Verse Lens · Context pointer
Ezekiel 17:12 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 12. 12Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon;
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
The prophetic word through Ezekiel introduces or commands “Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king…” at Ezekiel 17:12 as “The Riddle Interprets Zedekiah's Broken Oath” develops.
Read It With
- Ezekiel 17:11–21
Read Ezekiel 17:12 with 17:11–21. By itself, “Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king…” can be detached from the speaker, addressee, date, exilic horizon, visionary movement, or outcome that gives it force. The complete unit establishes: Babylon's removal of king and nobles, covenant with Zedekiah, appeal to Egypt, and failed rebellion explain the vine's uprooting and the king's death in Babylon.
Why It Needs Context
Keep the line with Ezekiel 17:11–21. The prophetic word through Ezekiel introduces or commands “Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean? tell them, Behold, the king…” at Ezekiel 17:12 as “The Riddle Interprets Zedekiah's Broken Oath” develops. The literary form and this limit govern it: Condemnation of the oath-breaking king does not make every treaty sacred, excuse imperial domination, or transfer blame to later Jewish people.
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Ezekiel 17:11–21 — The Riddle Interprets Zedekiah's Broken OathSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? probable
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Ezekiel 17:11–21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Ezekiel
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a critical apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Ezek.xml, OSIS 17:11–21
Open the fixed Hebrew Ezekiel file ↗