Ezekiel 24:5

Eze 24:5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, [and] make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.

Ver. 5. Take the choice of the flock.] The king and his peers.

And burn also the bones.] The dry bones, the common people, for these will burn like wood.

And let him seethe the bones.] The choice bones. {Eze 24:4}

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.

Or, heap.

Meaning, of the innocents, whom they had slain, who were the cause of the kindling of God’s wrath against them.

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

burn . . . bones--rather, "pile the bones." Literally, "Let there be a round pile of the bones."

therein--literally, "in the midst of it."

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 5. Make it boil well] Let it boil over, that its own scum may augment the fire, that the bones - the soldiers, may be seethed therein. Let its contentions, divided counsels, and disunion be the means of increasing its miseries, רתח רתחיה rattach rethacheyha, let it bubble its bubbling; something like that of the poet: -

"Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble:

Fire burn, and cauldron bubble."

Very like the noise made by ebullition, when a pot of thick broth, "sleek and slab," is set over a fierce fire. Such was that here represented, in which all the flesh, the fat and the bones were to be boiled, and generally dissolved together.

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

(5) Burn also the bones under it.—It is uncertain whether this is or is not the exact sense. The word for “burn” means, as is shown in the margin, heap, and is a noun. This is taken by many with a verb implied, in the sense of “make a heap of wood to burn the bones.” On the other hand, the sense of the text is that given in most of the ancient versions, and it is certain that bones, before the fat is extracted, may be used for fuel. It is better, therefore, to translate quite literally, heap the bones under it, leaving the same ambiguity as in the original as to whether the bones are to be burned upon the fuel or themselves used for fuel. In either case, the bones are those which are left after “the good pieces” have been put into the cauldron. No part of the people shall escape; the refuse alike with the choice is doomed to destruction.

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

5. burn also the bones] a pile also of wood under it. If “pile” could be read as a verb, and pile also wood, the construction would be easier. In spite of the versions wood must be substituted for “bones.”

make it boil well] Lit. make boil its boilings. The word “boilings” does not occur again; possibly by changing a letter “boil its pieces,” parallel to its bones in next clause.

let them seethe] let the bones thereof be seethed. Naturally here and Eze_24:4 “bones” include the flesh upon them. They are those of such parts as leg and shoulder.

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.

Take the choice of the flock,.... King, princes, nobles, magistrates, priests and rulers of the people:

and burn also the bones under it: or, "put a pile of bones under it" (u); the bones of them that are slain in it; denoting the great slaughter of them; or the bones of the innocent that had been murdered in it; which were the cause of these judgments coming upon them; and caused the wrath of God to burn the more hotly against them; or the bones of the wicked:

and make it boil well; the pot; that the water may be very hot and boiling; denoting the severity of the judgments of God in the city, to the destruction of many by sword, famine, and pestilence:

and let them seethe the bones of it therein; that the strongest among them may be weakened and destroyed by the length and severity of the siege, and the judgments attending it. The Targum is,

"bring near the kings of the people, and even join auxiliaries with them; hasten the time of it yea, let her slain be cast in the midst of her.''

(u) "pyram ossium sub ipsa", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Starckius. "rogus, strues materiae combustibililis rotunda", Stockius, p. 223.

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

Burn - Rather, as in margin; the bones would serve for fuel.

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

The, &c. Literally, "its boiling has grown hot;" the citizens suffer terribly. --- Bones. Hebrew hatsamim, (Haydock) may denote the more solid meat.

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).

Take the choice; pick out the very best in the flock, that is, the greatest, richest, most powerful for authority and interest in the nation and city.

Burn; or, heap together in order to burn, to make a fire with.

The bones; not of the pieces to be boiled, but the bones of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem and in the land; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones, scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.

Make it boil well; let the fire be so great, and the pot so long over, till all within it be boiled thoroughly, till all the strength and marrow be wasted, and the very flesh drop to pieces; so shall this people be wasted by this judgment. Seethe the bones: see Eze 24:4; this is doubled to assure us, however the meaner sort did, the more considerable part of the Jews should not escape. In this allegory there may lie couched an exact correspondence between the sins and punishments of this people; their sin was the slaying the best, or by oppressing them broke their bones, boiled out the marrow, sucked them dry; and now God will retaliate to these men.

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

5. Burn also the bones — R.V., “pile also the bones under it.” Great critics, like Smend and Cornill, read “wood” instead of “bones,” but this is opposed to all the versions. Bones were sometimes used as fuel in case of extremity. The prophet has pictured the land as being desolated by fire and covered with the bones of the slain. Did he mean to suggest that the bones of their own kinsmen slain in the defense of the city should be fuel which would make the Jerusalem pot boil? At any rate the use of bones vividly suggests a state of siege.

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

Burn also the bones under it; better, with the Vulgate and Revised Version, pile the bones. The bones of animals were often used as fuel. Currey quotes an interesting passage from Livingstone"s "Last Journal," 1. p. 347, narrating how, when the supply of ordinary fuel failed, he made his steamer work with the bones of elephants. See a like practice among the Scythians (Herod., 4:61).

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

The bones - Not of the pieces to be boiled, but of the many innocents murdered in Jerusalem; for their blood crieth for vengeance, and their bones scattered on the face of the earth, will both make and maintain this fire.

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

Take the choice of the flocks You, Nebuchadnezzar, take the choicest of your armies around it. So did Jonathan render, but this does not fit with the idea of the pot. This must therefore be interpreted to mean that the choicest of Israel will come and enter into its midst.

and also arrange the limbs under it [Heb. דוּר,] an expression of arranging, and so (Isa. 22:18): “He shall wind you around like a turban, like a surrounding wall (כַּדוּר),” a row of surrounding troops. A row (דוּרָה) is translated into Aramaic as דַּרָא. However, Menachem explains it (p. 67) as (verse 9): “Even I shall enlarge the fire (הַמְדוּרָה).”

make it boil well After they all are inside it, the siegeworks and the armaments will come near the city.

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.