Ezekiel 13:20- please explain!?

Question

It is so different in the different versions

Answer 1

Part of the problem is that some older translations use the word "pillows" for the Hebrew word "Keceth". Ezekiel is referring to those Jewish prophets who have fallen into sorcery and have "magic" arm bands. According to Ezekiel these false-prophets/sorcerers were seeking to corrupt faithful Jews through their teachings and their trickery to pull them away from the worship of Jehovah, God (stealing their souls). Ezekiel states that Jehovah will strip their armbands from their arms, which means that their fake-magic will be exposed for what it is and they will no longer be able to trick people through their magic.



Ultimately, Ezekiel is pointing out that God protects those who are faithful to Him from the corruption of selfish, evil men.



It helps if you read the surrounding context when you are trying to interpret a verse.

Answer 2

Ezekiel 13

Answer 3

The NIV explains it pretty clearly:



" 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against your magic charms with which you ensnare people like birds and I will tear them from your arms; I will set free the people that you ensnare like birds."



He is referring to false prophets (people who are just making a bunch of stuff up to lead people away from God). Verse 23 God says that He will save people from the hands of the false prophets and "then you will know that I am the Lord."

Answer 4

Ezekiel 13:20 Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against your pillows, wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly, and I will tear them from your arms, and will let the souls go, even the souls that ye hunt to make them fly.





reading the rest of the verses before and after, prophets who were giving their own teachings told israel that they gave pillows of comfort to those who were evil. handkerchiefs which comfort grief tells people they will be comforted from grief.



these false prophets were deceiving people in hence capturing their souls in this false doctrine and words they were telling israel.



it says in verse 19 their false doctrine will cause to slay the souls that should not die, and to save the souls alive that should not live, by your lying to my people that hear your lies?



innocent people by their doctrine will die and are the evil ones

the wicked that should die by their doctrine will live and are considered righteous.



to fly in this verse, by looking at the hebrew means to bloom or flourish. they hunt souls to make them flourish the ones that should not flourish the wicked. even the souls that you make flourish by your false teachings i will rip them from your false teachings.

Answer 5

I will paste a commentary from Matthew Henry on your verse. I will also put the page in my "source" box for further reading and follow-up.



Some think this refers to the severe censures they passed upon those who had already gone into captivity (who were humbled under their affliction, by which their hearts were made sad), and the commendations they gave to those who rebelled against the king of Babylon, who were hardened in their impieties, by which their hands were strengthened; or by their polluting the name of God they saddened the hearts of good people who have a value and veneration for the word of God, and confirmed atheists and infidels in their contempt of divine revelation and furnished them with arguments against it. Note, Those have a great deal to answer for who grieve the spirits, and weaken the hands, of good people, and who gratify the lusts of sinners, and animate them in their opposition to God and religion. Nor can any thing strengthen the hands of sinners more than to tell them that they may be saved in their sins without repentance, or that there may be repentance though they do not return from their wicked ways. 5. They mimicked the true prophets, by giving signs for the illustrating of their false predictions (as Hananiah did, Jer. 28:10), and they were signs agreeable to their sex; they sewed little pillows to the people’s arm-holes, to signify that they might be easy and repose themselves, and needed not be disquieted with the apprehensions of trouble approaching. And they made kerchiefs upon the head of every stature, of persons of every age, young and old, distinguishable by their stature, v. 18. These kerchiefs were badges of liberty or triumph, intimating that they should not only be delivered from the Chaldeans, but be victorious over them. Some think these were some superstitious rites which they used with those to whom they delivered their divinations, preparing them for the reception of them by putting enchanted pillows under their arms and handkerchiefs on their heads, to raise their fancies and their expectations of something great. Or perhaps the expressions are figurative: they did all they could to make people secure, which is signified by laying them easy, and to make people proud, which is signified by dressing them fine with handkerchiefs, perhaps laid or embroidered on their heads.

Answer 6

The righteous are confronted with subtle snares, hidden traps, attractive lures, and bait placed in their path to draw them into the domain of the wicked who seek to bring them to moral and spiritual ruin. (Ps 119:110; 142:3; Ho 9:8) False prophetesses are condemned for “hunting down . . . souls as though they were flying things.”

Answer 7

Whew! You DO pick obscure passages!



A loose transliteration, not to be confused with scripture translation, might be:



Wherefore, says the Lord God, "I am opposed to your amulets which you entice my peoples' souls with as a medium, I will tear them from your arms, releasing them from bondage to your will."

Answer 8

I think god is talking about people who think they are like wizards or witches or people who cast spells



To show them he has power over them he will free " the souls" that they cast the magic charms on and prove to that person that he is god

Answer 9

Women were often blamed for many things in biblical times and throughout history and this is an example talking about women who "lure" men and others away from God

Answer 10

It's one of those ignorant references (oh I'm such a jealous god, crippled by paranoia toward the idea of competition -- as if the true Almighty would be like that) to Jewish women partaking in witchcraft.

Answer 11

Ezekiel 13:17-23



The guilt of the false prophetesses





As God has promised that when he pours out his Spirit upon his people both their sons and their daughters shall prophesy, so the devil, when he acts as a spirit of lies and falsehood, is so in the mouth not only of false prophets, but of false prophetesses too, and those are the deceivers whom the prophet is here directed to prophesy against; for they are not such despicable enemies to God's truths as deserve not to be taken notice of, nor yet will either the weakness of their sex excuse their sin or the tenderness and respect that are owing to it exempt them from the reproaches and threatenings of the word of God. No: Son of man, set they face against the daughters of thy people, v. 17. God takes no pleasure in owning them for his people. They are thy people, as . The women pretend to a spirit of prophecy, and are in the same song with the men, as Ahab's prophets were: Go on, and prosper. They prophesy out of their own heart too; they say what comes uppermost and what they know nothing of. Therefore prophesy against them from God's own mouth. The prophet must set his face against them, and try if they can look him in the face and stand to what they say. Note, When sinners grow very impudent it is time for reprovers to be very bold. Now observe,

I. How the sin of these false prophetesses is described, and what are the particulars of it.

1. They told deliberate lies to those who consulted them, and came to them to be advised, and to be told their fortune: "You do mischief by your lying to my people that hear your lies (v. 19); they come to be told the truth, but you tell them lies; and, because you humour them in their sins, they are willing to hear you." Note, It is ill with those people who can better hear pleasing lies than unpleasing truths; and it is a temptation to those who lie in wait to deceive to tell lies when they find people willing to hear them and to excuse themselves with this, Si populus vult decipi, decipiatur-- If the people will be deceived, let them.

2. They profaned the name of God by pretending to have received those lies from him (v. 19): "You pollute my name among my people, and make use of that for the patronising of your lies and the gaining of credit to them." Note, Those greatly pollute God's holy name that make use of it to give countenance to falsehood and wickedness. Yet this they did for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread. They did it for gain; they cared not what dishonour they did to God's name by their lying, so they could but make a hand of it for themselves. There is nothing so sacred which men of mercenary spirits, in whom the love of this world reigns, will not profane and prostitute, if they can but get money by the bargain. But they did it for poor gain; if they could get no more for it, rather than break they would sell you a false prophecy that should please you to a nicety for the beggar's dole, a piece of bread or a handful of barley; and yet that was more than it was worth. Had they asked it as an alms, for God's sake, surely they might have had it, and God would have been honoured; but, taking it as a fee for a false prophecy, God's name if polluted, and the smallness of the reward heightens the offence. For a piece of bread that man will transgress, . Had their poverty been their temptation to steal, and so to take the name of the Lord in vain, it would not have been nearly so bad as when it tempted them to prophesy lies in his name and so to profane it.

3. They kept people in awe, and terrified them with their pretensions: "You hunt the souls of my people (v. 18), hunt them to make them flee (v. 20), hunt them into gardens (so the margin reads it); you use all the arts you have to court or compel them into those places where you deliver your pretended predictions, or you have got such an influence upon them that you make them do just as you would have them to do, and tyrannise over them." It was indeed the people's fault that they did regard them, but it was their fault by lies and falsehoods to command that regard; they pretended to save the souls alive that came to them, v. 18. If they would but be hearers of them, and contributors to them, they might be sure of salvation; thus they beguiled unstable souls that had a concern about salvation as their end but did not rightly understand the way, and therefore hearkened to those who were most confident in promising it to them. "But will you pretend to save souls, or secure salvation to your party?" Those are justly suspected that make such pretensions.

(from Matthew Henry's Commentary)