Ezekiel 20:48Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

And all flesh shall see, that I the Lord have kindled it, and it shall not be quenched.
Douay-Rheims

The Church Fathers on this verse

One Church Father comments on this verse

Theodoret of Cyrus

5th centuryChurch Father

All flesh shall be consumed, as I, the Lord, have ignited it, and it will not be extinguished. Cœœ interprets this as being from below the sun, while Simmachus translates it as from noon. God proclaims that from the territory of the Chaldeans to Jerusalem, He shall employ the fire of His army to annihilate the nations residing in that land, so that through this devastation, all may come to recognize that God reigns supreme over all creation.

Cross references

Passages read together with this verse.

Jer 7:20Therefore thus saith the Lord God: Behold my wrath and my indignation is enkindled against this place, upon men and upon beasts, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruits of the land, and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
2 Chr 7:20I will pluck you up by the root out of my land which I have given you: and this house which I have sanctified to my name, I will cast away from before my face, and will make it a byword, and an example among all nations.
2 Chr 7:22And they shall answer: Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on strange gods, and adored them, and worshipped them: therefore all these evils are come upon them.
Deut 29:24And all the nations shall say: Why hath the Lord done thus to this land? what meaneth this exceeding great heat of his wrath?
Deut 29:28And he hath cast them out of their land, in anger and in wrath, and in very great indignation, and hath thrown them into a strange land, as it is seen this day.
Lam 2:16Phe. All thy enemies have opened their mouth against thee: they have hissed, and gnashed with the teeth, and have said: We will swallow her up: lo, this is the day which we looked for: we have found it, we have seen it.
Lam 2:17Ain. The Lord hath done that which he purposed, he hath fulfilled his word, which he commanded in the days of old: he hath destroyed, and hath not spared, and he hath caused the enemy to rejoice over thee, and hath set up the horn of thy adversaries.
Isa 26:11Lord, let thy hand be exalted, and let them not see: let the envious people see, and be confounded: and let fire devour thy enemies.