Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 10th, 2025
the Week of Proper 14 / Ordinary 19
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Ezekiel 20:17

Yet, I felt sorry for them and could not let them die in the desert.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Thompson Chain Reference - Longsuffering;   Meekness-Retaliation;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Defilement;   Long-Suffering of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Repentance;   Sabbath;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Compassion;   Ezekiel;   Sabbath;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Lead;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Sabbath;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ceremonies and the Ceremonial Law;   Compassion;   Hafṭarah;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Yet I spared them from destruction and did not bring them to an end in the wilderness.
Hebrew Names Version
Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn't destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
King James Version
Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
English Standard Version
Nevertheless, my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness.
New American Standard Bible
"Yet My eye spared them rather than destroying them, and I did not bring about their annihilation in the wilderness.
New Century Version
But I had pity on them. I did not destroy them or put an end to them in the desert.
Amplified Bible
"Yet My eye [looked on them with compassion and] spared them instead of destroying them, and I did not annihilate them in the wilderness.
World English Bible
Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I didn't destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Neuerthelesse, mine eye spared them, that I would not destroye them, neither would I consume them in the wildernes.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Yet My eye spared them rather than destroying them, and I did not cause their annihilation in the wilderness.
Legacy Standard Bible
Yet My eye had pity on them rather than bringing them to ruin, and I did not make of them a complete destruction in the wilderness.
Berean Standard Bible
Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or bring them to an end in the wilderness.
Complete Jewish Bible
However, I spared them from complete destruction; I did not completely finish them off in the desert.
Darby Translation
But mine eye spared them so as not to destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Easy-to-Read Version
But I felt sorry for them, so I did not destroy them. I did not completely destroy them in the desert.
George Lamsa Translation
Nevertheless my eve spared them and I did not destroy them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
Good News Translation
"But then I took pity on them. I decided not to kill them there in the desert.
Lexham English Bible
But my eye took pity on them by not destroying them, and I did not completely destroy them in the desert.
Literal Translation
And My eye spared them, from destroying them, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Neuertheles myne eye spared the, so yt I wolde not vtterly slaye the, & cosume the in the wildernes.
American Standard Version
Nevertheless mine eye spared them, and I destroyed them not, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Bible in Basic English
But still my eye had pity on them and I kept them from destruction and did not put an end to them completely in the waste land.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Nevertheless Mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
King James Version (1611)
Neuerthelesse, mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of the in the wildernes.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Neuerthelesse mine eye spared them, so that I woulde not destroy them, nor consume them in the wildernesse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Yet mine eyes spared them, so as not to destroy them utterly, and I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
English Revised Version
Nevertheless mine eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And myn iye sparide on hem, that Y killide not hem, nether Y wastide hem in the desert.
Update Bible Version
Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them, neither did I make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Webster's Bible Translation
Nevertheless my eye spared them from destroying them, neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness.
New English Translation
Yet I had pity on them and did not destroy them, so I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
New King James Version
Nevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness.
New Living Translation
Nevertheless, I took pity on them and held back from destroying them in the wilderness.
New Life Bible
Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them. I did not make an end of them in the desert.
New Revised Standard
Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make an end of them in the wilderness.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Nevertheless mine eye threw a shield over them that they should not be destroyed; So I made not of them a full end in the desert.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Yet my eye spared them, so that I destroyed them not: neither did I consume them in the desert.
Revised Standard Version
Nevertheless my eye spared them, and I did not destroy them or make a full end of them in the wilderness.
Young's Literal Translation
And Mine eye hath pity on them -- against destroying them, And I have not made of them an end in the wilderness.

Contextual Overview

10 So I brought them out and led them into the desert. 11 I gave them my laws and teachings, so they would know how to live right. 12 And I commanded them to respect the Sabbath as a way of showing that they were holy and belonged to me. 13 But the Israelites rebelled against me in the desert. They refused to obey my laws and teachings, and they treated the Sabbath like any other day. Then in my anger, I decided to destroy the Israelites in the desert once and for all. 14 But that would have disgraced me, because many other nations had seen me bring the Israelites out of Egypt. 15 Instead, I told them in the desert that I would not lead them into the beautiful, fertile land I had promised. 16 I said this because they had not only ignored my laws and teachings, but had disgraced my Sabbath and worshiped idols. 17 Yet, I felt sorry for them and could not let them die in the desert. 18 So I warned the children not to act like their parents or follow their evil ways or worship their idols. 19 I reminded them that I was the Lord their God and that they should obey my laws and teachings.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

mine: Ezekiel 8:18, Ezekiel 9:10, 1 Samuel 24:10, Nehemiah 9:19, Psalms 78:37, Psalms 78:38

neither: Ezekiel 7:2, Ezekiel 11:13, Jeremiah 4:27, Jeremiah 5:18, Nahum 1:8, Nahum 1:9

Reciprocal: Genesis 45:20 - regard not Ezekiel 20:22 - I withdrew

Cross-References

Genesis 20:7
Her husband is a prophet. Let her go back to him, and his prayers will save you from death. But if you don't return her, you and all your people will die.
Genesis 20:9
Abimelech then called in Abraham and said: Look what you've done to us! What have I ever done to you? Why did you make me and my nation guilty of such a terrible sin?
Genesis 20:10
What were you thinking when you did this?
Genesis 20:11
Abraham answered: I did it because I didn't think any of you respected God, and I was sure that someone would kill me to get my wife.
Genesis 20:12
Besides, she is my half sister. We have the same father, but different mothers.
Genesis 29:31
The Lord knew that Jacob loved Rachel more than he did Leah, and so he gave children to Leah, but not to Rachel.
Ezra 6:10
I want them to be able to offer pleasing sacrifices to God and to pray for me and my family.
Proverbs 15:8
The Lord is disgusted by gifts from the wicked, but it makes him happy when his people pray.
Proverbs 15:29
The Lord never even hears the prayers of the wicked, but he answers the prayers of all who obey him.
Isaiah 45:11
I am the Lord , the Creator, the holy God of Israel. Do you dare question me about my own nation or about what I have done?

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Nevertheless, mine eye spared them from destroying them,.... Utterly, so as to leave neither root nor branch; for though the whole generation died excepting two, either by the immediate hand of God in wrath, or else by ordinary deaths; yet there was a generation raised up in their stead, to whom mercy was shown:

neither did I make an end of them in the wilderness; that they should be no more a nation and people; though the carcasses of them that believed not fell in the wilderness, and never saw the good land, yet their posterity was spared to see it, and did.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The probation in the wilderness. The promise was forfeited by those to whom it was first conditionally made, but was renewed to their children.

Ezekiel 20:11

The “statutes” were given on Mount Sinai, and repeated by Moses before his death (Exodus 20:1 ff; Deuteronomy 4:8).

In them - Or, through them: and in Ezekiel 20:13.

Ezekiel 20:12

See Exodus 31:13. The Sabbath was a sign of a special people, commemorative of the work of creation, and hallowed to the honor of Yahweh, the covenant-God. As man honored God by keeping the Sabbath holy, so by the Sabbath, God “sanctified” Israel and marked them as a holy people. Therefore to profane the Sabbath was to abjure their Divine Governor.

Ezekiel 20:13

My sabbaths they greatly polluted - Not by actual non-observance of the sabbatical rest in the wilderness, but in failing to make the day holy in deed as well as in name by earnest worship and true heart service.

Ezekiel 20:18

The book of Deuteronomy contains the address to “the children” of those who perished in the wilderness. The whole history of Israel was a repetition of this course. The covenant was made with one generation, broken by them, and then renewed to the next.

Ezekiel 20:25

The “judgments whereby they should not live” are those spoken of in Ezekiel 20:18, and are contrasted with the judgments in Ezekiel 20:13, Ezekiel 20:21, laws other than divine, to which God gives up those whom He afflicts with judicial blindness, because they have willfully closed their eyes, Psalms 81:12; Romans 1:24.

Ezekiel 20:26

To pass through - The word also means to “set apart,” as the firstborn to the Lord Exodus 13:12. They were bidden to “set apart” their firstborn males to the Lord. They “caused them to pass through the fire” to Moloch. An instance of their perversion of God’s laws.


 
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