Ezekiel 5:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

You shall become a target of scorn and slander, serving as a warning and horror to the surrounding nations. In place of this, the LXX states: you shall be στενακτή, signifying one who incites lamentation, and Theodotion adds καὶ δηλαίστή, though the meaning of this is unclear. The other three translations convey it as slander, which the Hebrew text describes with the term geddupha. Following this, it is declared: When I execute judgment upon you in my anger and wrath, and with the chastisements of indignation, which I, the Lord, have declared. The sorrow that Jerusalem should evoke, having so grievously offended God as to incur His fierce judgment, is corroborated by Paul’s words, “We are by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph.

You will become a source of mourning and dread, a punishment and ruin, with your surrounding daughters echoing the cries around you. I will make your misfortunes widely known, and all who learn of your downfall, as well as the devastation of the cities and towns under your control, will grieve and lament. When I enact judgments upon you in my wrath, unleashing fury to seek vengeance and correction. Thus, affirming the truth of his words, he states, "I am the Lord." This assertion of identity is enough to demonstrate the validity of the message.