Profane. — The prophet now turns from the people as a whole to the individual prince at their head. The word for “profane” is the same as is translated “slain” in Ezekiel 21:14; it would be better rendered here, as there, overthrown. What is close at hand is described as accomplished.
When iniquity shall have an end. — Literally, at the time of the iniquity of the end. The same expression is repeated in Ezekiel 21:29, and the meaning is plainly, at the time of that final transgression which shall be closed by the immediate manifestation of the Divine judgment. The representation of iniquity as being allowed to run a certain course through the Divine forbearance, and arrested and punished when it has reached its culmination, is a common one in Scripture. (See Genesis 15:16; Daniel 8:23; Matthew 23:34-36, &c.)