Ezekiel 24:6

Scum. — This word, which occurs five times in these verses (Ezekiel 24:6; Ezekiel 24:11), is found nowhere else. Interpreters are agreed in the correctness of the old Greek version of it, rust. The thought is, that not only the inhabitants of the city are wicked, but that this wickedness is so great that the city itself (represented by the cauldron) is, as it were, corroded with rust. It is therefore to be utterly destroyed, “brought out piece by piece” (see 2 Kings 25:10); no lot is to fall upon it to make a discrimination, since nothing is to be spared. All previous judgments had been partial; this is to be complete.