Ezekiel 12:25

For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:21-28 From that forbearance of God, which should have led them to repent, the Jews hardened themselves in sin. It will not serve for an excuse in speaking evil, to plead that it is a common saying. There is but a step between us and an awful eternity; therefore it concerns us to get ready for a future state. No one will be able to put from himself the evil day, unless by seeking peace with the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The land of Israel - is put generally for the land where the children of Israel dwelt, whether at home, or in exile. There was prevalent a disregard for the true prophets, which is ever followed by a recognition of the false. First, the true prophet is rejected because it is thought that his prophecies fail. Then men persuade themselves that if the prophecy be true it respects some distant time, and that the men of the present generation need not disturb themselves about it. Compare Jeremiah 1:11; Amos 6:3; Matthew 24:43; 1 Thessalonians 5:2; 2 Peter 3:4. Against both these delusions Ezekiel is commissioned to protest, and so to lead the way to his condemnation of his countrymen for their blind reliance on false prophets.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. word … shall come to pass—in opposition to their scoff "the vision faileth" (Eze 12:22). The repetition, "I will speak … speak," &c. (or as Fairbairn, "For I, Jehovah, will speak whatever word I shall speak, and it shall be done") implies that whenever God speaks, the effect must follow; for God, who speaks, is not divided in Himself (Eze 12:28; Isa 55:11; Da 9:12; Lu 21:33).

no more prolonged—in opposition to the scoff (Eze 12:22), "The days are prolonged."

in your days—while you are living (compare Mt 24:34).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I can discover the vanity of flattering prophets, and will do it, by making good what my true prophets have foretold. No length of time shall make me forget it, no pretences of self-flattering prophets or people shall divert it, no power can hinder me, nor counsel defeat me. What Jeremiah and Ezekiel have foretold, I will now accomplish in these days, and defer no longer. I will not preach to you by my prophets the fatal sorrows of your children’s children, who should cry out of calamities when you are past feeling them, but the same age that hears the threat shall feel the execution; the enemy I raise against you shall burn your city and temple, spoil your goods, famish you in the siege, and lead you captives after the siege, and all this and a thousand times more shall come upon you in your days, O rebellious house! When all this comes to pass, your proverb will be sure to cease indeed. Hitherto he answers the ungodly users and abettors of this proverb.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I am the Lord: I will speak,.... A sovereign Being, immutable and eternal; who will speak by his prophets what is his mind and will shall be done:

and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; the word of prophecy delivered out in his nature by the true prophets never fails, but is always accomplished; as that was which respected the siege or Jerusalem, and captivity of the Jews:

it shall be no more prolonged: the judgment threatened shall be inflicted, and that in a very short time:

for in your days, O rebellious house; while they were living; which they hoped would never be, at least not till after their death; whereas, within live or six years after this, all came to pass:

will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord God of hosts; not only the prophecy of their ruin should be given out in their days, but accomplished in that time; which they might depend upon, since he who said it is the mighty God, the Lord of armies in heaven and in earth.

Geneva Study Bible

For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. for I am the Lord] Rather: for I the Lord will speak. Lit. for I the Lord will speak what word I shall speak, and it shall come to pass. The sense is given by A.V. The word which the Lord speaks to this generation shall be fulfilled before it pass away.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - The thought of ver. 93 is reiterated with emphasis. The rebellious house, whether at Tel-Abib or in Jerusalem (probably the word is used with special reference to the former), should see the word of Jehovah fulfilled in their own days. One notes how the prophet dwells on the word prolonged, as though that had specially stirred his indignation. So again - Ezekiel 12:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Declarations to Remove all Doubt as to the Truth of the Threat

The scepticism of the people as to the fulfilment of these threatening prophecies, which had been made still more emphatic by signs, manifested itself in two different ways. Some altogether denied that the prophecies would ever be fulfilled (Ezekiel 12:22); others, who did not go so far as this, thought that it would be a long time before they came to pass (Ezekiel 12:27). These doubts were fed by the lying statements of false prophets. For this reason the refutation of these sceptical opinions (Ezekiel 12:21-28) is followed in the next chapter by a stern reproof of the false prophets and prophetesses who led the people astray. - Ezekiel 12:21. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 12:22. Son of man, what kind of proverb have ye in the land of Israel, that ye say, The days become long, and every prophecy comes to nothing? Ezekiel 12:23. Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will put an end to this saying, and they shall say it no more in Israel; but say to them, The days are near, and the word of every prophecy. Ezekiel 12:24. For henceforth there shall be no vain prophecy and flattering soothsaying in the midst of the house of Israel. Ezekiel 12:25. For I am Jehovah; I speak; the word which I speak will come to pass, and no longer be postponed; for in your days, O refractory generation, I speak a word and do it, is the saying of the Lord Jehovah. - Mâshâl, a proverb, saying current among the people, and constantly repeated as a truth. "The days become long," etc., i.e., the time is lengthening out, and yet the prophecy is not being fulfilled. אבד, perire, to come to nothing, to fail of fulfilment, is the opposite of בּוא, to come, to be fulfilled. God will put an end to these sayings, by causing a very speedy fulfilment of the prophecy. The days are near, and every word of the prophecy, i.e., the days in which every word predicted shall come to pass. The reason for this is given in Ezekiel 12:24 and Ezekiel 12:25, in two co-ordinate sentences, both of which are introduced with כּי. First, every false prophecy shall henceforth cease in Israel (Ezekiel 12:24); secondly, God will bring about the fulfilment of His own word, and that without delay (Ezekiel 12:25). Different explanations have been given of the meaning of Ezekiel 12:24. Kliefoth proposes to take שׁוא and מקסם as the predicate to חזון: no prophecy in Israel shall be vain and flattering soothsaying, but all prophecy shall become true, i.e., be fulfilled. Such an explanation, however, is not only artificial and unnatural, since מקסם would be inserted as a predicate in a most unsuitable manner, but it contains this incongruity, that God would apply the term מקסם, soothsaying, to the predictions of prophets inspired by Himself. On the other hand, there is no force in the objection raised by Kliefoth to the ordinary rendering of the words, namely, that the statement that God was about to put an end to false prophecy in Israel would anticipate the substance of the sixth word of God (i.e., Ezekiel 13). It is impossible to see why a thought should not be expressed here, and then still further expanded in Ezekiel 13. חלק, smooth, i.e., flattering (compare Hosea 10:2; and for the prediction, Zechariah 13:4-5). The same reply serves also to overthrow the sceptical objection raised by the frivolous despisers of the prophet's words. Hence there is only a brief allusion made to them in Ezekiel 12:26-28. - Ezekiel 12:26. And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Ezekiel 12:27. Son of man, behold, the house of Israel saith, The vision that he seeth is for many days off, and he prophesies for distant times. Ezekiel 12:28. Therefore say to them, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, All my words shall be no longer postponed: the word which I shall speak shall come to pass, saith the Lord Jehovah. - The words are plain; and after what has already been said, they need no special explanation. Ezekiel 12:20 compare with Ezekiel 12:25.