Ezekiel 11:3

It is not near;let us build Rather as R.V. The time to build houses is not near, lit. the building of houses is not near. The phrase "to build houses" is to be taken as in ch. Ezekiel 28:26, "And they shall dwell with confidence therein, and shall build houses and plant vineyards and shall dwell with confidence." To build houses is a sign and a consequence of a time of peace and security (Isaiah 65:21; Jeremiah 29:5; Jeremiah 29:28). These agitators desire to turn men's minds away from peaceful occupations, and make them contemplate other measures, assuring them that when war comes the strong city will be their salvation it is the pot which will protect the flesh from the fire around it. Others, e.g. Ew., take the phrase interrogatively: Is not the building of houses near? This, however, hardly corresponds to the situation, which is not one of war which it is hoped will speedily pass over, but one of contemplated rebellion. LXX. renders: Have not the houses been recently built? it is the pot &c.; so Corn. This gives a closer connexion to the two halves of the verse, but "houses" could hardly have the sense of fortifications, nor does the phrase naturally express the meaning that the damage done to the city when last captured (under Jehoiachin) had been fully repaired.

thiscity is the caldron lit. it is the caldron or pot. The phrase implies two things, the danger of fire around, and that the strong city will prove a protection to those within it. These revolutionary spirits are aware of the risks they run, but with a certain grimness of humour they make light of them. The figure here is somewhat different from that of the boiling pot for war common in the Arabic poets.