people of God: they shall not be in the congregation; their names shall not be written in the genealogical registers of Israel; they shall not even enter the land when the purified and repentant people should once more return.

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

9. The punishment is described in three steps, which form a climax. At present these prophets possess influence, they are counsellors and leaders; when Israel is a nation again upon her own land they shall have no place in the council of the people—read council for assembly as marg. Now they occupy a high place in the roll of citizens, and have names distinguished; then their names shall not be written in the writing (i.e. the book or register-roll) of the house of Israel; cf. Ezr_2:62; Isa_4:3. And finally, they shall not have a place in the land at all—Israel shall return, while they shall perish. Jeremiah had already used the same language in regard to Shemaiah, a prophet who misled the exiles, Jer_29:32.

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.

Say unto them which daub it with untempered mortar,.... The false prophets, that flattered the people with peace, prosperity, and safety:

that it shall fall; the wall they have built and daubed over; the city of Jerusalem shall be taken and destroyed; the predictions of the prophets shall prove lies; and the vain hopes and expectations of the people fail:

there shall be an overflowing shower; that shall wash away the wall with its untempered mortar; meaning the Chaldean army, compared to an overflowing shower of rain, for the multitude of men it, and the force, power, and noise, with which it should come, bearing down all before it; see Isa 8:7;

and ye, O great hailstones, shall fall; upon the wall, and break it down: or, "ye, O great hailstones, shall cause it to fall" (h); or, "I will give great hailstones, and it shall fall" (i). The word "elgabish", which in some copies is one word, and in others two, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe, is either the same with "gabish", which signifies a precious stone, and is rendered pearl in Job 28:18; or it may be, as it seems to be, an Arabic word; and Hottinger (k) takes it to be "gypsus", or lime, or the "lapis laminosus", or slate; so the Lord threatens to rain down lime or slate upon them from heaven, which should destroy the wall built with untempered mortar:

and a stormy wind shall rend it; this seems to signify the same as the overflowing shower, the Chaldean army, compared to a strong tempestuous wind; see Jer 4:11; as the hailstones, may signify the king of Babylon, with his princes, nobles, and generals.

(h) "et vos, O lapides grandinis, ruere facietis aedificium", Munster. (i) "Et dabo lapides grandinis, qui corruere facient parietem", Pagninus. (k) Smegma Oriental. l. 1. c. 7. p. 119.

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

Assembly - Here “the congregation of the people.” These false prophets were to be struck off from “the writing” or, the rolls, in which the names of all Israelites were registered (compare Psa 87:6; Exo 32:32); and therefore when the restoration Eze 11:17 shall take place these men shall not have part in it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Upon, to punish. --- Counsel. They shall not be consulted, or have any credit. --- Writing. They shall perish in the city, or in banishment. (Calmet) --- Their works shall not be accounted canonical. (Sixt. Bib. ii. 2.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Mine hand; my power striking them; so that it shall be evident they fall under Divine revenge, as Pelatiah, Eze 11:13, and Hananiah, Jer 28:15,16. Or if they escape this stroke,

they shall not be in the assembly of my people; have no seat among the rulers, nor voice among the counsellors, nor credit among the judges of my people; but, as false fellows, teachers of lies, be branded with infamy after the return from captivity. Or, they shall not be among those that return, dead before, or rejected as dangerous seducers and blasphemous abusers of the name of God. It may also refer to the excluding them out of. the assembly of glorified ones in heaven.

Neither shall they be written; registered among those that return, of which registry Ezr 2:1,2, but blotted out for their impiety; this literally: mystically, it may be an obliterating or blotting them out of the book of life; they shall not be written with such as shall escape spiritually, they shall not be found among the elect that shall live for ever.

Neither shall they ever more come into the land of Israel, not survive the captivity. Or, with disgrace cast off, shall die in strange lands. In brief, the approaching prosperity which they promise the people none shall see, Jer 29:21,32; but the prosperity after seventy years’ captivity, which I promise, my people shall see, but these false prophets never shall see, my hand shall be so against them. They shall not be written in the book of eternal life, which is written for the just ones of the house of Israel, saith the Chaldee paraphrast. See Eze 12:15.

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

9. Mine hand shall be upon the prophets — Ezekiel knew what it was to feel the weight of Jehovah’s hand (Eze_3:14). The controlling hand which forces the obedient prophet to do hard tasks will fall still heavier upon the disobedient. He who will not wear the gentle yoke of constraint must drag “as with a cart rope” his load of responsibility and sorrow. These false prophets, now praised for their patriotic citizenship, upon the return from the captivity shall not sit in the “council” as they do now, nor shall their names appear in the national register (Ezr_2:62). They boast of their special patriotism, but events shall prove that they are not even true Israelites. They will go into captivity, but they will never return again into the land of Israel. (See Eze_27:21.)

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

Mine hand shall be, etc. After Ezekiel"s manner, the thought of ver. 6 is repeated in an altered form in vers. 7, 8. What had been a statement appears as a question to which there could be but one answer. The prophet, as it were, cross examines his rivals. Could they deny the charge? Was not every word of it true? Then, after the statement of the sin of the false prophets, comes the proclamation of the punishment. The hand of Jehovah would be upon them for evil and not for good. In the assembly of my people. The Hebrew word indicates not a large popular gathering, but a secret council of those who deliberate together to carry out their. (Psa_89:7 Psa_111:1; Jer_6:11) The prophets who had acted together, and been looked up to by the people as forming such a council, should lose that position of authority. The words that follow point to a yet lower degradation. They should be in the strictest sense of the word excommunicated. The city of Jerusalem, perhaps every city of Judah, had its register of citizens. In such a register were inscribed also the names of proselytes of other races, (Psa_87:6) and so men came to think of a like register as kept by the King of kings, containing the names of those who were heirs of the "life" of the true Israel. (Exo_32:32; Dan_12:1) In neither of those registers, the earthly and the heavenly (but stress is probably laid upon the former), shall the false prophets find a place. Ezr_2:62 gives an example of the use made of such registers on the return from the Captivity. One notes the contrast between the my people" which recognizes Israel as still the heritage of Jehovah, and the thy people" used in Eze_3:11 of the rebellious house of the Captivity. For the false prophets there should be no return to the land of Israel such as that which the prophet anticipated for the faithful and the penitent. (Eze_37:21; comp. Isa_57:13) Here there is no specific mention of the name being struck out. The prophet contemplates a new register, in which their names will never even have appeared.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mine hand - My power striking them. In the assembly - Have no seat among the rulers, nor voice among the counsellors. Written - Not registered among those that return, Ezra ii, 1, 2. Enter - They shall never come into the land of Israel. They shall not be written in the book of eternal life, which is written for the just ones of the house of Israel, saith the Chaldea paraphrast.

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