Ezekiel 20:36

Verse

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.

American Standard Version (1901)

Like as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I enter into judgment with you, saith the Lord Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English

As I took up the cause with your fathers in the waste land of the land of Egypt, so will I take up the cause with you says the Lord.

Douay-Rheims 1899

As I pleaded against your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt; even so will I judge you, saith the Lord God.

Free Bible Version

In the same way I judged your forefathers in the Egyptian desert after I'd led them out of Egypt, so I will judge you, declares the Lord God.

King James (Authorized) Version

Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

Translation for Translators

I will punish you, like I punished your ancestors in the desert near Egypt.

Unlocked Literal Bible

As I judged your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so also I will judge you—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.

Noah Webster Bible

As I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD.

World English Bible

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

Young's Literal Translation

As I was judged with your fathers, In the wilderness of the land of Egypt, So I am judged with you, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

Context

Judgment and Restoration

³⁵And I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, where I will enter into judgment with you face to face. ³⁶Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.³⁷I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Summary

In Ezekiel 20:36, God expresses His intention to judge His people, the Israelites, by bringing them under His authority and making them pass under the rod. This imagery of passing under the rod symbolizes a form of inspection or discipline, where God will closely examine and discipline His people for their disobedience. The verse conveys the idea of God's sovereignty and justice, as well as His desire to bring His people back to Himself through correction and guidance.

Commentary

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

(Num 14:21-29). Though God saved them out of Egypt, He afterwards destroyed in the wilderness them that believed not (Jde 1:5); so, though He brought the exiles out of Babylon, yet their wilderness state of chastening discipline continued even after they were again in Canaan.

John Gill Bible Commentary

And I will cause you to pass under the rod,.... That is, such whom God will not take vengeance on, and shall not die in the wilderness of the people; but whom he will have mercy on, and show favour to, and bring at length into their own land; these he indeed will bring under the rod of correction and chastisement, by which they shall be brought to a sense of sin, a confession of it, humiliation for it, and to seek to Christ for salvation from it; or under the rod of his word, the rod of his strength, he sends out of Zion the Gospel, the power of God unto salvation; by which they shall be brought to agree unto and comply with the way of salvation by Christ; to submit to his righteousness; to embrace the doctrines of the Gospel, and be subject to the ordinances of it: or the allusion is to shepherds, in taking an account of their flocks, or at the tithing of them, who strike and mark them with their rod, Lev 27:32, and thus, as the Lord has in election distinguished his sheep from others, taken an exact account of them, and set his seal or mark of foreknowledge on them; so in effectual calling he separates them from others, takes special knowledge of them, and sets his mark of sanctification on them. This will be the case of the converted Jews in the latter day: and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant: or, "the discipline of the covenant", as the Syriac Version; the same with the rod of correction, being what is provided in covenant for the good of the covenant ones. This covenant is the covenant of grace; the bond of which are not faith, repentance, and new obedience; for these are parts and blessings of the covenant; nor any outward ordinance; not circumcision formerly, nor baptism and the Lord's supper now; which persons may submit to, and yet not be in the covenant: but it designs that which makes the covenant firm, sure, and lasting; which are the everlasting love of God, from whence it springs; his unchangeable counsel, according to which it proceeds; his solemn oath, that it shall never be removed; his faithfulness, which will not suffer it to be made void; and his power, which will accomplish every article of it; and the blood of Christ, which ratifies and confirms it. So Kimchi interprets it, "I will bind you in a covenant, that ye shall not go out of it for ever": or it is that which binds persons, or lays them under obligation to love, fear, and serve the Lord; and that is the love of God and Christ, and the exceeding great and precious promises of the covenant; and now into this sure, firm, and obliging covenant the Lord has brought all his chosen ones in eternity, when it was first made with Christ; and into which he may be said to bring them in time; as he will the converted Jews, when he manifests it to them, and applies the blessings and promises of it; shows them it, and their interest in it.