Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 21:26

"thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Remove the mitre, and take off the crown; this [shall be] no more the same; exalt that which is low, and abase that which is high." — Ezekiel 21:26 (ASV)

Remove the diadem. —The word translated “diadem” is rendered in every other place in which it occurs (Exodus 28:4; Exodus 28:37 (twice); Exodus 28:39; Exodus 29:6 (twice); Exodus 39:28; Exodus 39:31; Leviticus 8:9 (twice); Exodus 16:4) as the mitre of the high priest, and undoubtedly has the same sense here. Not only was the royal but also the high-priestly office to be overthrown in the approaching desolation. Neither of them was ever recovered in its full power after the captivity.

The various verbs here—remove, take off, exalt, abase—are in the original in the infinitive. While it is sometimes necessary to translate the infinitive as an imperative, it is better here to adhere to its more common sense. This sense indicates an action without reference to the agent and is most readily expressed in English by the passive: “The mitre shall be removed, and the crown taken off ... the low exalted, and the high abased.”

This shall not be the same. —Literally, this not this, or, supplying the verb as is often required, this shall not be this—i.e., as the following clauses express, there shall be an utter change and overturning of the whole existing state of things. For the abasement of the high and exaltation of the low, as an expression of the Divine interposition at the introduction of a new order of things, compare 1 Samuel 2:6–8 and Luke 1:51-53.