Ezekiel 5 · Verse 5

Ezekiel 5:5

Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.
Ezekiel 5:5, King James Version

Ezekiel 5:5 in other translations

BSBThis is what the Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the center of the nations, with countries all around her.
WEB“The Lord GOD says: ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the middle of the nations, and countries are around her.
ASVThus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations, and countries are round about her.
YLTThus said the Lord Jehovah: this is Jerusalem, In the midst of the nations I have set her, And round about her are the lands.
DARBYThus saith the Lord Jehovah: This is Jerusalem: I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries are round about her.
BBEThis is what the Lord has said: This is Jerusalem: I have put her among the nations, and countries are round her on every side;
WebsterThus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are around her.

What does Ezekiel 5:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Ezekiel 5:5-6
5-6. Explanation of the symbols: Jerusalem--not the mere city, but the people of Israel generally, of which it was the center and representative. in ... midst--Jerusalem is regarded in God's point of view as center of the whole earth, designed to radiate the true light over the nations in all directions. Compare Margin ("navel"), Eze 38:12; Psa 48:2; Jr 3:17. No center in the ancient heathen world could have been selected more fitted than Canaan to be a vantage ground, whence the people of God might have acted with success upon the heathenism of the world. It lay midway between the oldest and most civilized states, Egypt and Ethiopia on one side, and Babylon, Nineveh, and India on the other, and afterwards Persia, Greece, and Rome. The Phoenician mariners were close by, through whom they might have transmitted the true religion to the remotest lands; and all around the Ishmaelites, the great inland traders in South Asia and North Africa. Israel was thus placed, not for its own selfish good, but to be the spiritual benefactor of the whole world. Compare Psa 67:1-7 throughout. Failing in this, and falling into idolatry, its guilt was far worse than that of the heathen; not that Israel literally went beyond the heathen in abominable idolatries. But "corruptio optimi pessima"; the perversion of that which in itself is the best is worse than the perversion of that which is less perfect: is in fact the worst of all kinds of perversion. Therefore their punishment was the severest. So the position of the Christian professing Church now, if it be not a light to the heathen world, its condemnation will be sorer than theirs (Mt 5:13; 11:21-24; He 10:28, 29).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations - I have made this city the most eminent and the most illustrious in the world. Some think that these words refer to its geographical situation, as being equally in the center of the habitable world. But any point on a globe is its center, no matter where laid down; and it would not be difficult to show that even this literal sense is tolerably correct. But the point which is the center of the greatest portion of land that can be exhibited on one hemisphere is the capital of the British empire. See my Sermon on the universal spread of the Gospel.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Ezekiel 5:5-17
The sentence passed upon Jerusalem is very dreadful, the manner of expression makes it still more so. Who is able to stand in God's sight when he is angry? Those who live and die impenitent, will perish for ever unpitied; there is a day coming when the Lord will not spare. Let not persons or churches, who change the Lord's statutes, expect to escape the doom of Jerusalem. Let us endeavour to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Sooner or later God's word will prove itself true.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Ezekiel 5:5 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.

כֹּ֤הkohthusH3541
אָמַר֙'a.Marhe saysH559
אֲדֹנָ֣י'a.do.Nai[the] LordH136
יְהֹוִ֔הYah.wehYahwehH3069
זֹ֚אתzotthisH2063
יְר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔םye.Ru.sha.Lim[is] JerusalemH3389
בְּת֥וֹךְbe.Tokhin [the] middle ofH8432
הַגּוֹיִ֖םha.go.Yimthe nationsH1471
שַׂמְתִּ֑יהָsam.Ti.haI have set itH7760
וּסְבִיבוֹתֶ֖יהָu.se.vi.vo.Tei.haand [are] around itH5439
אֲרָצֽוֹת\׃'a.ra.TzotlandsH776

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

Cross references for Ezekiel 5:5

  • Ezekiel 4:1

    Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:

  • Deuteronomy 4:6

    Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

  • Jeremiah 6:6

    For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this is the city to be visited; she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

  • Ezekiel 16:14

    And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

  • Micah 5:7

    And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

  • Matthew 5:14

    Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

  • Luke 22:19-20

    And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

  • 1 Corinthians 10:4

    And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
This.
4:1; Jer 6:6; Lu 22:19,20; 1Co 10:4
I have.
16:14; De 4:6; Mic 5:7; Mt 5:14

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

Context

  • Ezekiel 5:4

    Then take of them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel.

  • Ezekiel 5:5

    Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her.

  • Ezekiel 5:6

    And she hath changed my judgments into wickedness more than the nations, and my statutes more than the countries that are round about her: for they have refused my judgments and my statutes, they have not walked in them.

Read all of Ezekiel 5

Ezekiel 5:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Así ha dicho el Señor Jehová: Esta es Jerusalem: púsela en medio de las gentes y de las tierras alrededor de ella.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Ainsi dit le Seigneur, l’ Éternel: C’est ici Jérusalem! Je l’ai posée au milieu des nations, et autour d’elle, des pays;
German
Elberfelder 1871		So spricht der Herr, Jehova: Dieses Jerusalem, inmitten der Nationen habe ich es gesetzt, und Länder rings um dasselbe her.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ista est Jerusalem: in medio gentium posui eam, et in circuitu ejus terras.