Ezekiel 7:5

Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) An only evil.—That is, an evil so all-embracing as to be complete in itself, and need no repetition. Compare the same thought in Nahum 1:9, “affliction shall not rise up the second time.” Some MSS., and the Chaldee, by the alteration of one letter, read “evil after evil,” as in Ezekiel 7:26.

Benson Commentary

Ezekiel 7:5-7. Thus saith the Lord, An evil, an only evil — A sore affliction, a singular and uncommon one. An end is come — A destruction, which shall be fatal to a great part of those that go into captivity, as well as to those who are consumed in their own country. It is quite prepared to rush upon thee. Observe, reader, when the end is come upon the ungodly, then an only evil comes upon them. The sorest of temporal judgments have their allays; but the torments of the damned are an evil, an only evil. The morning is come upon thee — “God’s judgments shall overtake thee speedily and unexpectedly. The expression alludes to the time when magistrates use to give sentence against offenders, which was in the morning.” The time is come — The time of God’s vengeance, called elsewhere the day of the Lord. And not the sounding again of the mountains — The sound of war and slaughter, and not such a joyful sound as used to echo from the mountains, by which the treaders of grapes expressed their satisfaction at the time of the vintage: which the word הר, here used, properly signifies. Or, not a mere echo, not a fancy, but a real noise arising from the approach of the Chaldean army.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

7:1-15 The abruptness of this prophecy, and the many repetitions, show that the prophet was deeply affected by the prospect of these calamities. Such will the destruction of sinners be; for none can avoid it. Oh that the wickedness of the wicked might end before it bring them to an end! Trouble is to the impenitent only an evil, it hardens their hearts, and stirs up their corruptions; but there are those to whom it is sanctified by the grace of God, and made a means of much good. The day of real trouble is near, not a mere echo or rumour of troubles. Whatever are the fruits of God's judgments, our sin is the root of them. These judgments shall be universal. And God will be glorified in all. Now is the day of the Lord's patience and mercy, but the time of the sinner's trouble is at hand.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

An only evil - An evil singular and remarkable above all others.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. An evil, an only evil—a peculiar calamity such as was never before; unparalleled. The abruptness of the style and the repetitions express the agitation of the prophet's mind in foreseeing these calamities.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

An evil and sore affliction, one misery enough to ruin the whole, so that there will be no need of another. Or, as the Chaldee paraphrase, one evil after another; and this bespeaks the extreme sadness of their condition who suffer under this evil. Open your eyes, you will see it is at the doors and breaking in upon you.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Thus saith the Lord God,.... Here should be a stop, a colon, requiring attention to what follows, it being something awful and terrible:

an evil, an only evil, behold, it cometh; meaning the destruction of the city and temple; which, though but one, was such an one as was never known before nor was there any like it. The Targum is,

"evil after evil, lo, it cometh;''

one evil after another; when one evil is gone, another comes, as in Ezekiel 7:26. The Syriac version is, "behold, evil for evil comes"; the evil of punishment for the evil of sin.

Geneva Study Bible

Thus saith the Lord GOD; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. an only evil] Lit. one evil, scarcely a “unique” evil, to which there is nothing like, but an evil which is “one” and final, 1 Samuel 26:8; Haggai 2:6, “Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth” (Hebrews 12:26).

5–7. The dirge takes a fresh turn, announcing in nearly the same words that the end is come upon the inhabitants of the land

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - An evil, an only evil, etc. The words imply that the evil would be unique in character, attracting men's notice, not needing repetition. Cornill, however, following Luther, gives "evil after evil," changing one letter m the Hebrew for "one," so as to get the word "after." For is come read, with the Revised Version, it cometh. It is the nearness, not the actual arrival, of the end, that is in the prophet's thoughts. He writes in B.C. 595-4. Jerusalem was not taken till s.c.588 Ezekiel 7:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The execution of the judgment announced in Ezekiel 7:2-4, arranged in four strophes: Ezekiel 7:5-9, Ezekiel 7:10-14, Ezekiel 7:15-22, Ezekiel 7:23-27. - The first strophe depicts the end as a terrible calamity, and as near at hand. Ezekiel 7:3 and Ezekiel 7:4 are repeated as a refrain in Ezekiel 7:8 and Ezekiel 7:9, with slight modifications. Ezekiel 7:5. Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Misfortune, a singular misfortune, behold, it cometh. Ezekiel 7:6. End cometh: there cometh the end; it waketh upon thee; behold, it cometh. Ezekiel 7:7. The fate cometh upon thee, inhabitants of the land: the time cometh, the day is near; tumult and not joy upon the mountains. Ezekiel 7:8. Now speedily will I pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger on thee; and judge thee according to thy ways, and bring upon thee all thine abominations. Ezekiel 7:9. My eye shall not look with pity upon thee, and I shall not spare; according to thy ways will I bring it upon thee, and thy abominations shall be in the midst of thee, that ye may know that I, Jehovah, am smiting. - Misfortune of a singular kind shall come. רעה is made more emphatic by אחת רעה, in which אחת is placed first for the sake of emphasis, in the sense of unicus, singularis; a calamity singular (unique) of its kind, such as never had occurred before (cf. Ezekiel 5:9). In Ezekiel 7:6 the poetical הקיץ, it (the end) waketh upon thee, is suggested by the paronomasia with הקּץ. The force of the words is weakened by supplying Jehovah as the subject to הקיץ, in opposition to the context. And it will not do to supply רעה (evil) from Ezekiel 7:5 as the subject to הנּה באה (behold, it cometh). באה is construed impersonally: It cometh, namely, every dreadful thing which the end brings with it. The meaning of tzephirâh is doubtful. The only other passage in which it occurs is Isaiah 28:5, where it is used in the sense of diadem or crown, which is altogether unsuitable here. Raschi has therefore had recourse to the Syriac and Chaldee צפרא, aurora, tempus matutinum, and Hvernick has explained it accordingly, "the dawn of an evil day." But the dawn is never used as a symbol or omen of misfortune, not even in Joel 2:2, but solely as the sign of the bursting forth of light or of salvation. Abarbanel was on the right track when he started from the radical meaning of צפר, to twist, and taking tzephirâh in the sense of orbis, ordo, or periodical return, understood it as probably denoting rerum fatique vicissitudinem in orbem redeuntem (Ges. Thes. p. 1188). But it has been justly observed, that the rendering succession, or periodical return, can only give a forced sense in Ezekiel 7:10. Winer has given a better rendering, viz., fatum, malum fatale, fate or destiny, for which he refers to the Arabic tsabramun, intortum, then fatum haud mutandum inevitabile. Different explanations have also been given of הד הרים. But the opinion that it is synonymous with הידד, the joyous vintage cry (Jeremiah 25:30; Isaiah 16:10), is a more probable one than that it is an unusual form of הוד, splendor, gloria. So much at any rate is obvious from the context, that the hapax legomenon dh̀ is the antithesis of מהוּמה, tumult, or the noise of war. The shouting of the mountains, is shouting, a rejoicing upon the mountains. מקּרוב, from the immediate vicinity, in a temporal not a local sense, as in Deuteronomy 32:17 ( equals immediately). For כּלּה , see Ezekiel 6:1-14;12. The remainder of the strophe (Ezekiel 7:8 and Ezekiel 7:9) is a repetition of Ezekiel 7:3 and Ezekiel 7:4; but מכּה is added in the last clause. They shall learn that it is Jehovah who smites. This thought is expanded in the following strophe.