Ezekiel 12:20

Bible in Basic English (1941)

And the peopled towns will be made waste, and the land will become a wonder; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

וְהֶעָרִ֤ים הַנּֽוֹשָׁבוֹת֙ תֶּחֱרַ֔בְנָה וְהָאָ֖רֶץ שְׁמָמָ֣ה תִֽהְיֶ֑ה וִֽידַעְתֶּ֖ם כִּֽי־אֲנִ֥י יְהוָֽה׃

Transliteration

And-the-ʿārîm the-nôšāḇôṯ teḥĕraḇnāh and-the-ʾāreṣ šəmāmâ ṯihyeh and-wîḏaʿtem that-I YHWH

Grammar Details

• *ʿārîm*: common noun, feminine plural with definite article - the cities
• *nôšāḇôṯ*: niphal participle, feminine plural with definite article - the inhabited
• *teḥĕraḇnāh*: qal imperfect, 3rd feminine plural - they will be laid waste
• *ʾāreṣ*: common noun, feminine singular with definite article - the land
• *šəmāmâ*: common noun, feminine singular - desolation
• *ṯihyeh*: qal imperfect, 3rd feminine singular - it will be
• *wîḏaʿtem*: qal perfect, 2nd masculine plural - you will know

Word Meanings

• *šəmāmâ*: desolation/waste/devastation

Referenced Verses

• Isa 7:23-24 : 23 And it will be in that day that in every place where before there were a thousand vines valued at a thousand shekels of silver, there will be nothing but blackberries and thorns. 24 Men will come there with bows and arrows, because all the land will be full of blackberries and thorns.
• Jer 4:7 : 7 A lion has gone up from his secret place in the woods, and one who makes waste the nations is on his way; he has gone out from his place, to make your land unpeopled, so that your towns will be made waste, with no man living in them.
• Jer 25:9 : 9 See, I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, my servant, and make them come against this land, and against its people, and against all these nations on every side; and I will give them up to complete destruction, and make them a cause of fear and surprise and a waste place for ever.
• Isa 3:26 : 26 And in the public places of her towns will be sorrow and weeping; and she will be seated on the earth, waste and uncovered.
• Jer 34:22 : 22 See, I will give orders, says the Lord, and make them come back to this town; and they will make war on it and take it and have it burned with fire: and I will make the towns of Judah waste and unpeopled.
• Lam 5:18 : 18 Because of the mountain of Zion which is a waste; jackals go over it.
• Ezek 15:6 : 6 For this cause the Lord has said: Like the vine-tree among the trees of the woods which I have given to the fire for burning, so will I give the people of Jerusalem.
• Ezek 15:8 : 8 And I will make the land a waste because they have done evil, says the Lord.
• Dan 9:17 : 17 And now, give ear, O our God, to the prayer of your servant and to his request for grace, and let your face be shining on your holy place which is made waste, because of your servants, O Lord.
• Jer 4:23-29 : 23 Looking at the earth, I saw that it was waste and without form; and to the heavens, that they had no light. 24 Looking at the mountains, I saw them shaking, and all the hills were moved about. 25 Looking, I saw that there was no man, and all the birds of heaven had gone in flight. 26 Looking, I saw that the fertile field was a waste, and all its towns were broken down before the Lord and before his burning wrath. 27 For this is what the Lord has said: All the land will become a waste; I will make destruction complete. 28 The earth will be weeping for this, and the heavens on high will be black: because I have said it, and I will not go back from it; it is my purpose, and it will not be changed. 29 All the land is in flight because of the noise of the horsemen and the bowmen; they have taken cover in the woodland and up on the rocks: every town has been given up, not a man is living in them.
• Jer 12:10-12 : 10 The keepers of sheep have been the destruction of my vine-garden, crushing my heritage under their feet; they have made my fair heritage an unplanted waste; 11 They have made it waste; it is weeping to me, being wasted; all the land is made waste, because no man takes it to heart. 12 Those who make waste have come on all the open hilltops in the waste land; for the sword of the Lord sends destruction from one end of the land to the other end of the land: no flesh has peace.
• Jer 16:9 : 9 For the Lord of armies, the God of Israel, has said, See, before your eyes and in your days I will put an end in this place to the laughing voices and the voice of joy; to the voice of the newly-married man and the voice of the bride.
• Jer 19:11 : 11 And say to them, This is what the Lord of armies has said: Even so will this people and this town be broken by me, as a potter's bottle is broken and may not be put together again: and the bodies of the dead will be put in the earth in Topheth, till there is no more room.
• Jer 24:8-9 : 8 And like the bad figs which are so bad that they are of no use for food, so I will give up Zedekiah, king of Judah, and his chiefs and the rest of Jerusalem who are still in this land, and those who are in the land of Egypt: 9 I will give them up to be a cause of fear and of trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth; to be a name of shame and common talk and a cutting word and a curse in all the places wherever I will send them wandering. 10 And I will send the sword, and need of food, and disease, among them till they are all cut off from the land which I gave to them and to their fathers.
• Isa 24:3 : 3 The earth will be completely waste and without men; for this is the word of the Lord.
• Isa 24:12 : 12 In the town all is waste, and in the public place is destruction.
• Isa 64:10-11 : 10 Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers gave praise to you, is burned with fire; and all the things of our desire have come to destruction. 11 In view of all this, will you still do nothing, O Lord? will you keep quiet, and go on increasing our punishment?