Ezekiel 11:3

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

American King James Version (AKJV)

Which say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

American Standard Version (ASV)

that say, The time is not near to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

Who say, This is not the time for building houses: this town is the cooking-pot and we are the flesh.

Webster's Revision

Who say, It is not near; let us build houses: this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

World English Bible

who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

English Revised Version (ERV)

which say, The time is not near to build houses: this city is the caldron, and we be the flesh.

Definitions for Ezekiel 11:3

Caldron - A pot; kettle.
Let - To hinder or obstruct.

Clarke's Ezekiel 11:3 Bible Commentary

It is not near - That is, the threatened invasion.

This city is the caldron, and we be the flesh - See the vision of the seething pot, Jeremiah 1:13. These infidels seem to say: "We will run all risks, we will abide in the city. Though it be the caldron, and we the flesh, yet we will share its fate: if it perish, we will perish with it." Or they may allude to the above prediction of Jeremiah, in order to ridicule it: "We were to have been boiled long ago: but the fulfillment of that prediction is not near yet."

Barnes's Ezekiel 11:3 Bible Commentary

It is not near - In contradiction to Ezekiel 7:2.

Let us build houses - "To build houses" implies a sense of security. Jeremiah bade the exiles "build houses" in a foreign land because they would not soon quit it Jeremiah 29:5; Jeremiah 35:7. These false counselors promised to their countrymen a sure and permanent abode in the city which God had doomed to destruction. No need, they said, to go far for safety; you are perfectly safe at home. The Hebrew, however, is, difficult: literally it means, "It is not near to build houses," which may be explained as spoken in mockery of such counsel as that of Jeremiah: matters have not gone so far as to necessitate "house-building" in a foreign land. The same idea is expressed by the image of the "caldron:" whatever devastation may rage around the city, we are safe within its walls, as flesh within a caldron is unburned by the surrounding fire (compare Ezekiel 24:6).

Wesley's Ezekiel 11:3 Bible Commentary

11:3 It - The threatened danger and ruin by the Chaldeans.The caldron - This is an impious scoff, yet mixt with some fear of the prophet, Jeremiah 1:13 .