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 heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD. 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 heathen whither they come; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel spoke as God's mouthpiece among the captives in Babylonia by the river Chebar while Jeremiah was prophesying in Jerusalem, and this word stands in the first twenty chapters of Ezekiel. It is to be read with Ezekiel 10 and 11 and stands within searching moral instruction continuing to chapter 27, much of which predicts the last days. Ezekiel 12:1-16 presents the moving out and captivity of Jerusalem as a dramatized sign of the city's fate.
The word falls within a prophecy about literal, rebellious Israel being carried captive to Babylon, with Ezekiel 12:2-21 applying to that historical captivity which lasted 70 years. God would leave a few men from the sword, from the famine, and from the pestilence, so they could declare Israel's abominations among the heathen where they were taken and scattered. Through this declaring of abominations among the nations, they would know that He is the LORD.