Ezekiel 13:1-23

13:3 | The Lord pronounced woe over the false prophets and the practitioners of the occult. This word was typically heard at funerals as a cry of lament and sorry (translated as “alas”: 1 Kgs. 13:30; Jer. 22:18-19). Its use here signals that their doom was sure; Ezekiel was acting out their funeral in advance.

13:6 | The false prophets of Ezekiel’s day hoped that their prophetic word about the exiles’ soon return to Israel might be confirmed – even though they simply contrived their prophecies or looked for the divine will in the entrails of beasts or the movement of the stars.

13:10-15 | The misplaced self-assurance of the false prophets was like a flimsy wall covered with whitewash. But God would send a rainstorm of judgment and knock the wall to the ground, leaving the people exposed to their enemy and doomed to destruction.

13:18-23 | Through their deceptive practices and occultic words, the women who practiced divination and witchcraft deceived many otherwise righteous people into joining them in their wickedness – “hunting” souls like birds. But none of their magic chars would deliver them when God brought judgment on the city.