Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many day to come, and he prophesieth of times that are far off.

Son of man, behold the house of Israel, they that say: The vision that this man seeth, is for many days to come: and this men prophesieth of times afar off.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are distant.

Son of man, lo, the house of Israel are saying, The vision that he is seeing is for many days, and of times far off he is prophesying,

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he sees is for many days to come, and he prophesies of the times that are far off.

Son of man, see, the children of Israel say, The vision which he sees is for the days which are a long way off, and his words are of times still far away.

"Son of man, behold the house of Israel, those who are saying: 'The visions that this one sees is many days away,' and, 'This man prophesies about times that are far away.'

Fill hominis, ecce domus Israel dicunt, [269] visio quam hic vidit, ad dies multos extenditur, et in tempora longinqua ipse prophetat.

Son of man, behold, [they of] the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth [is] for (g) many days [to come], and he prophesieth of the times [that are] distant.
(g) That is, it will not come to pass in our days, and therefore we care not for it: thus the wicked ever abuse God's patience and benignity.

Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say,.... Either they of the ten tribes in Babylon, or the Jews in Judea, who were also Israelites: these the Lord directs the prophet to take notice of, and be a witness of what they said; since he himself, as a prophet, was concerned in it:
the vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are afar off; that is, according to them, the vision that Ezekiel the prophet saw concerning their ruin; and the prophecy which he delivered out relating to that was not to be fulfilled as yet; there were many days and years still to come; it was at a great distance, and so they put away this evil day far from them; they own that he had a vision and prophecy, but it respected future times, and distant ages; and therefore they did not trouble themselves with it; it gave them no great concern, because they considered it as afar off.

Not a mere repetition of the scoff (Ezekiel 12:22); there the scoffers asserted that the evil was so often threatened and postponed, it must have no reality; here formalists do not go so far as to deny that a day of evil is coming, but assert it is still far off (Amos 6:3). The transition is easy from this carnal security to the gross infidelity of the former class.