Ezekiel 14:16

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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שְׁמָמָֽה

shᵉmâmâh

H8077

“desolation”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 58× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Exodus 23:29

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H8076

TWOT: 2409b , 2409c

devastation, waste, desolation

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 →

20: words
18: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

שְׁמָמָֽה desolation H8077 occurs in 54 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
10 nouns
2 adjectives
3 pronouns
2 conjunctions

Verb forms

יַצִּ֑ילוּ Hiphil · Imperfect
יִנָּצֵ֔לוּ Niphal · Imperfect
תִּהְיֶ֥ה Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

יַצִּ֑ילוּ to rescue H5337 ×2
אִם if H518 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 32 words from the Hebrew and 37 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 20 Hebrew tokens and 29 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 14:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Genesis 19:29 It happened, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
Genesis 18:23–33 Abraham drew near, and said, "Will you consume the righteous with the wicked?
Numbers 14:28–29 Tell them, As I live, says Yahweh, surely as you have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
Job 22:20 Saying, 'Surely those who rose up against us are cut off, The fire has consumed the remnant of them.'
Ezekiel 14:14 though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, says the Lord Yahweh.
Ezekiel 14:18 though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only should be delivered themselves.
Ezekiel 14:20 though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Ezekiel 18:20 The soul who sins, he shall die: the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

Ezekiel 33:11 Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?
Matthew 18:19–20 Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.
Acts 27:24 saying, 'Don't be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'
Hebrews 11:7 By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
James 5:16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effective, earnest prayer of a righteous man is powerfully effective.

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 14:16 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

שְׁלֹ֨שֶׁת הָאֲנָשִׁ֣ים הָאֵלֶּה֮ בְּתוֹכָהּ֒ חַי אָ֗נִי נְאֻם֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֔ה אִם בָּנִ֥ים וְאִם בָּנ֖וֹת יַצִּ֑ילוּ הֵ֤מָּה לְבַדָּם֙ יִנָּצֵ֔לוּ וְהָאָ֖רֶץ תִּהְיֶ֥ה שְׁמָמָֽה

though these three men were in it, as I live, says the Lord Yahweh, they should deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only should be delivered, but the land should be desolate.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 14:16 Septuagint · lemma form

καί ὁ τρεῖς ἀνήρ οὗτος ἐν μέσος αὐτός εἰμί ζάω ἐγώ λέγω κύριος εἰ υἱός ἤ θυγάτηρ σώζω ἀλλά ἤ αὐτός μόνος σώζω ὁ δέ γῆ εἰμί εἰς ὄλεθρος

and if these three men should be in the midst of it, as I live, says the Lord, neither sons nor daughters shall be saved, but these only shall be saved, and the land shall be destroyed.

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)

תְּלָתָא גַבְרַיָא הָאִילֵן בְּגַוָהּ קַיָם אֲנָא אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים אִם בְּנִין וְאִם בְּנָן יְשֵׁיזְבוּן יִשְׁתֵּיזְבוּן וְאַרְעָא תְּהֵי לְצָדוּ:

(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 14:16 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 14:16 [Though] these three men [were] in it, [as] I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate.

Ver. 16. Though these three men were in it.] All alive, and lustily tugging; yet it would not do. In common calamities heathens had their supplications and sacrifices. Papists have their litanies and processions, though to small purpose. Let us, in the like ease, up and be doing, that the Lord may be with us.

They shall deliver neither sons.] Heb., If they deliver sons, &c.; q.d., then never trust me more. Formula iurandi elliptica.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

16. neither sons nor daughters] There is no support in the words for the idea of Hävernick that the three names, Noah, Daniel and Job form a climax, inasmuch as Noah saved his children, Daniel only his three fellow-exiles, while Job could deliver neither son nor daughter, though every week he interceded and made atonement for them. This idea is false to the sense of the Book of Job, for Job’s children are nowhere represented by the author of the book as having been cut off for their sins, though naturally Job’s “friends” put this construction upon their death (ch. Eze_8:4). The prophet does not appear to have in view any historical details in the lives of these three men; he refers to the men themselves as great saints famous in the traditions of his people.

Eze_14:17-18. Sword and war. Lev_26:25.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Or if I bring a sword upon that land,.... The land which had grievously sinned; the same land into which a famine should come, and through which evil beasts should pass; to which, if the Lord should add, as he would, a third judgment, the sword; suffer a foreign enemy to come in among them, and destroy them. So the Targum,

"or if those that slay with the sword I should bring upon that land;''

the Chaldean army, as he did; the sword has its commission from God; war is not by chance; the invasion of a foreign enemy is from the Lord; and all the mischiefs and ravages of a tumultuous army are all by divine order:

and say, sword, go through the land; not only enter the borders of it, or proceed far in it, but even go through it; which is terrible indeed! but if the Lord bids it go, it must go, and does; it is a servant of his, and punctually obeys his commands; that is, such are those that use it, however profane and wicked they may be in themselves, as generally armies consist of dissolute persons; yet these are under a divine direction, and are obedient to the will of God, though they may know it not. So the Targum,

"and I say that they that kill with the sword pass through the land:''

so that I cut off man and beast from it; by the sword; the one being destroyed as an enemy, the other for food.

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

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

As I live; a form of speech in which God by oath confirms what he speaketh, and it is such an oath as becomes him only, who is life, and cannot die.

Neither sons nor daughters; neither sons that should perpetuate their families, and are the support of houses, nor daughters, the tenderness of whose sex and age does make and keep parents’ affections fervent towards them. No near relation should escape on their account.

Desolate, i.e. most desolate, as the Hebrew use by an abstract to express the superlative degree, Isa 1:7; 64:10.

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

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

Daniel D. Whedon

16. Neither sons nor daughters — Noah was granted this answer to prayer, and Daniel saved his fellow-exiles, and Job his three friends (compare Jas_5:16; Mat_18:20); but the wickedness of the holy land is so great, because of God’s special favors, that even the united prayer of all three would not be granted in behalf of these hardened impenitents.

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

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 20 words (18 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is shᵉmâmâh (“desolation”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “desolation” (shᵉmâmâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
How does Exodus 23:29, which shares the word «desolation», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “to rescue” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«יַצִּ֑ילוּ» is a Hiphil Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 20 Hebrew ↔ 29 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 23 words in this verse.
“to rescue” occurs 2× in this single verse.
18 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 20 words in this verse.