Read & Study the Bible Online - Bible Portal
Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Ezekiel 13:17-23

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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 13:20

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God, behold, I am against your pillows ,.... Not only had an abhorrence of them, but was determined to destroy them, detect their fallacies, and expose the folly of such actions, and them to shame and contempt: wherewith ye there hunt the souls to make them fly ; to the places where they prophesied; into the toils and nets they spread for them, in order to catch them with their divinations and prophecies, and make a gain of them: or, "into the gardens",... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 13:21

Your kerchiefs also will one tear ,.... From their heads; discover their tricks, and expose them to the contempt of the people, and destroy both them and their works: and deliver my people out of your hand ; from being hunted, ensnared, and deceived by them: and they shall be no more in your land to be hunted ; but should either flee into Egypt, and other countries, for shelter, or be carried captive into Babylon: and ye shall know that I am the Lord ; see Ezekiel 13:9 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 13:22

Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad ,.... By polluting the name of the Lord; by hunting and decoying souls into their destructive nets; and by threatening such who would not give heed to their superstitious rites, lying divinations, and false prophecies: so false teachers make the hearts of such sad, who, having seen the insufficiency of their own righteousness, trust in the righteousness of Christ, and are justified by it; by teaching such doctrines as depreciate... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Ezekiel 13:23

Therefore ye shall see no more vanity, nor divine divinations ,.... They should not be suffered any longer to impose upon the people; and they should be so sufficiently exposed, that the people would not give heed to their vain visions and lying divinations any more; and no gain coming to them hereby, they would not be disposed to make pretensions to them, as they had done: or the sense is, that they should perish in the siege and destruction of Jerusalem; and so they and their false... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:20

The souls that ye hunt to make them fly - לפרחות lephorechoth , into the flower gardens, says Parkhurst. These false prophetesses decoyed men into these gardens, where probably some impure rites of worship were performed, as in that of אשרה Asherah or Venus. See Parkhurst under פרח . read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:21

Your kerchiefs - Nets, or amulets, as some think. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:22

With lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad - Here is the ministry of these false prophetesses, and its effects. They told lies: they would speak, and they had no truth to tell; and therefore spoke falsities. They "saddened the souls of the righteous, and strengthened the hands of the wicked." They promised them life, and prevented them from repenting and turning from their sins. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:23

Ye shall see no more vanity - They pretended visions; but they were empty of reality. Nor divine divinations - As God would not speak to them, they employed demons. Where God is not, because of the iniquity of the people, the devil is, to strengthen and support that iniquity. And if he cannot have his priests, he will have his priestesses; and these will have a Church like themselves, full of lying doctrines, and bad works. read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Ezekiel 13:20

Verse 20 Here Ezekiel begins to threaten those women with what would shortly happen, namely, that God would not only render them contemptible, but also ridiculous, before the whole people, that their delusions and impostures might sufficiently appear. This is the Prophet’s intention, as we shall afterwards see; but the Prophet is verbose in this denunciation. God therefore says, that he is an enemy to those cushions, that is, to those false ceremonies which were like cloaks to deceive miserable... read more

Group of Brands