John Gill Commentary Ezekiel 12:16

"But I will leave a few men of them from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence; that they may declare all their abominations among the nations whither they come; and they shall know that I am Jehovah." — Ezekiel 12:16 (ASV)

But I will leave a few men of them Or, "men of number"; of a small number, such as are easily reckoned up; which will require no great skill in numbers, nor trouble to count them: from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence ; during the siege of Jerusalem, and at the breaking of it up; but then they should be carried captive into other countries: that they may declare all their abominations among the Heathen where they come ; who, observing their calamities, and distresses, would read their sin in their punishment; and conclude they must have been guilty of great enormities, who were punished in such a manner; so that their punishment was a visible and standing declaration to the Heathens of the abominable sins they had been guilty of:

or else the end of reserving a few of them from the above capital judgments was, that they being brought to a sense of their sins by their afflictions, might freely confess them, express their repentance for them, and justify God in his proceedings towards them: and they shall know that I [am] the Lord ; not the Heathens, among whom this declaration would be made; but the Jews, brought under a conviction of their sin, and of the justice of God in his dealings with them.

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