Ezekiel 20:35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations and there, face to face, I will execute judgment upon you.

◄ Ezekiel 20:35 ►

Parallel Verses

Cross References

1 Samuel 12:7
Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.

Psalm 74:22
Arise, O God, plead your own cause: remember how the foolish man reproaches you daily.

Isaiah 3:14
The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for you have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

Jeremiah 2:9
Why I will yet plead with you, said the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead.

Jeremiah 25:31
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, said the LORD.

Ezekiel 17:20
And I will spread my net on him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.

Ezekiel 19:13
And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.

Ezekiel 20:36
Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, said the Lord GOD.

Hosea 2:14
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably to her.

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Commentaries

Matthew Henry's Commentary

20:33-44 The wicked Israelites, notwithstanding they follow the sinful ways of other nations, shall not mingle with them in their prosperity, but shall be separated from them for destruction. There is no shaking off God's dominion; and those who will not yield to the power of his grace, shall sink under the power of his wrath. But not one of God's jewels shall be lost in the lumber of this world. He will bring the jews to the land of Israel again; and will give them true repentance. They will be overcome with his kindness: the more we know of God's holiness, the more we see the hateful nature of sin. Those who remain unaffected amidst means of grace, and would live without Christ, like the world around them, may be sure it is the way to destruction.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

35. wilderness of the people—rather, "peoples," the various peoples among whom they were to be scattered, and about whom God saith (Eze 20:34), "I will bring you out." In contrast to the literal "wilderness of Egypt" (Eze 20:36), "the wilderness of the peoples" is their spiritual wilderness period of trial, discipline, and purification while exiled among the nations. As the state when they are "brought into the wilderness of the peoples" and that when they were among the peoples "from" which God was to "bring them out" (Eze 20:34) are distinguished, the wilderness state probably answers partially to the transition period of discipline from the first decree for their restoration by Cyrus to the time of their complete settlement in their land, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. But the full and final fulfilment is future; the wilderness state will comprise not only the transition period of their restoration, but the beginning of their occupancy of Palestine, a time in which they shall endure the sorest of all their chastisements, to "purge out the rebels" (Eze 20:38; Da 12:1); and then the remnant (Zec 13:8, 9; 14:2, 3) shall "all serve God in the land" (Eze 20:40). Thus the wilderness period does not denote locality, but their state intervening between their rejection and future restoration.

plead—bring the matter in debate between us to an issue. Image is from a plaintiff in a law court meeting the defendant "face to face." Appropriate, as God in His dealings acts not arbitrarily, but in most righteous justice (Jer 2:9; Mic 6:2).