As I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out, will I rule over you:
As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand ... will I rule over you. Here begins the second division of the prophecy. This second part extends to Ezekiel 20:44, where the chapter ought properly to end. Lest the covenant-people should abandon their distinctive hopes, and amalgamate with the surrounding pagan, he tells them that, as the wilderness journey from Egypt was made subservient to discipline, and also to the taking from among them the rebellious, so a severe discipline (such as the Jews are now for long actually undergoing) should be administered to them during the next exodus for the same purpose (Ezekiel 20:38), and so to prepare them for the restored possessions of their land (Hosea 2:14-15). This was only partially fulfilled before and at the return from Babylon: its full and final accomplishment is future.
With a mighty hand ... will I rule over you. I will assert my right over you in spite of your resistance (Ezekiel 20:32), as a master would in the case of his slave; and I will not let you be wrested from me, because of my regard to my covenant.