They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The verse vividly portrays Jerusalem's judgment not just as a military defeat, but as a public execution mimicking the ancient punishment for adultery. This highlights how God viewed their idolatry as a profound betrayal, a spiritual unfaithfulness deserving of a brutal, humiliating end in the sight of surrounding nations.
They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Ezekiel has been using a powerful, graphic allegory of Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife to describe her deep corruption and idolatry. God has just declared He will bring armies against her to execute judgment. This verse details the brutal, public punishment that will be inflicted upon the city, likening it to the stoning and execution of an adulteress.
Imagine facing not just punishment, but a public spectacle. This verse paints a picture of judgment that is both severe and witnessed by all.
Ezekiel 16:40 describes a brutal, public execution for Jerusalem. The imagery of being stoned and thrust through with swords is not just about physical violence; it carries the weight of divine justice displayed openly.
A Trial and Sentence
The text alludes to the Mosaic Law where stoning was the prescribed punishment for adultery (Leviticus 20:10). The mention of a "company" or "assembly" emphasizes that this judgment would be carried out in full view of a crowd, mirroring the public nature of the condemnation for the city's spiritual "adultery" – its deep-seated idolatry.
More Than Just Warfare
While the stoning could also represent the bombardment of the city with stones from siege engines, and the swords represent the battlefield slaughter, the primary force of the imagery comes from the legal and religious penalties. It underscores that this wasn't just a military defeat, but a divinely ordained execution for covenant unfaithfulness, enacted as a stark warning.
God's relationship with His people was a covenant, a sacred promise. When that promise is broken, the consequences are profound and far-reaching.
Ezekiel's prophecy in chapter 16 uses the metaphor of marriage to describe God's relationship with Israel. Jerusalem, depicted as an unfaithful wife, faces the consequences of breaking her covenant vows.
The Price of Idolatry
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The "company" that comes against Jerusalem represents the invading armies, primarily the Chaldeans. However, the methods of punishment – stoning and being cut by swords – are deliberately chosen to reflect the severity of the sins committed. Idolatry was seen as a deep betrayal, akin to adultery in the context of the covenant.
Divine Justice Displayed
This judgment is not arbitrary. It is a demonstration of God's righteousness and faithfulness to His own covenant. By allowing Jerusalem to be judged in this manner, God makes a public statement against the sin that had permeated the nation, showing that faithfulness would ultimately be upheld.
Understand the original words
saqal · Hebrew Verb
The execution of the death penalty by a community casting stones, traditionally the prescribed punishment for certain capital offenses in the Mosaic Law.
This verse vividly describes the brutal destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonian army, employing imagery drawn from the Mosaic Law's punishments for adultery and idolatry to convey the severity of God's judgment.
c. 722 BC
Fall of Samaria and Northern Kingdom
The Assyrian Empire conquers the northern kingdom of Israel, exiling many and scattering the population. This event serves as a dire warning to Judah about the consequences of unfaithfulness to God.
605 BC
First Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, conquers Judah and begins deporting its elite, including young men like Daniel, to Babylon. This marks the start of Judah's Babylonian captivity.
597 BC
Second Deportation to Babylon
Nebuchadnezzar deports more of Judah's population, including the prophet Ezekiel and King Jehoiachin, to Babylon. The kingdom's resistance is met with increasing severity.
586 BC— this verse
Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
The Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar destroys Jerusalem and its sacred Temple, exiling the remaining population. This devastating event is the backdrop for Ezekiel's prophetic messages of judgment and future restoration.
c. 580 BC
Ezekiel's Prophecy Delivered
During the exile in Babylon, Ezekiel delivers powerful messages, including the allegorical condemnation of Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife, as found in chapter 16.
This passage details the prescribed punishment for adultery in the Old Testament, which was stoning, directly reflecting the judgment described against Jerusalem in Ezekiel 16:40.
Deuteronomy 22:22Similar to Leviticus, this verse also prescribes stoning as the punishment for adultery, reinforcing the ancient legal context for the violent judgment Ezekiel is prophesying.
John 8:5Here, the religious leaders question Jesus about the Mosaic Law's punishment for adultery, referencing the stoning prescribed in the Law, which echoes the specific penalty mentioned in Ezekiel's prophecy.
Ezekiel 23:10This passage describes a similar, brutal fate for the sister city, Samaria, being stoned and cut down, illustrating a consistent theme of severe judgment for spiritual unfaithfulness throughout Ezekiel's prophecies.
1 Kings 21:13In the story of Naboth's vineyard, false witnesses are brought to 'stone him to death,' showing how public accusation and execution by stoning were used as tools of judgment, even unjustly, mirroring the public condemnation in Ezekiel 16:40.
cambridgeEzekiel 16:40: "They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords."
40 . a company against thee ] A congregation or public assembly of the people, at which the adulteress shall be tried and then executed; Leviticus 20:2 ; Deuteronomy 22:21 (cf. 1 Kings 21:9-15 ), Proverbs 5:8-14 , I was almost in all evil (danger of death) in the midst of the congregation and assembly. The death of the adulteress was by stoning; Lev…
bensonEzekiel 16:40: "They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords."
Ezekiel 16:40-43 . They shall bring a company against thee — A company shall come against thee, and beat down thy walls and houses, with stones slung out of battering-engines: see Jeremiah 33:4 . The expression alludes, as in Ezekiel 16:38 , to the punishment inflicted upon adulteresses, which was stoning. And they shall burn thy houses, &c. — The p…
The verse vividly portrays Jerusalem's judgment not just as a military defeat, but as a public execution mimicking the ancient punishment for adultery. This highlights how God viewed their idolatry as a profound betrayal, a spiritual unfaithfulness deserving of a brutal, humiliating end in the sight of surrounding nations.
Ezekiel has been using a powerful, graphic allegory of Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife to describe her deep corruption and idolatry. God has just declared He will bring armies against her to execute judgment. This verse details the brutal, public punishment that will be inflicted upon the city, likening it to the stoning and execution of an adulteress.
Ezekiel has been using a powerful, graphic allegory of Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife to describe her deep corruption and idolatry. God has just declared He will bring armies against her to execute judgment. This verse details the brutal, public punishment that will be inflicted upon the city, likening it to the stoning and execution of an adulteress.
"They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords." — The verse vividly portrays Jerusalem's judgment not just as a military defeat, but as a public execution mimicking the ancient punishment for adultery. This highlights how God viewed their idolatry a…
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Last reviewed October 2026