Ezekiel 20:37

Easy-to-Read Version

"I will judge you guilty and punish you according to the agreement.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Hebrew Names Version
I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

King James Version
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant:

English Standard Version
I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

New American Standard Bible
"I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

New Century Version
I will count you like sheep and will bring you into line with my agreement.

Amplified Bible
"I will make you pass under the rod [as the shepherd does with his sheep when he counts them, and I will count you as Mine and constrain you] and bring you into the bond of the covenant [to which you are permanently bound].

World English Bible
I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Geneva Bible (1587)
And I wil cause you to passe vnder the rod, and wil bring you into the bond of the couenant.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Legacy Standard Bible
"And I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Berean Standard Bible
I will make you pass under the rod and will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Contemporary English Version
I will force each of you to obey the regulations of our solemn agreement.

Complete Jewish Bible
‘I will make you pass under the crook and bring you into the obligations of the covenant.

Darby Translation
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

George Lamsa Translation
And I will cause you to be subject to my scepter, and will bring you into the discipline of the covenant;

Good News Translation
"I will take firm control of you and make you obey my covenant.

Lexham English Bible
"And I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Literal Translation
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
I wil bringe you vnder my iuri?diction, and vnder the bonde of the couenaunt.

American Standard Version
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Bible in Basic English
And I will make you go under the rod and will make you small in number:

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

King James Version (1611)
And I will cause you to passe vnder the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the Couenant.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
I wyll cause you to passe vnder the rodde, and I wyll bryng you into the bonde of the couenaunt.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I will cause you to pass under my rod, and I will bring you in by number.

English Revised Version
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and Y schal make you suget to my septre, and Y schal bringe in you in the boondis of pees.

Update Bible Version
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Webster's Bible Translation
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

New English Translation
I will make you pass under the shepherd's staff, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.

New King James Version
"I will make you pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

New Living Translation
I will examine you carefully and hold you to the terms of the covenant.

New Life Bible
"I will hold power over you and make you obey the agreement.

New Revised Standard
I will make you pass under the staff, and will bring you within the bond of the covenant.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
And I will cause you to pass under the rod And will bring you into the bond of the covenant;

Douay-Rheims Bible
And I will make you subject to my sceptre, and will bring you into the bands of the covenant.

Revised Standard Version
I will make you pass under the rod, and I will let you go in by number.

Young's Literal Translation
And I have caused you to pass under the rod, And brought you into the bond of the covenant,

Contextual Overview

³³ The Lord God says, "By my life, I swear that I will rule over you as king. But I will raise my powerful arm and punish you. I will show my anger against you! ³⁴ I will bring you out of these other nations. I scattered you among these nations, but I will gather you together and bring you back from these countries. But I will raise my powerful arm and punish you. I will show my anger against you! ³⁵ I will lead you into a desert as I did before, but this will be a place where other nations live. We will stand face to face, and I will judge you. ³⁶ I will judge you as I judged your ancestors in the desert near Egypt." This is what the Lord God said. ³⁷ "I will judge you guilty and punish you according to the agreement. ³⁸ I will remove all those who turned against me and sinned against me. I will remove them from your homeland. They will never again come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord ." ³⁹ Now, family of Israel, this is what the Lord God says: "Whoever wants to worship their filthy idols, let them go and worship them. But later, don't think you will get any advice from me. You will not ruin my name anymore—not when you continue to give your gifts to your filthy idols!" ⁴⁰ The Lord God says, "People must come to my holy mountain—the high mountain in Israel—to serve me! The whole family of Israel will be on their land; they will be there in their country. There you can come to ask me for advice, and you must come there to bring me your offerings. You must bring the first part of your crops to me there. You must bring all your holy gifts to me in that place. ⁴¹ Then I will be pleased with the sweet smell of your sacrifices. That will happen when I bring you back. I scattered you among many nations, but I will gather you together and make you my special people again. And all the nations will see it. ⁴² Then you will know that I am the Lord . You will know this when I bring you back to the land of Israel, the land I promised to give to your ancestors.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

pass: Ezekiel 34:17, Leviticus 27:32, Jeremiah 33:13, Matthew 25:32, Matthew 25:33

I will: Ezekiel 16:59, Ezekiel 16:60, Leviticus 26:25, Psalms 89:30-32, Amos 3:2

the bond: or, a delivering

Reciprocal: Judges 2:20 - transgressed Psalms 44:17 - dealt Psalms 50:16 - thou shouldest Jeremiah 11:8 - therefore Jeremiah 31:32 - which Hebrews 8:9 - they continued

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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, Leviticus 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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

God’s future dealings with His people:

(1) in judgment Ezekiel 20:32-38;

(2) in mercy Ezekiel 20:39-44.

Ezekiel 20:32

The inquirers had thought that if Jerusalem were taken, and the whole people became sojourners in a foreign land, they would cease to be a separate nation. In their love for idolatry some may have even desired this. But more probably they thought that this very consequence precluded the possibility of such a catastrophe. God answers that He will not allow them to become as the pagan, but this will only subject them to severer trial and stricter rule.

Ezekiel 20:33

The expressions “a mighty hand, stretched out arm” carry back the thoughts to Egyptian bondage Deuteronomy 4:34; Deuteronomy 5:15; but then it was for deliverance, now for judgment “with fury poured out.”

Ezekiel 20:35

The wilderness of the people - A time of probation will follow, as before in the wilderness of Sin, so in the “wilderness of the nations” among whom they will sojourn (not the Babylonians) “after” that captivity. This period of their probation is not over. The dispersion of the Jews did not cease with the return under Zerubbabel; but in our Saviour’s time they were living as a distinct people in all the principal places in the civilized world; and so they live now. God is yet pleading with them “face to face,” calling them personally to embrace those offers which as a nation they disregarded.

Ezekiel 20:37

To pass under the rod - i. e., to be gathered into the flock Micah 7:14.

The bond - The shepherd collects the flock, and separates the sheep from the goats, which are rejected. Compare Romans 11:7-11.

Ezekiel 20:39

Strong irony. Some prefer another rendering: “Go ye, serve ye every one his idols, yet hereafter ye shall surely hearken unto me, and shall no more pollute My Holy Name etc.” In this way, this verse is introductory to what follows.

Ezekiel 20:40

This points to the consummation indicated by the vision of the temple.

In the mountain of the height - Or, Upon a very high mountain Ezekiel 40:2. Compare Isaiah 2:2-3.

The house of Israel, all of them - All the separation between Israel and Judah shall cease. This points to times yet future, when in Messiah’s kingdom Jews and Gentiles alike shall be gathered into one kingdom - the kingdom of Christ. Jerusalem is the Church of Christ Galatians 4:26, into which the children of Israel shall at last be gathered, and so the prophecy shall be fulfilled Revelation 21:2.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 20:37. I will cause you to pass under the rod — This alludes to the custom of tithing the sheep. I take it from the rabbins. The sheep were all penned; and the shepherd stood at the door of the fold, where only one sheep could come out at once. He had in his hand a rod dipped in vermillion; and as they came out, he counted one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine; and as the tenth came out, he marked it with the rod, and said, "This is the tenth;" and that was set apart for the Lord.

I will bring you into the bond of the covenant — You shall be placed under the same obligations as before, and acknowledge your selves bound; ye shall feel your obligation, and live according to its nature.