Ezekiel 13

God sends Ezekiel against the false prophets of Israel, men and women who spoke comforting lies in the Lord’s name. They promised peace while judgment was coming, and they led the people astray. God promises to expose their lies, tear down their false security, and rescue His people from their grip.

Ezekiel 13:1-2

The Lord’s word comes to Ezekiel with a hard assignment: speak against other prophets. These men were speaking, but their words came from their own hearts, not from God. Before anything else, God calls them to hear what He actually says.

BSA: imagination (“heart, mind, and will”): Their message came from inside themselves, from their own wishes and thinking, not from God.

See also: Jeremiah 23:16.

Ezekiel 13:3

God pronounces a woe on prophets who follow their own spirit instead of His. They claim to have visions, yet they have seen nothing. Real prophecy is receiving what God shows, not producing what people want to hear.

BSA: foolish (“stupid, wicked, or impious”): Their folly is not mere lack of brains but a moral and spiritual failure to fear God.

Hebrew: נְבָלִים (nevalim, H5036) — “foolish, senseless.” The Hebrew word for foolish describes someone who ignores God, not simply someone who lacks intelligence. It is a moral charge.

Ezekiel 13:4

Foxes live among ruins and profit from them. Rather than repairing the damage, these prophets scavenge in the broken city. They live off the nation’s collapse and do nothing to help it.

BSA: foxes (“jackals, burrowers”): The picture is of scavengers that dig about in rubble, taking what they can.

Ezekiel 13:5

A faithful prophet would have stood in the breaches of the city wall, warning the people and calling them back to God, so Israel could stand on the Day of the LORD. These prophets left the gaps open. Their silence about sin left the nation defenseless.

BSA: gaps (“breaches, breaks”): These are the places where the wall is broken and the enemy can enter.

See also: Ezekiel 22:30.

Ezekiel 13:6

Their visions are empty and their predictions deceitful, yet they say, ‘Thus declares the LORD.’ God did not send them. Strangest of all, they still wait for their words to come true, deceived by their own talk.

BSA: send (“commission, appoint”): A true prophet is sent with God’s authority. These men appointed themselves.

See also: Jeremiah 14:14.

Ezekiel 13:7

God asks a pointed question: haven’t you seen empty visions? They cannot deny it. They put God’s name on words He never spoke, which is a serious misuse of His authority.

Ezekiel 13:8

Because of their vain words and false visions, God declares Himself their opponent. It is a frightening thing to have the Lord of all against you, especially when you have used His name to speak.

BSA: vain (“empty, false, deceitful”): Their words had nothing in them. They sounded like a message but carried no truth.

Ezekiel 13:9

God’s hand will fall on them in three ways. They will be shut out of the people’s council, struck from the register of Israel, and kept from returning to the land. They lose their standing, their identity, and their home. Then all will know He is the Lord.

BSA: register (“book, record”): Being written in the record meant belonging to God’s covenant people. Losing it meant losing that place.

See also: Psalm 69:28.

Ezekiel 13:10

The prophets cried ‘Peace’ when there was no peace. Like builders who cover a weak wall with plaster, they covered the nation’s problems with pleasant words. The wall still looked fine, but it was flimsy.

BSA: Peace (“shalom, completeness and wellness”): Shalom means full well-being, something far deeper than quiet. They promised wholeness that did not exist. whitewashing (“applying a layer of plaster, covering up flaws”): Whitewash makes a bad wall look good without making it any stronger.

See also: Jeremiah 6:14.

Ezekiel 13:11

The coming storm will test the wall, and it will fall. Torrential rain, hailstones and a bursting wind picture God’s judgment, which no coat of paint can resist. Only what is truly sound will stand.

BSA: hailstones (“like pearls from God, ice-drops”): The hail is sent by God Himself. It is an instrument of His judgment, not simply bad weather.

Ezekiel 13:12

When the wall lies in ruins, people will mock the builders and ask about their whitewash. The question exposes the worthlessness of their work. A covering that cannot survive trial was never worth putting up.

BSA: whitewash (“coating, plaster”): The coating that looked so good proves to be nothing when the wall collapses.

Ezekiel 13:13

God Himself is the one who unleashes the storm. The wind, rain and hail come from His anger at falsehood that lulled His people into a false sense of safety. His wrath is a response to deception that endangered souls.

BSA: wrath (“rage, fierce anger”): God’s anger here is strong and burning, because the lie has put His people in real danger.

Ezekiel 13:14

God will level the wall to its foundation, leaving its weakness plain to see. The city will fall, and the false prophets will die in the ruins. Then the people will know that He is the LORD. This points to the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon.

BSA: foundation (“base, starting point”): When the wall is leveled, the poor base underneath is laid bare for all to see.

Ezekiel 13:15-16

After the judgment, God says the wall and its plasterers are both gone. The prophets had promised Jerusalem peace, but there was none. The city’s very name sounds like peace, yet it received judgment because they refused the truth.

BSA: vision (“revelation, divine message”): What they called a divine message was only their own wishful picture.

Ezekiel 13:17

Now Ezekiel turns to women who also prophesy from their own imagination. He is told to set his face against them, which means to confront them firmly. God deals with false teaching wherever it comes from.

BSA: imagination (“heart, mind”): Like the men, these women spoke from their own inner thoughts, not from God.

Ezekiel 13:18

These women sewed magic charms for wrists and made veils for people of every height, claiming power over lives. The goal was to ensnare souls, as a hunter traps game. God asks whether they think they can trap His people and keep themselves safe.

BSA: charms (“amulets, talismans”): These were objects believed to hold spiritual power, worn on the body for protection or control. ensnare (“to hunt, capture”): The word pictures hunting, as though people were prey to be caught.

Ezekiel 13:19

They profaned God for the price of a little barley and a few scraps of bread. For small payment, they lied to those who trusted them. They pronounced death on some who deserved life and life on some who deserved judgment.

BSA: profaned (“desecrated, polluted”): By attaching God’s name to their tricks, they treated what is holy as common.

See also: Micah 3:5.

Ezekiel 13:20-21

God declares Himself against these charms and veils. He will tear them away and free the people, who had been trapped like birds. The same hands that held the people will lose their grip. Then all will know He is the LORD.

BSA: free (“release, let go”): God opens the hands of those who held the people captive, setting the captives loose. prey (“hunted, ensnared”): God’s people had been treated as game to be caught, but He rescues them.

See also: Psalm 124:7.

Ezekiel 13:22

The false prophets did two kinds of harm. They saddened the righteous with lies, though God had given them no cause for grief. They also encouraged the wicked to stay in their sin, so they never turned and lived.

BSA: turn (“return, repent”): Repentance is a returning to God. False comfort kept the wicked from taking that road.

See also: Ezekiel 18:23.

Ezekiel 13:23

The chapter ends with God’s promise: these false visions and divination will stop, and He will deliver His people from their hands. He cares for His flock and will not leave them to deceivers. His people will come to know Him as LORD.

BSA: deliver (“rescue, snatch away”): God acts to pull His people out of the false prophets’ power, as one would rescue someone in danger.