יחזקאל, פרק י״ב, פסוק כ״א

A deep sense of skepticism had taken hold among the people, leading them to mock and dismiss prophetic warnings. To directly confront this growing doubt, God addresses the prophet and delivers a twofold response. He provides two distinct messages designed to refute two different attitudes of denial.

The first message is directed at those who completely rejected the prophecies. These skeptics argued that the warnings would never actually happen, comparing them to the empty predictions of stargazers that simply fade away and prove false as time goes on.

The second message addresses a slightly different form of dismissal. It targets those who admitted that the prophecies might eventually come true, but believed the events were meant only for the distant future and would not occur anytime soon [מלבי״ם].