Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop your word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
Son of man, let your face be turned to the south, let your words be dropped to the south, and be a prophet against the woodland of the South;
Son of man, set thy face towards the south, and drop thy word towards the south, and prophesy against the forest of the south field;
Son of man, set your face toward the south, and drop [your word] toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
Son of man, set thy face toward the south, and drop thy word toward the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field in the South;
Set thy face toward the south - Towards Judea, which lay south from Babylon, or Mesopotamia, where the prophet then dwelt.
The forest of the south field - The city of Jerusalem, as full of inhabitants as the forest is of trees.
In this verse occur three Hebrew synonyms for "south," denoting:
(1) the region on the right, Teman 1 Samuel 23:24;
(2) the region of dryness, Negeb Joshua 15:4;
(3) the region of brightness, Darom Deuteronomy 33:23.
The variety of terms helps the force of the application. Chebar is in the north of Babylonia; from the north the Chaldaeans came upon Judaea (see the Ezekiel 1:4 note).
20:46 The south - Look toward Jerusalem, and the land of Canaan. Drop thy word - Let thy word distil, begin with softer words, beforethou shower down with the vehemency of a storm.The forest - Jerusalem, which was become like a forest.