Ezekiel 16

The word of the LORD came to me again. He said:

1Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Note"The LORD" in small capitals stands for the personal name of Israel's God (the four Hebrew letters YHWH), which later Jewish practice avoided pronouncing aloud. Where the text has "Lord GOD," the Hebrew pairs the title "my Lord" with that same name.

2"Son of man, make Jerusalem face the disgusting things she has done.

2Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,

Note"Son of man" is Hebrew for "human being" or "mortal"; it is how God addresses Ezekiel throughout the book, and it is a form of address, not a title. The word behind "disgusting things" (KJV "abominations") means things found repellent, and is used especially of foreign religious practices.

3Tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your beginning and your birth were in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

NoteAmorites, Hittites and Canaanites were the peoples living in the land before Israel. Jerusalem had been a Canaanite (Jebusite) city until David captured it. To tell Jerusalem her father was an Amorite and her mother a Hittite is a deliberate insult: Israelites traced their ancestry to Abraham, and this denies her any such descent.

4As for your birth, on the day you were born no one cut your cord. No one washed you with water to clean you. No one rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths.

4And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

NoteThese are the ordinary things done for a newborn in that world: the cord cut, the baby washed, rubbed with salt (thought to clean and toughen the skin), then bound tightly in strips of cloth. That none of it was done means no one accepted the child at all.

5No one looked at you with pity or cared enough to do even one of these things for you. Instead you were thrown out into an open field, because you were despised on the day you were born.

5None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

NoteAbandoning an unwanted newborn in open country was a known practice in the ancient Near East. The child either died or was picked up by a stranger, who could then claim it as a slave or a foster child.

6Then I passed by and saw you lying there in your own blood. As you lay in your blood I said to you, "Live!" Yes, as you lay in your blood I said to you, "Live!"

6And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

7I made you grow like a plant in a field. You grew up and matured and came to full beauty. Your breasts formed and your hair grew long, but you were still naked and bare.

7I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

NoteThe KJV's "thou art come to excellent ornaments" translates a Hebrew phrase literally meaning something like "you came to ornament of ornaments." Its exact sense is uncertain; most take it to mean she reached full physical maturity.

8Later I passed by and looked at you, and you were old enough for love. So I spread the edge of my robe over you and covered your naked body. I swore an oath to you and entered a covenant with you, a binding agreement, says the Lord GOD, and you became mine.

8Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

NoteSpreading the edge of one's cloak over a woman was a recognized gesture of claiming her in marriage (compare Ruth 3:9). A covenant was a formal binding agreement, sealed by a sworn oath; here the language of a marriage contract is used for the bond between God and the city.

9Then I washed you with water. I rinsed the blood off you and rubbed olive oil on your skin.

9Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.

10I dressed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.

10I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

NoteThe KJV's "badgers' skin" translates a Hebrew word of uncertain meaning, perhaps a fine tanned leather, perhaps the hide of a sea creature. The same material is named as the outer covering of the tabernacle.

11I decorated you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.

11I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.

12I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

12And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

NoteThe KJV puts the jewel on the forehead, but the Hebrew word means a nose ring, a common and expensive piece of women's jewelry.

13So you wore gold and silver, and your clothes were fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You became very beautiful, and you rose to be a queen.

13Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.

NoteFine (finely sifted) flour, honey and olive oil were luxury foods, not everyday fare. "You rose to be a queen" (KJV "thou didst prosper into a kingdom") is the point where the picture of a girl becoming a bride merges with Jerusalem's rise to be the capital of a kingdom.

14Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty. It was perfect, because of the splendor I had given you, says the Lord GOD.

14And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

Note"Heathen" in the KJV simply translates the word for "the nations," that is, foreign peoples. It carries no sense of savagery.

15But you trusted in your own beauty, and you used your fame to sell yourself. You poured out your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty became his.

15But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

NoteThe prophets routinely describe two things as sexual unfaithfulness: worshiping other gods, and buying the protection of foreign empires. Both senses run through this chapter, since the bond between God and the people had been described as a marriage.

16You took some of your clothes and used them to make colorful shrines, and there you sold yourself. Such things should never have happened; they never should have come about.

16And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

NoteA "high place" was an open-air shrine, usually on raised ground or a built-up platform, with an altar and often a pillar or pole. Such shrines were used both for local gods and for the LORD; the law associated with Jerusalem's temple condemned them.

17You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver that I had given you, and you made male idols out of it, and with them you acted like a prostitute.

17Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

NoteThe Hebrew says "images of a male", figures of male gods, and possibly images shaped as male genitals. The metaphor of the previous verses is being pressed hard.

18You took your embroidered clothes and covered the idols with them, and you set my oil and my incense in front of them.

18And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.

19You also took the food I gave you, the fine flour and oil and honey I fed you, and you set it in front of them as a pleasing smell. That is what happened, says the Lord GOD.

19My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteThe oil, incense, fine flour and honey listed here are the standard materials of offerings made at the temple. "A sweet savour" (a pleasing smell) is the fixed technical phrase for the smell of a sacrifice that the deity accepts.

20More than that, you took your sons and daughters, the children you bore to me, and you sacrificed them to those idols as food. Was all your prostitution too small a thing for you?

20Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

21You killed my children and handed them over, making them pass through the fire for those idols.

21That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

Note"Making them pass through the fire" is the set expression for child sacrifice. Other biblical texts locate the practice in the valley of Hinnom outside Jerusalem and link it with the god Molech; Israelite law forbade it outright.

22In all your disgusting acts and all your prostitution, you never remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and lying in your own blood.

22And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

23And after all your wickedness (how terrible, how terrible it will be for you, says the Lord GOD),

23And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the LORD GOD;)

24you also built yourself a raised mound and made yourself a high shrine in every public square.

24That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

NoteThe KJV's "eminent place" means a built-up mound or platform, and "high place" here is a raised shrine. The words also carry the sense of the raised booth or bed a prostitute would set up, which is why the two pictures sit on top of each other.

25At the head of every street you built your high shrine. You made your beauty something people hated, and you spread your legs for everyone who passed by, and your prostitution grew and grew.

25Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

Note"The head of the way" is the junction where streets meet, the most public and most traveled spot in a town.

26You also had sex with your neighbors the Egyptians, men of strong lust, and you kept adding to your prostitution to make me angry.

26Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

Note"Great of flesh" is a crude Hebrew expression about the Egyptians' bodies. Behind the image lies a political fact: Judah's kings repeatedly sought Egyptian backing against the eastern empires.

27So I stretched out my hand against you and cut back the food you were given. I handed you over to the will of those who hate you, the Philistine women, who were ashamed of your shameful behavior.

27Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

NoteThe Hebrew says he cut down her "allotted portion", her assigned rations or territory. The Philistines were the people of the coastal cities to Judah's west, long-standing enemies; "daughters of the Philistines" means Philistine towns and their people.

28You sold yourself to the Assyrians too, because you were never satisfied. You acted like a prostitute with them, and even then you could not be satisfied.

28Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

NoteAssyria was the empire that dominated the region from roughly the ninth to the late seventh centuries BC. Judah's kings paid it tribute and took on some of its religious furniture.

29You spread your prostitution wider still, from Canaan all the way to Chaldea, the land of traders, and even that did not satisfy you.

29Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

NoteChaldea is Babylonia, the empire that replaced Assyria and that had already deported Ezekiel and his hearers. The Hebrew word for Canaan can also mean "merchant," which is why the phrase "land of traders" appears here.

30How weak your heart is, says the Lord GOD, that you do all these things, the work of a bold and shameless prostitute.

30How weak is thine heart, saith the LORD GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;

NoteThe word translated "weak" is rare and its sense is disputed; proposals range from "how weak and sick" to "how inflamed with rage." KJV "imperious" means domineering, brazen.

31You built your mound at the head of every street and made your high shrine in every public square. Yet you were not even like a prostitute, because you refused to be paid.

31In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

32You are a wife who commits adultery, a woman who takes strangers instead of her own husband.

32But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

33Men give gifts to prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers. You paid them to come to you from every side for sex.

33They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

NoteNormally a client pays a prostitute. The reversal is the whole point of the image, and it has a political edge: Judah sent tribute and gifts to the powers whose favor it wanted, rather than gaining anything from them.

34So in your prostitution you are the opposite of other women. No one chases after you for sex. You pay the fee, and no fee is paid to you. That makes you the opposite.

34And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

35So then, prostitute, hear the word of the LORD.

35Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:

36This is what the Lord GOD says: Your filth was poured out and your naked body was uncovered in your prostitution with your lovers and with all your disgusting idols, and you gave them the blood of your children.

36Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

NoteThe word rendered "filthiness" is elsewhere the ordinary word for bronze or copper. Interpreters split over whether it means bodily discharge here or the money and metal lavished on the lovers; both readings are defensible.

37So I am going to gather all your lovers, the ones you took pleasure with, everyone you loved and everyone you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and uncover you in front of them, so they see you completely naked.

37Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

NoteStripping an unfaithful wife naked in public was a known form of legal shaming in the ancient Near East, and the same image is used elsewhere of a captured city being plundered.

38I will judge you the way women who commit adultery and women who spill blood are judged. In my fury and jealousy I will bring bloodshed on you.

38And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

NoteUnder Israelite law both adultery and murder carried the death penalty. "Jealousy" here is a technical term from that law: the legal outrage of a wronged husband.

39I will hand you over to them. They will tear down your mound and break down your high shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

39And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

40They will bring a crowd against you. They will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

40They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.

NoteStoning was carried out by the assembled community rather than by an executioner, which is why a crowd has to be brought together.

41They will burn your houses down and punish you where many women can watch. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will never pay a lover again.

41And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

NotePunishment carried out "in the sight of many women" means a public execution staged as a warning to everyone watching.

42Then my fury toward you will settle, and my jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and will not be angry anymore.

42So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

43You did not remember the days of your youth. Instead you made me furious with all these things. So I will bring what you have done down on your own head, says the Lord GOD. Have you not added this lewd act on top of all your other disgusting deeds?

43Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

44Look, everyone who uses proverbs will use this one about you: "Like mother, like daughter."

44Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.

45You are your mother's daughter, the woman who despised her husband and her children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

45Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

46Your older sister is Samaria, who lives with her daughters to the north of you. Your younger sister is Sodom, who lives with her daughters to the south of you.

46And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

NoteA city's "daughters" are the villages and smaller towns that depended on it. Directions were reckoned facing east, so the left hand is north and the right hand south. Samaria, to the north, was the capital of the breakaway northern kingdom, destroyed by Assyria in 722 BC. Sodom, to the south near the Dead Sea, was the city destroyed in Genesis 19 and had long since become a byword.

47You did not just follow their ways and copy their disgusting deeds. As if that were far too small a thing, in everything you did you became more corrupt than they were.

47Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

NoteThe Hebrew flatly says "you did not walk in their ways," which sits oddly with what follows. It is usually read as bitter sarcasm (as if merely matching them would have been too small a thing), though some think a word has dropped out. Either way the charge is that she outdid them.

48As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

48As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

49This was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were proud. They had plenty of food and easy comfort, and they did not help the poor and needy.

49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Note"Fulness of bread" means having more than enough food, and "strengthen the hand of" is the ordinary idiom for supporting or helping someone. The list of Sodom's offenses here is one of social and economic wrongs.

50They were arrogant and did disgusting things in front of me. So I removed them when I saw it.

50And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.

NoteThe Hebrew consonants at the end can be read either "as I saw fit" (KJV) or "as you have seen"; ancient translations differ, and both readings are still printed.

51Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done far more disgusting things than they did, so that all your disgusting deeds make your sisters look righteous.

51Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

Note"Justified thy sisters" is courtroom language: your conduct is so much worse that it makes their case look like the innocent one by comparison. It is not a statement that they were in fact innocent.

52You judged your sisters, so now bear your own shame. Your sins were more disgusting than theirs, so they look more upright than you. Be ashamed, then, and bear your disgrace, since you made your sisters look righteous.

52Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

53I will bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them I will bring back your captives too.

53When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

Note"Bring again the captivity" translates a fixed Hebrew phrase meaning "restore the fortunes", to reverse a community's ruin. It need not mean literal prisoners returning, which matters here, since Sodom had no captives to bring back.

54You will bear your own shame and be ashamed of everything you did, and in that way you will be a comfort to them.

54That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

55Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to what they were before, and Samaria and her daughters will return to what they were before, and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.

55When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

56In the day of your pride you would not even speak your sister Sodom's name,

56For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,

NoteThe Hebrew is ambiguous. It can mean that Jerusalem would not so much as speak Sodom's name while she was riding high, or, as most modern versions take it, that Sodom was a word of contempt in her mouth.

57back before your own wickedness was uncovered. Now you are the one who is mocked by the daughters of Syria and everyone around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines, who look down on you from every side.

57Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.

NoteThe KJV's "Syria" follows the Hebrew word Aram; many manuscripts and versions read Edom instead. The two words differ by a single letter of similar shape, and copyists confused them often.

58You must carry the punishment for your lewdness and your disgusting deeds, says the LORD.

58Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

59For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will treat you the way you have acted, because you thought nothing of the oath and broke the covenant.

59For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

NoteA covenant was ratified by a sworn oath that called down specific curses on whoever broke it. "Despising the oath" is the formal charge of treaty-breaking, not merely a change of heart.

60Even so, I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will set up an everlasting covenant with you.

60Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

61Then you will remember how you lived, and you will be ashamed, when you receive your sisters, the older and the younger. I will give them to you as daughters, though not because of your covenant.

61Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant.

Note"Not by thy covenant" is obscure in the Hebrew. It has been taken to mean "not because of the agreement I made with you," and also "though they were never party to your agreement."

62I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

62And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

63Then you will remember and be ashamed, and you will never open your mouth again because of your disgrace, when I make peace with you for everything you have done, says the Lord GOD."

63That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.

NoteThe verb behind "when I am pacified" (KJV) is the word used in the sacrificial laws for making atonement, covering over or wiping away an offense. The one performing it here is God.