This page gives you questions and answers for studying Ezekiel 22 in a small group, a Sunday class, or on your own. The chapter is a sharp indictment of Jerusalem: its leaders, prophets, priests and people have shed blood, broken God’s law and oppressed the vulnerable, and the LORD announces judgment that will melt them like metal in a furnace. The questions below move from what the text says, to what it means, to how it should shape your life.
Ezekiel 22 at a Glance
The chapter opens with a charge against “the bloody city” (verses 1-5), then lists the specific crimes of its princes, its people and its religious leaders (verses 6-12). The LORD then announces that he will gather the city into its own furnace and scatter it among the nations (verses 13-22). The second half turns to a land “not cleansed” (verses 23-31), where prophets, priests and princes have failed their duties, and the LORD notes with sorrow that he looked for someone to stand in the gap and found no one.
Use the questions in order if you want to follow the argument, or jump to the set that fits your group’s time and needs. Each set moves from the plain text to its meaning to its application.
Observation Questions
Start here to slow the group down and let the text speak before anyone offers an opinion. Ask people to point to the words on the page, not to their memories of other passages or of current events.
Ezekiel 22:6-7
6 “‘“Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his power, have been in you to shed blood. 7 In you have they treated father and mother with contempt. Among you they have oppressed the foreigner. In you they have wronged the fatherless and the widow.
(WEB)
Reading the list of princes and their abuses aloud sets the tone for the whole chapter. It helps the group feel the weight of the charge before the discussion of meaning begins.
Ezekiel 22:12
In you have they taken bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained of your neighbors by oppression, and have forgotten me,” says the Lord the LORD.
(WEB)
This verse ties bribery and interest to forgetting God, making a direct link between economic injustice and spiritual neglect. It is a strong prompt for practical application.
Ezekiel 22:18-19
18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are brass, tin, iron, and lead in the middle of the furnace. They are the dross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord the LORD: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the middle of Jerusalem.
(WEB)
The dross image is vivid and unfamiliar to many modern listeners. Reading it aloud lets the group absorb the picture before exploring its meaning in the furnace imagery.
Ezekiel 22:26
Her priests have done violence to my law, and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they caused men to discern between the unclean and the clean, and have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths. So I am profaned among them.
(WEB)
This verse describes how the priests blurred the holy and the common. It is useful for any group thinking about the responsibilities of leaders and the health of worship.
Ezekiel 22:30
“I sought for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.
(WEB)
The search for someone to stand in the gap is the emotional center of the chapter. Reading it near the end of the session invites reflection on the group’s own calling to intercede and protect others.
Memory Verse for Ezekiel 22
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we come to you as people who have seen our own failures reflected in this chapter. We have been slow to notice the vulnerable among us, quick to excuse our own dishonest gain, and too comfortable letting holy things blur into the ordinary. Forgive us where we have been part of the wall that is broken, and teach us to see the gaps in our families, our church and our neighborhoods. Give us courage to stand in those gaps, to pray faithfully and to act justly. Keep us from whitewash and from silence, and help us to know that you are the LORD in every season. Amen.
