12 A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!
`Cursed `is' he who is taking a bribe to smite a person, innocent blood, -- and all the people have said, Amen.
Therefore, thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because thou hast forgotten Me, And thou dost cast Me behind thy back, Even thou also bear thy wickedness and thy whoredoms.'
`And when thy brother is become poor, and his hand hath failed with thee, then thou hast kept hold on him, sojourner and settler, and he hath lived with thee; thou takest no usury from him, or increase; and thou hast been afraid of thy God; and thy brother hath lived with thee;
Thou dost not turn aside judgment; thou dost not discern faces, nor take a bribe, for the bribe blindeth the eyes of the wise, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
They have forgotten God their saviour, The doer of great things in Egypt,
Doth a virgin forget her ornaments? A bride her bands? And My people have forgotten Me days without number.
In usury he hath given, and increase taken, And he liveth: he doth not live, All these abominations he hath done, He doth surely die, his blood is on him.
Perished hath the kind out of the land, And upright among men -- there are none, All of them for blood lie in wait, Each his brother they hunt `with' a net. On the evil `are' both hands to do `it' well, The prince is asking -- also the judge -- for recompence, And the great -- he is speaking the mischief of his soul, And they wrap it up.
wo to them! because in the way of Cain they did go on, and to the deceit of Balaam for reward they did rush, and in the gainsaying of Korah they did perish.
Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon `you'; your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver have rotted, and the rust of them for a testimony shall be to you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye made treasure in the last days! lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered;
and those wishing to be rich, do fall into temptation and a snare, and many desires, foolish and hurtful, that sink men into ruin and destruction, for a root of all the evils is the love of money, which certain longing for did go astray from the faith, and themselves did pierce through with many sorrows;
not given to wine, not a striker, not given to filthy lucre, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money,
nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, the reign of God shall inherit.
And Zaccheus having stood, said unto the Lord, `Lo, the half of my goods, sir, I give to the poor, and if of any one anything I did take by false accusation, I give back fourfold.'
the Pharisee having stood by himself, thus prayed: God, I thank Thee that I am not as the rest of men, rapacious, unrighteous, adulterers, or even as this tax-gatherer;
`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye make clean the outside of the cup and the plate, and within they are full of rapine and incontinence.
`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the reign of the heavens before men, for ye do not go in, nor those going in do ye suffer to enter.
A voice on high places is heard -- weeping, Supplications of the sons of Israel, For they have made perverse their way, They have forgotten Jehovah their God.
And the dogs `are' strong of desire, They have not known sufficiency, And they `are' shepherds! They have not known understanding, All of them to their own way they did turn, Each to his dishonest gain from his quarter:
So `are' the paths of every gainer of dishonest gain, The life of its owners it taketh.
and my heart reigneth over me, and I strive with the freemen, and with the prefects, and say to them, `Usury one upon another ye are exacting;' and I set against them a great assembly,
The Rock that begat thee thou forgettest, And neglectest God who formeth thee.
`Thou dost not oppress thy neighbour, nor take plunder; the wages of the hireling doth not remain with thee till morning.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Ezekiel 22
Commentary on Ezekiel 22 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 22
Here are three separate messages which God entrusts the prophet to deliver concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and all to the same purport, to show them their sins and the judgments that were coming upon them for those sins.
Eze 22:1-16
In these verses the prophet by a commission from Heaven sits as a judge upon the bench, and Jerusalem is made to hold up her hand as a prisoner at the bar; and, if prophets were set over other nations, much more over God's nation, Jer. 1:10. This prophet is authorized to judge the bloody city, the city of bloods. Jerusalem is so called, not only because she had been guilty of the particular sin of blood-shed, but because her crimes in general were bloody crimes (ch. 7:23), such as polluted her in her blood, and for which she deserved to have blood given her to drink. Now the business of a judge with a malefactor is to convict him of his crimes, and then to pass sentence upon him for them. These two things Ezekiel is to do here.
Eze 22:17-22
The same melancholy string is still harped upon, and various turns are given it, to make it affecting, that it may be influencing. The prophet must here show, or at least it is here shown him, that the whole house of Israel has become as dross and that as dross they shall be consumed. What David has said concerning the wicked ones of the world is here said concerning the wicked ones of the church, now that it is corrupt and degenerate (Ps. 119:119): Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross.
Eze 22:23-31
Here is,