Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 14:13

"Son of man, when a land sinneth against me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out my hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast;" — Ezekiel 14:13 (ASV)

When the land sinneth. —The definite article is not in the Hebrew, and should be omitted, as the proposition is a general one. Also, the future tenses throughout the verse should be rendered as present, in accordance with this character of a general statement: When a land sinneth ... and I stretch out ... and break the staff ... and send famine ... and cut off. The particular judgment of famine was threatened in the warnings of the law (Leviticus 26:26; Deuteronomy 28:38–40), and also, in immediate connection with it, all the other woes mentioned here.