Ezechiel 14:9
And when the prophet shall err, and speak a word: I the Lord have deceived that prophet: and I will stretch forth my hand upon him, and will cut him off from the midst of my people Israel.
The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et propheta cum erraverit, et locutus fuerit verbum, ego Dominus decepi prophetam illum, et extendam manum meam super illum, et delebo eum de medio populi mei Israël.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- καὶ ὁ προφήτης ἐὰν πλανήσῃ καὶ λαλήσῃ, ἐγὼ Κύριος πεπλάνηκα τὸν προφήτην ἐκεῖνον, καὶ ἐκτενῶ τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν καὶ ἀφανιῶ αὐτὸν ἐκ μέσου τοῦ λαοῦ μου Ἰσραήλ.
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וְהַנָּבִ֤יא כִֽי יְפֻתֶּה֙ וְדִבֶּ֣ר דָּבָ֔ר אֲנִ֤י יְהוָה֙ פִּתֵּ֔יתִי אֵ֖ת הַנָּבִ֣יא הַה֑וּא וְנָטִ֤יתִי אֶת יָדִי֙ עָלָ֔יו וְהִ֨שְׁמַדְתִּ֔יו מִתּ֖וֹךְ עַמִּ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵֽל
Haydock's commentary
Err. He speaks of false prophets, answering out of their own heads, and according to their own corrupt inclinations.
Deceived, &c. God Almighty deceives false prophets, partly by withdrawing his light from them; and abandoning them to their own corrupt inclinations, which push them on to prophesy such things as are agreeable to those that consult them: and partly by disappointing them, and causing all things to happen contrary to what they have said. (Challoner)
God permits the deception, to punish both the impostor and his hearers. (Worthington)
Thus was Balaam treated, (Calmet) Numbers xxii. (Haydock)
He could do nothing of himself, (St. Jerome) 2 Kings xxii. 22. (Calmet)
Here also an interrogation might be used (Haydock) in Hebrew, "have I?" &c. (Feiffer dub. cent. 4. b. lviii.)
I have manifested the deceit, chap. xiii. 18.
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Augustine A Treatise on Grace and Free Will, God Does Whatsoever He Wills in the Hearts of Even Wicked Men
Who can help trembling at those judgments of God by which He does in the hearts of even wicked men whatsoever He wills, at the same time rendering to them according to their deeds? Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, rejected the salutary counsel of the old men, not to deal harshly with the people, and preferred listening to the words of the young men of his own age, by returning a rough answer to those to whom he should have spoken gently. Now whence arose such conduct, except from his own will? Upon this, however, the ten tribes of Israel revolted from him, and chose for themselves another king, even Jeroboam, that the will of God in His anger might be accomplished which He had predicted would come to pass. …
St Augustine A Treatise on Grace and Free Will, The Reason Why One Person is Assisted by Grace, and Another is Not Helped, Must Be Referred to the Secret Judgments of God
You must refer the matter, then, to the hidden determinations of God, when you see, in one and the same condition, such as all infants unquestionably have, who derive their hereditary evil from Adam, that one is assisted so as to be baptized, and another is not assisted, so that he dies in his very bondage; and again, that one baptized person is left and forsaken in his present life, who God foreknew would be ungodly, while another baptized person is taken away from this life, “lest that wickedness should alter his understanding;” and be sure that you do not in such cases ascribe unrighteousness or unwisdom to God, in whom is the very fountain of righteousness and wisdom, but, as I have exhorted you from the commencement of this treatise, “whereto you have already attained, walk therein,” and “even this shall God reveal unto you,”, if not in this life, yet certainly in the next, “for the …