Ezekiel Chapter 20 verse 46 Holy Bible
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop `thy word' toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
read chapter 20 in ASV
Son of man, let your face be turned to the south, let your words be dropped to the south, and be a prophet against the woodland of the South;
read chapter 20 in BBE
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop [words] against the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
read chapter 20 in DARBY
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
read chapter 20 in KJV
read chapter 20 in WBT
Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop [your word] toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
read chapter 20 in WEB
Son of man, set thy face the way of Teman, and prophesy unto the south, and prophesy unto the forest of the field -- the south;
read chapter 20 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 46. - Drop thy word. The verb is used specially of prophetic utterances (Ezekiel 21:2; Amos 7:6; Micah 2:6, 11), and stands, therefore, in the Hebrew without an object. Toward the south. Three distinct words are used in the Hebrew for the thrice-repeated "south" of the Authorized Version. (1) One which primarily means "the region on the right hand," sc. as a man looks to the east. which Ezekiel also uses in Ezekiel 47:19; Ezekiel 48:28); (2) the "shining land," used repeatedly in Ezekiel 40, 42. (Deuteronomy 33:23; Job 37:17; Ecclesiastes 1:6; Ecclesiastes 11:3); and (3) the Negeb, the "dry" or "parched" land, the South (always in Revised Version with a capital letter), of Joshua 15:21, and the historical books generally, the region lying to the south of Judah. The use of the three words where one might have sacrificed is, perhaps, characteristic of Ezekiel's affluence of diction. The LXX. treats all three as proper names, and transliterates them as Thaiman, Darom, and N'ageb. Against this region and its inhabitants (they, of course, are the "trees") Ezekiel is directed to utter his words of judgment. The parenthesis in the last sentence gives the key to the prophet's cypher writing. From Ezekiel's standpoint on the Chebar, the whole of Judah is as the forest of the south. The "green tree," as in Psalm 1:1, 2, is the man who is relatively righteous; the "dry tree" is the sinner whose true life is withered; the "fire" the devastation wrought by the Chaldean invaders, as executing the Divine judgment. In our Lord's words in Luke 23:31 we may probably find an echo of Ezekiel's imagery.
