12 Lo, when the wall is fallen, shall it not be said unto you, Where is the daubing wherewith ye have daubed it?
12 When the wall collapses, will people not ask you, "Where is the whitewash you covered it with?"
12 And when the wall falls, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the coating with which you smeared it?'
12 and the wall collapses, what's the good of the whitewash that you slapped on so liberally, making it look so good?'
12 Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the mortar with which you plastered it?' "
12 And when the wall falls, the people will cry out, 'What happened to your whitewash?'
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 13:12
Commentary on Ezekiel 13:10-16
(Read Ezekiel 13:10-16)
One false prophet built the wall, set up the notion that Jerusalem should be victorious, and made himself acceptable by it. Others made the matter yet more plausible and promising; they daubed the wall which the first had built; but they would, ere long, be undeceived when their work was beaten down by the storm of God's just wrath; when the Chaldean army desolated the land. Hopes of peace and happiness, not warranted by the word of God, will cheat men; like a wall well daubed, but ill built.