Ezekiel 24:16

New Living Translation

"Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Son of man, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a fatal blow. But you must not lament or weep or let your tears flow.

Hebrew Names Version
Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

King James Version
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

English Standard Version
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.

New American Standard Bible
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you what is precious to your eyes with a fatal blow; but you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come.

New Century Version
"Human, I am going to take your wife from you, the woman you look at with love. She will die suddenly, but you must not be sad or cry loudly for her or shed any tears.

Amplified Bible
"Son of man, listen carefully, I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes [your wife] with a single stroke. Yet you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not flow.

World English Bible
Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Sonne of man beholde, I take away from thee the pleasure of thine eyes with a plague: yet shalt thou neither mourne nor weepe, neither shal thy teares runne downe.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a blow; but you shall not mourn and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come.

Legacy Standard Bible
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the desire of your eyes with a blow; but you shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not come.

Berean Standard Bible
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take away the desire of your eyes with a fatal blow. But you must not lament or weep or let your tears flow.

Contemporary English Version
"Ezekiel, son of man, I will suddenly take the life of the person you love most. But I don't want you to complain or cry.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Human being, with a single blow I am about to deprive you of the delight of your eyes. But you are not to lament, weep or let your tears run down.

Darby Translation
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet thou shalt not mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

Easy-to-Read Version
"Son of man, you love your wife very much, but I am going to take her away from you. Your wife will die suddenly, but you must not show your sadness. You must not cry loudly. You will cry and your tears will fall,

George Lamsa Translation
Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke; and you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

Good News Translation
"Mortal man," he said, "with one blow I am going to take away the person you love most. You are not to complain or cry or shed any tears.

Lexham English Bible
"Son of man, look! I am taking from you what is pleasing to your eyes with a plague, but you shall not mourn, and you shall not weep, and your tears shall not run down.

Literal Translation
Son of man, behold, I am taking from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke. Yet you shall not wail nor weep, and your tears shall not come.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thou sonne off man, beholde, I will take awaye the pleasure off thine eyes wt a plage: yet shalt thou nether mourne ner wepe, ner water thy chekes therfore:

American Standard Version
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet thou shalt neither mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

Bible in Basic English
Son of man, see, I am taking away the desire of your eyes by disease: but let there be no sorrow or weeping or drops running from your eyes.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
'Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; yet neither shalt thou make lamentation nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

King James Version (1611)
Sonne of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourne, nor weepe, neither shall thy teares runne downe.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thou sonne of man, behold I wil take away from thee the pleasure of thyne eyes with a plague, yet shalt thou neither mourne nor weepe, neither shal thy teares run downe.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thine eyes by violence: thou shalt not lament, neither shalt thou weep.

English Revised Version
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and he seide, Thou, sone of man, lo! Y take awei fro thee the desirable thing of thin iyen in veniaunce, and thou schalt not weile, nether wepe, nether thi teeris schulen flete doun.

Update Bible Version
Son of man, look, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.

Webster's Bible Translation
Son of man, behold, I take away from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke: yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep, neither shall thy tears run down.

New English Translation
"Son of man, realize that I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a jolt, but you must not mourn or weep or shed tears.

New King James Version
"Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with one stroke; yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, nor shall your tears run down.

New Life Bible
"Son of man, with one blow I am about to take away from you the desire of your eyes. But do not have sorrow or loud crying or any tears.

New Revised Standard
Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Son of Man Behold! taking away from thee the delight of thine eyes, with a stroke,- But thou shall not lament Neither shalt thou weep, Neither shall come - thy tears:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Son of man, behold I take from thee the desire of thy eyes with a stroke, and thou shall not lament, nor weep; neither shall thy tears run down.

Revised Standard Version
"Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep nor shall your tears run down.

Young's Literal Translation
`Son of man, lo, I am taking from thee the desire of thine eyes by a stroke, and thou dost not mourn, nor weep, nor let thy tear come.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ Then this message came to me from the Lord : ¹⁶ "Son of man, with one blow I will take away your dearest treasure. Yet you must not show any sorrow at her death. Do not weep; let there be no tears. ¹⁷ Groan silently, but let there be no wailing at her grave. Do not uncover your head or take off your sandals. Do not perform the usual rituals of mourning or accept any food brought to you by consoling friends." ¹⁸ So I proclaimed this to the people the next morning, and in the evening my wife died. The next morning I did everything I had been told to do. ¹⁹ Then the people asked, "What does all this mean? What are you trying to tell us?" ²⁰ So I said to them, "A message came to me from the Lord , ²¹ and I was told to give this message to the people of Israel. This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will defile my Temple, the source of your security and pride, the place your heart delights in. Your sons and daughters whom you left behind in Judah will be slaughtered by the sword. ²² Then you will do as Ezekiel has done. You will not mourn in public or console yourselves by eating the food brought by friends. ²³ Your heads will remain covered, and your sandals will not be taken off. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins. You will groan among yourselves for all the evil you have done. ²⁴ Ezekiel is an example for you; you will do just as he has done. And when that time comes, you will know that I am the Sovereign Lord ."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the desire: Ezekiel 24:18, Ezekiel 24:21, Ezekiel 24:25, Proverbs 5:19, Song of Solomon 7:10

with a: Job 36:18

yet: Ezekiel 24:21-24, Leviticus 10:2, Leviticus 10:3, Jeremiah 22:10, Jeremiah 22:18, 1 Thessalonians 4:13

thy tears: Jeremiah 9:1, Jeremiah 9:18, Jeremiah 13:17, Lamentations 2:18

run: Heb. go

Reciprocal: Genesis 3:6 - pleasant Genesis 23:2 - mourn Leviticus 10:6 - Uncover Leviticus 21:4 - General Numbers 6:6 - he shall come 2 Kings 4:20 - and then died 2 Chronicles 13:20 - Lord Jeremiah 16:5 - Enter Ezekiel 7:11 - neither Ezekiel 24:22 - General Daniel 9:23 - greatly beloved Daniel 11:37 - the desire Luke 8:42 - and she

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, "With the Lord 's help, I have produced a man!"

Genesis 24:17
Running over to her, the servant said, "Please give me a little drink of water from your jug."

Genesis 24:18
"Yes, my lord," she answered, "have a drink." And she quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and gave him a drink.

Genesis 26:7
When the men who lived there asked Isaac about his wife, Rebekah, he said, "She is my sister." He was afraid to say, "She is my wife." He thought, "They will kill me to get her, because she is so beautiful."

Genesis 39:6
So Potiphar gave Joseph complete administrative responsibility over everything he owned. With Joseph there, he didn't worry about a thing—except what kind of food to eat! Joseph was a very handsome and well-built young man,

Song of Solomon 5:2

Young Woman

I slept, but my heart was awake, when I heard my lover knocking and calling: "Open to me, my treasure, my darling, my dove, my perfect one. My head is drenched with dew, my hair with the dampness of the night."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Son of man, behold,.... This is said to raise the attention of the prophet, something strange and unusual, interesting and affecting, being about to be delivered:

I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes with a stroke; meaning his wife; who very probably was of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to; however, of an amiable disposition, and in her conjugal relation very agreeable to the prophet; and, no doubt, a truly religious woman, and upon all account's desirable to him. This lovely object of his affection the Lord, who is the sovereign disposer of all persons, signifies he would take away from him by death unto himself; that is, suddenly and at once; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions render it, "with a sudden stroke"; as sometimes persons are struck with death at once with an apoplexy or palsy. The Targum renders it, with the pestilence; it was what the Jews call death by the hand of heaven, by the immediate hand of God; and, it may be, without any intervening disease; or, however, without any train of disorders which lead on to death:

yet neither shalt thou mourn nor weep; on account of the dead; neither privately nor publicly, inwardly or outwardly, though so near and dear a relation; and though it would seem strange, and be charged with want of natural affection, and with a brutish insensibility:

neither shall thy tears run down; his cheeks, by which vent would be given to his grief, and his mind somewhat eased; but all care was to be taken to prevent any gushing of them out of his eyes, and especially that they did not run down in any quantity on his cheeks, and to be seen; though they might seem to be but a proper tribute to the dead.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The death of Ezekiel’s wife took place in the evening of the same day that he delivered the foregoing prophecy. This event was to signify to the people that the Lord would take from them all that was most dear to them; and - owing to the extraordinary nature of the times - quiet lamentation for the dead, according to the usual forms of mourning, would be impossible.

Ezekiel 24:17

The priest in general was to mourn for his dead (Leviticus 21:1 ff); but Ezekiel was to be an exception to the rule. The “tire” was the priest’s mitre.

Eat not the bread of men - Food supplied for the comfort of the mourners.

Ezekiel 24:23

Pine away - Compare Leviticus 26:39. The outward signs of grief were a certain consolation. Their absence would indicate a heart-consuming sorrow.

Ezekiel 24:27

Ezekiel had been employed four years in foretelling the calamities about to come to pass. He had been utterly disregarded by the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and received with apparent respect but with real incredulity by those in exile. Now until the city had been actually taken, the voice of prophecy should cease, so far as God’s people were concerned. Hence the intervening series of predictions relating to neighboring and foreign nations Ezek. 25–32. After which the prophet’s voice was again heard addressing his countrymen in their exile. This accounts for the apparently parenthetical character of the next eight chapters.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 24:16. Behold, I take away from thee the desire of thine eyes — Here is an intimation that the stroke he was to suffer was to be above all grief; that it would be so great as to prevent the relief of tears.

Curae leves loquuntur, graviores silent,

is a well-accredited maxim in such cases. Superficial griefs affect the more easily moved passions; great ones affect the soul itself, in its powers of reasoning, reflecting, comparing, recollecting, &c., when the sufferer feels all the weight of wo.

Neither shall thy tears run down. — Τουτο γαρ ιδιον των οφθαλμων εν τοις μεγαλοις κακοις· εν μεν γαρ ταις μετριαις συμφοραις αφθονως τα δακρυα καταρῥει, - εν δε τοις ὑπερβαλλουσι δεινοις φευγει και τα δακρυα και προδιδωσι και τους αφθαλμους· Achill. Tat. lib. 3. c. 11. For this is the case with the eyes in great calamities: in light misfortunes tears flow freely, but in heavy afflictions tears fly away, and betray the eyes.