Ezekiel 20:17Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Douay-RheimsHebrew (Masoretic text)

Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did I consume them in the desert.
Douay-Rheims

וַתָּ֧חָס עֵינִ֛י עֲלֵיהֶ֖ם מִֽשַּׁחֲתָ֑ם וְלֹֽא־עָשִׂ֧יתִי אוֹתָ֛ם כָּלָ֖ה בַּמִּדְבָּֽר׃
Hebrew (Masoretic text)

The Church Fathers on this verse

One Church Father comments on this verse

Theodoret of Cyrus

5th centuryChurch Father

After subjecting these unrighteous individuals to various forms of punishment, he safeguarded their offspring, fully aware that they would not rise to be better than their forefathers, and led them into the land promised to their ancestors.

Cross references

Passages read together with this verse.

Ezek 11:13And it came to pass, when I prophesied, that Pheltias the son of Banaias died: and I fell down upon my face, and I cried with a loud voice: and said: Alas, alas, alas, O Lord God: wilt thou make an end of all the remnant of Israel?
Jer 5:18Nevertheless in those days, saith the Lord, I will not bring you to utter destruction.
Jer 4:27For thus saith the Lord: All the land shall be desolate, but yet I will not utterly destroy.
Ezek 8:18Therefore I also will deal with them in my wrath: my eye shall not spare them, neither will I shew mercy: and when they shall cry to my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.
Ps 78 (77):37
Ps 78 (77):38
1 Sam 24:10And said to Saul: Why dost thou hear the words of men that say: David seeketh thy hurt?
Neh 9:19Yet thou, in thy many mercies, didst not leave them in the desert: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day to lead them in the way, and the pillar of fire by night to shew them the way by which they should go.