The Days Are at Hand
17 Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, eat your bread with quaking, and drink your water with trembling and with fearfulness. 19 Tell the people of the land, ‘The Lord Yahweh says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the land of Israel: “They will eat their bread with fearfulness and drink their water in dismay, that her land may be desolate, and all that is therein, because of the violence of all those who dwell therein. 20 The cities that are inhabited will be laid waste, and the land will be a desolation. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.”’” 21 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 22 “Son of man, what is this proverb that you have in the land of Israel, saying, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails’? 23 Tell them therefore, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “I will make this proverb to cease, and they will no more use it as a proverb in Israel;”’ but tell them, ‘“The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. 24 For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel. 25 For I am Yahweh. I will speak, and the word that I speak will be performed. It will be no more deferred; for in your days, rebellious house, I will speak the word and will perform it,” says the Lord Yahweh.’” 26 Again Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 27 “Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off.’ 28 “Therefore tell them, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “None of my words will be deferred any more, but the word which I speak will be performed,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”
Two proverbs are quoted and abolished, and both are ways of agreeing that a prophecy is true while behaving as though it is not.
The chapter's second sign is small and domestic. Ezekiel is to eat his bread with quaking and drink his water with trembling, in front of people, and the meaning is given at once — this is how the inhabitants of Jerusalem will eat and drink. Fear is easier to portray than a siege, and a man visibly shaking over an ordinary meal is a harder thing to ignore than an argument.
The first proverb is then quoted, and it has the polish of something people had been repeating for years: The days are prolonged, and every vision fails. It concedes that visions are given. It simply observes that nothing ever comes of them. That is the natural conclusion of a generation who had heard warnings all their lives and watched the city stand. The answer does not argue the observation. It abolishes the saying — I will make this proverb to cease — and replaces it with the opposite: the days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.
The second proverb is more sophisticated and is quoted immediately after, because it is what people say when the first one stops working. The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of times that are far off. This does not deny the prophecy at all. It accepts it entirely and files it under a later generation. That produces exactly the same behavior as disbelief, while sounding devout. The reply is four words long in substance: None of my words will be deferred any more.
Between the two stands the sentence that answers both, and it is a statement about the speaker rather than about the timetable: For I am Yahweh. I will speak, and the word that I speak will be performed. The gap between a word and its fulfillment is the space where both proverbs live. The passage does not explain the gap. It attaches the word to the character of the one who spoke it and closes the matter. Then, at the end of the same chapter, it dates the fulfillment to the lifetime of the people listening.
settled What this mark means