Ezekiel 9:4
Bible verses · Also called: Ezekiel 9:4, Ezek. 9:4, Ezekiel 9.4, The Mark on the Foreheads (Ezekiel 9)
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And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
The text is the New Korean Revised Version (1998), shown under a licence from the Korean Bible Society. Wording may differ slightly from the Korean Revised Version and the Revised New Korean Standard Version. Read in the Korean Revised Version
A verse in Ezekiel's vision in which God commands a man clothed in linen to set a mark on the foreheads of those who sigh and cry over the abominations committed in Jerusalem. The scene depicts people who are protected in the midst of judgment and is often read alongside the "seal on the forehead" in the Book of Revelation.
Context
Ezekiel 8–11 records what Ezekiel, then a captive in Babylon, saw after being carried in a vision to Jerusalem. In chapter 8 he sees idolatrous practices inside and around the Temple in Jerusalem: the image of jealousy, seventy elders offering incense, women weeping for Tammuz, and men bowing down toward the sun. In chapter 9 six men appear with weapons in hand, along with a man clothed in linen who has a writer's inkhorn by his side. God first gives the man clothed in linen the command recorded in this verse, and then commands the others to strike those who lack the mark, saying, "begin at my sanctuary" (Ezekiel 9:6). The verse thus depicts the setting apart of those who are to be protected before the judgment begins.
Interpretation
- Historical-grammatical reading: The word translated "mark" here is the same as the name of the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, taw (ת). In the ancient Hebrew script this letter is believed to have been shaped like an X or a +. Many commentators read the scene as a sign of ownership and protection and compare it with the blood applied to the doorposts at the Passover during the Exodus (Exodus 12:13).
- Early church reading: The Latin Vulgate rendered this passage in a way that means "mark a tau." Some Church Fathers, including Tertullian, read the shape of the tau as a type of the cross.
- Jewish reading: Rabbinic literature also preserves a variety of interpretations of the meaning of this mark.
- Reading with the New Testament: Protestant commentators generally regard this verse as a counterpart to Revelation 7:3, where the servants of God are sealed on their foreheads, and to Revelation 14:1–5.
Questions of Application
The criterion for receiving the mark is presented as the attitude of those "that sigh and that cry." Explanations therefore differ as to whether this attitude should be read as a condition of salvation or as a sign that appears in those who already belong to God. In addition, the phrase "begin at my sanctuary" in Ezekiel 9:6 is often cited together with the statement that judgment begins first with the people of God (1 Peter 4:17), and it is commonly used to call for repentance within the church.
Related Passages
- Ezekiel 9:6
- Exodus 12:13
- Revelation 7:3
- Revelation 14:1
- 1 Peter 4:17
See also 8
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