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Tanach: Ezekiel (Yechezqel): Ezekiel (Yechezqel) Chapter 20

Book of AmosHebrew BibleTanakh

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This is a biblical prophetic text — specifically Ezekiel chapter 20 — presented in both the original Biblical Hebrew and a full phonetic transliteration. The chapter records a divine oracle delivered through the prophet Ezekiel to the elders of Israel during the Babylonian exile, in which God refuses to be consulted by a people still practicing idolatry. The main content is a sweeping historical indictment structured as a repeated cycle: God chose Israel and swore to deliver them from Egypt, Israel immediately rebelled through idolatry, God nearly destroyed them but relented to protect his own reputation among the nations, and this pattern recurred through the wilderness generation, their children, and into the present. A theologically distinctive claim appears in verses 25–26, where God states that he gave Israel "statutes that were not good" and defiled them through child sacrifice — a startling admission of punitive misdirection unique in the Hebrew Bible and much debated by interpreters. The oracle concludes with a future promise: God will gather the dispersed Israelites, purge rebels in a "wilderness of the peoples," and restore the faithful remnant to worship on his holy mountain, acting "for the sake of his name" rather than because Israel deserves it.

Tanach: Ezekiel (Yechezqel): Ezekiel (Yechezqel) Chapter 20

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