Ezekiel 21:7
“It shall be, when they ask you, ‘Why do you sigh?’ that you shall say, ‘Because of the news, for it comes! Every heart will melt, all hands will be feeble, every spirit will faint, and all knees will be weak as water. Behold, it comes, and it shall be done, says the Lord Yahweh.’””
What does Ezekiel 21:7 mean?
Ezekiel is told to perform a symbolic action: he will sigh so heavily that people will notice and ask what's wrong. When they do, he's to explain that he's grieving over terrible news coming to Jerusalem, news so devastating that it will physically and spiritually break people down. The prophet's visible sorrow is meant to wake up his community to the reality of judgment that's approaching, since they've refused to listen to words alone. It's a reminder that sometimes our honest emotional responses to truth can communicate what arguments cannot.