But thou, O son of man, behold, they shall put bands upon thee,.... Or, "bands shall be put upon thee"; either visionally, or really; not by angels, but by the Jews, who, taking the prophet for a madman by his motions and gestures; would bind him, and keep him within doors: or figuratively this may be understood of the sins of the people, their rebellion and obstinacy, which hindered the prophet from prophesying among them as yet; and so this is observed to conciliate his mind to the divine order, to shut up himself for a while in his own house, and be silent: or else by these bonds may be meant the divine order itself, which restrained him from doing his office as yet.
So the Targum,"behold, I have appointed the words of my mouth upon thee, as a band of ropes with which they bind;''and shall bind thee with them; which some think is emblematical of the Jews being bound by the Chaldeans:and thou shall not go out among them; to converse with them, or prophesy unto them.