Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, am against thee, and will execute judgments in the midst of thee in the sight of the nations.
Behold I, even I - awfully emphatic. I, even I, whom thou thinkest to be asleep, but who am ever reigning as the Omnipotent Avenger of sin, will vindicate my righteous government before the nations by judgments on thee. See note, Ezekiel 5:7.
I will do in thee that which I have not done - worse than any former judgments (Lamentations 4:6; Daniel 9:12). The prophecy includes the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans, and the final one by Antichrist (Zechariah 13:8-9; Zechariah 14:2), as well as that by Nebuchadnezzar. Their doom of evil was not exhausted by the Chaldean conquest. There was to be a germinating evil in their destiny, because there would be, as the Lord foresaw, a germinating evil in their character. As God connected Himself peculiarly with Israel, so there was to be a special manifestation of God's wrath against sin in their case (Fairbairn). The higher the privileges the greater the punishment in the case of abuse of them. When God's greatest favour, the Gospel, was given, and was abused by them, then "the wrath was to come upon them to the uttermost" (1 Thessalonians 2:16).