Ezekiel 22 · Verse 27

Ezekiel 22:27

Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Ezekiel 22:27, King James Version

Ezekiel 22:27 in other translations

BSBHer officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.
WEBHer princes within it are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
ASVHer princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
YLTIts princes in its midst are as wolves, Tearing prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, For the sake of gaining dishonest gain.
DARBYHer princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
BBEHer rulers in her are like wolves violently taking their food; putting men to death and causing the destruction of souls, so that they may get their profit.
WebsterHer princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

What does Ezekiel 22:27 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
27. princes--who should have employed the influence of their position for the people's welfare, made "gain" their sole aim. wolves--notorious for fierce and ravening cruelty (Mi 3:2, 3, 9-11; Joh 10:12).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 27 Her princes - Are as bad as her priests; they are rapacious, and grievously oppress the people by unjust impositions in order to increase their revenues.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ezekiel 22:23-31

All orders and degrees of men had helped to fill the measure of the nation's guilt. The people that had any power abused it, and even the buyers and sellers find some way to oppress one another. It bodes ill to a people when judgments are breaking in upon them, and the spirit of prayer is restrained. Let all who fear God, unite to promote his truth and righteousness; as wicked men of every rank and profession plot…

Read the full comment on Ezekiel 22:23-31 →

Ezekiel 22:27 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

שָׂרֶ֣יהָsa.Rei.haprinces itsH8269
בְקִרְבָּ֔הּve.kir.Bahin midst itsH7130
כִּזְאֵבִ֖יםkiz.'e.Vim[are] like wolvesH2061
טֹ֣רְפֵיTo.re.feitearingH2963
טָ֑רֶףTa.ref<of> preyH2964
לִשְׁפָּךְ\־lish.pokh-to shedH8210
דָּם֙dambloodH1818
לְאַבֵּ֣דle.'a.Bedto destroyH6
נְפָשׁ֔וֹתne.fa.ShotlivesH5315
לְמַ֖עַןle.Ma.'anso asH4616
בְּצֹ֥עַbe.Tzo.a'to make unjust gainH1214
בָּֽצַע\׃Ba.tza'unjust gainH1215

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Ezekiel 22:27

  • Ezekiel 22:13

    Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.

  • Isaiah 1:23

    Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

  • Ezekiel 22:6

    Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood.

  • Micah 7:8

    Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.

  • Ezekiel 22:25

    There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof.

  • Matthew 21:13

    And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

  • James 5:1-4

    Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.

  • Hosea 7:1-7

    When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, and the troop of robbers spoileth without. And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face. They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies. They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceaseth from raising after he hath kneaded the dough, until it be leavened. …

  • Ezekiel 19:3-6

    And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men. The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt. Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion. And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.

  • James 2:6-7

    But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats? Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called?

  • Ezekiel 45:9

    Thus saith the Lord God; Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice, take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord God.

  • Micah 3:2-3

    Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
princes.
6; 19:3-6; 22:6; 45:9; Isa 1:23; Ho 7:1-7; Mic 3:2,3,9-11; 7:8
Zep 3:3; Jas 2:6,7
to get.
13; Mt 21:13; Jas 5:1-4

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Ezekiel 22:26

    Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.

  • Ezekiel 22:27

    Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

  • Ezekiel 22:28

    And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken.

Read all of Ezekiel 22

Ezekiel 22:27 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Sus príncipes en medio de ella como lobos que arrebataban presa, derramando sangre, para destruir las almas, para pábulo de su avaricia.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Ses princes, au milieu d’elle, sont comme des loups qui déchirent la proie, pour verser le sang, pour détruire les âmes, afin de faire un gain déshonnête.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Seine Fürsten in ihm sind wie Wölfe, die Beute zerreißen, indem sie Blut vergießen, Seelen vertilgen, um unrechtmäßigen Gewinn zu erlangen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Principes ejus in medio illius quasi lupi rapientes prædam ad effundendum sanguinem, et ad perdendas animas, et avare ad sectanda lucra.