Ezekiel 16:1-59

God's Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

2 "Son of man, ¹make known to Jerusalem her abominations

3 and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

4 "As for your birth, ²on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

5 "No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ³open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

6 "When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!'

7 "I ⁴made you numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

8 "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I ⁵spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also ⁶swore to you and ⁷entered into a covenant with you so that you ⁸became Mine," declares the Lord GOD.

9 "Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and ⁹anointed you with oil.

10 "I also clothed you with ¹⁰embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

11 "I adorned you with ornaments, put ¹¹bracelets on your hands and a ¹²necklace around your neck.

12 "I also put a ¹³ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a ¹⁴beautiful crown on your head.

13 "Thus you were adorned with ¹⁵gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ¹⁶royalty.

14 "Then your ¹⁷fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ¹⁸perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.

15 "But you ¹⁹trusted in your beauty and ²⁰played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing.

16 "You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen.

17 "You also took your beautiful ²¹jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them.

18 "Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them.

19 "Also ²²My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares the Lord GOD.

20 "Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ²³Me and ²⁴sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

21 "You slaughtered ²⁵My children and offered them up to idols by ²⁶causing them to pass through the fire.

22 "Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of ²⁷your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

23 "Then it came about after all your wickedness ('Woe, woe to you!' declares the Lord GOD ),

24 that you built yourself a ²⁸shrine and made yourself a ²⁹high place in every square.

25 "You built yourself a high place at the top of ³⁰every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.

26 "You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful * neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to ³¹make Me angry.

27 "Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the ³²daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd conduct.

28 "Moreover, you played the harlot with the ³³Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.

29 "You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.""'

30 "How ³⁴languishing is your heart," declares the Lord GOD, "while you do all these things, the actions of a ³⁵bold-faced harlot.

31 "When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in ³⁶disdaining money, you were not like a harlot.

32 "You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!

33 "Men give gifts to all harlots, but you ³⁷give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries.

34 "Thus you are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different."

35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD.

36 Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable ³⁸idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to idols,

37 therefore, behold, I will ³⁹gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you ⁴⁰hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and ⁴¹expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness.

38 "Thus I will ⁴²judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ⁴³wrath and jealousy.

39 "I will also give you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, ⁴⁴strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels *, and will leave you naked and bare.

40 "They will incite a ⁴⁵crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

41 "They will ⁴⁶burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will ⁴⁷stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay your lovers.

42 "So I ⁴⁸will calm My fury against you and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be pacified and angry ⁴⁹no more.

43 "Because * you have ⁵⁰not remembered the days of your youth but have ⁵¹enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will ⁵²bring your conduct down on your own head," declares the Lord GOD, "so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.

44 "Behold, everyone who quotes ⁵³proverbs will quote this proverb concerning you, saying, 'Like mother, like daughter.'

45 "You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the ⁵⁴sister of your sisters, who ⁵⁵loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 "Now your ⁵⁶older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lives south of you, is ⁵⁷Sodom with her daughters.

47 "Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were ⁵⁸too little, you acted ⁵⁹more corruptly in all your conduct than they.

48 "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have ⁶⁰not done as you and your daughters have done.

49 "Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had ⁶¹arrogance, ⁶²abundant food and ⁶³careless ease, but she did not help * the ⁶⁴poor and needy.

50 "Thus they were haughty and committed ⁶⁵abominations before Me. Therefore I ⁶⁶removed them when I saw it.

51 "Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus you have made your sisters appear ⁶⁷righteous by all your abominations which you have committed.

52 "Also bear your disgrace in that you have made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted ⁶⁸more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear righteous.

53 "Nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own captivity,

54 in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ⁶⁹ashamed for all that you have done when you become ⁷⁰a consolation to them.

55 "Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state.

56 "As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride,

57 before your ⁷¹wickedness was uncovered, so now you have become the ⁷²reproach of the daughters of Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines -those surrounding you who despise you.

58 "You have ⁷³borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations," the LORD declares.

59 For thus says the Lord GOD, "I will also do with you as you have done, you who have ⁷⁴despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

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Ezekiel 16:1-59 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 16

In this chapter the Jewish nation is represented under the simile of a female infant, whose birth, breeding, marriage, grandeur, and conduct, are described, in order to show the wickedness and ingratitude of, his people; who, on account thereof, are threatened with judgments; though mercy is promised to a remnant that should repent. The prophet is directed to make known to Jerusalem her abominable sins, Eze 16:1,2; and, in order to this, is bid to take up the following parable of a female infant; whose descent, birth, and wretched condition, at the time of it, are pointed at, Eze 16:3-5; which are expressive of the low and forlorn estate of the Jews originally; and then follow the benefits and blessings of God bestowed upon them, both in their infant and adult state; the preserving them alive in Egypt, and their multiplication there; and afterwards the covenant made with them, when brought out from thence; and the Lord's espousal of them to himself, as his own people, having a strong affection for them, Eze 16:6-8; the large provision of good things he made for them, both in the wilderness, and especially in the land of Canaan; the riches he bestowed upon them, and the flourishing and prosperous kingdom he raised them to, which made them famous among all the nations round about them, Eze 16:9-14; and yet, after all this, such was the ingratitude of this people, as to commit spiritual whoredom, that is, idolatry, to a very great degree, Eze 16:15; which is aggravated by their converting and applying the good things which the Lord gave them to idolatrous uses, Eze 16:16-19; by sacrificing their sons and daughters to idols, which were the Lord's, Eze 16:20,21; by not calling to mind the former wretched estate out of which they were brought, Eze 16:22; by building high places in every street and way, and there committing idolatries, Eze 16:23-25; by the various nations, whose examples they followed, and with whom they joined, as the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, Eze 16:26-29; and by the great difference between them and all other harlots, whom they exceeded, Eze 16:30-34; wherefore, on account of all this, they are threatened to be dealt with as an adulterous woman; made a spectacle of; condemned to die, to be stripped, stoned, and burned, Eze 16:35-43; and, that the Lord might appear to be just in executing such judgments on them, they are declared to be as bad as the Hittites and Amorites their parents; and worse than their sisters Samaria and Sodom; and therefore could expect to fare no better than they; and should become proverb and a byword, and bear their sins, shame, and punishment, in the sight of their neighbours, and be despised by them, Eze 16:44-59; nevertheless, the covenant of grace made with his chosen people among them should stand firm; which being manifested to them, would be a means of bringing them to a sense of sin, shame for it, and an acknowledgment of the Lord's grace and goodness to them Eze 16:60-63.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 74

1. Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 20:4; Ezekiel 22:2
2. Hosea 2:3
3. Deuteronomy 32:10
4. Exodus 1:7; Deuteronomy 1:10
5. Ruth 3:9; Jeremiah 2:2
6. Genesis 22:16-18
7. Exodus 24:7, 8
8. Exodus 19:5; Ezekiel 20:5; Hosea 2:19, 20
9. Ruth 3:3
10. Exodus 26:36; Ezekiel 16:13, 18; Ezekiel 26:16; Ezekiel 27:7, 16
11. Genesis 24:22, 47; Isaiah 3:19; Ezekiel 23:42
12. Genesis 41:42; Proverbs 1:9
13. Genesis 24:47; Isaiah 3:21
14. Isaiah 28:5; Jeremiah 13:18; Ezekiel 16:14
15. Psalms 45:13, 14; Ezekiel 16:17
16. 1 Samuel 10:1; 1 Kings 4:21
17. 1 Kings 10:1, 24
18. Psalms 50:2; Lamentations 2:15
19. Ezekiel 16:25; Ezekiel 27:3
20. Isaiah 57:8; Jeremiah 2:20
21. Ezekiel 16:11, 12
22. Hosea 2:8
23. Exodus 13:2, 12; Deuteronomy 29:11, 12
24. Psalms 106:37, 38; Jeremiah 7:31; Ezekiel 20:31; Ezekiel 23:37
25. Exodus 13:2
26. 2 Kings 17:17; Jeremiah 19:5
27. Jeremiah 2:2
28. Jeremiah 11:13; Ezekiel 16:31, 39; Ezekiel 20:28, 29
29. Psalms 78:58; Isaiah 57:7
30. Proverbs 9:14
31. Jeremiah 7:18, 19; Ezekiel 8:17
32. Isaiah 9:12; Ezekiel 16:57
33. 2 Kin 16:7, 10-18; 2 Chr 28:16, 20-23; Jeremiah 2:18, 36; Ezekiel 23:12; Hosea 10:6
34. Proverbs 9:13; Isaiah 1:3; Jeremiah 4:22
35. Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 3:3
36. Isaiah 52:3
37. Isaiah 57:9; Ezekiel 16:41; Hosea 8:9, 10
38. Jeremiah 19:5; Ezekiel 20:31; Ezekiel 23:37
39. Jeremiah 13:22, 26; Ezekiel 23:9, 22; Hosea 2:3, 10; Nahum 3:5, 6
40. Ezekiel 23:17, 28
41. Isaiah 47:3
42. Ezekiel 23:45
43. Psalms 79:3, 5; Jeremiah 18:21; Ezekiel 23:25; Zephaniah 1:17
44. Ezekiel 23:26; Hosea 2:3
45. Ezekiel 23:47; Habakkuk 1:6-10
46. 2 Kings 25:9; Jeremiah 39:8; Jeremiah 52:13
47. Ezekiel 23:48
48. 2 Samuel 24:25; Ezekiel 5:13; Ezekiel 21:17; Zechariah 6:8
49. Isaiah 40:1, 2; Isaiah 54:9, 10; Ezekiel 39:29
50. Psalms 78:42; Psalms 106:13; Ezekiel 16:22
51. Isaiah 63:10; Ezekiel 6:9
52. Ezekiel 11:21; Ezekiel 22:31
53. 1 Samuel 24:13; Ezekiel 12:22, 23; Ezekiel 18:2, 3
54. Ezekiel 23:2
55. Isaiah 1:4; Ezekiel 23:37-39; Zechariah 11:8
56. Jeremiah 3:8-11; Ezekiel 23:4
57. Genesis 13:10-13; Genesis 18:20; Ezek 16:48, 49, 53-56, 61
58. 1 Kings 16:31
59. 2 Kings 21:9; Ezekiel 5:6; Ezekiel 16:48, 51
60. Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:23, 24
61. Genesis 19:9; Psalms 138:6; Isaiah 3:9; Ezek 28:2, 9, 17
62. Genesis 13:10; Isaiah 22:13; Amos 6:4-6
63. Luke 12:16-20; Luke 16:19
64. Ezek 18:7, 12, 16
65. Genesis 13:13; Genesis 18:20; Genesis 19:5
66. Genesis 19:24, 25
67. Jeremiah 3:8-11
68. Ezek 16:47, 48, 51
69. Jeremiah 2:26
70. Ezekiel 14:22, 23
71. Ezekiel 16:36, 37
72. 2 Kings 16:5-7; 2 Chr 28:5, 6, 18-23; Ezekiel 5:14, 15; Ezekiel 22:4
73. Ezekiel 23:49
74. Isaiah 24:5; Ezekiel 17:19

Footnotes 35

[a]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
[b]. Lit "surface"
[c]. Lit "in the loathing of your soul"
[d]. Lit "a myriad"
[e]. Lit "your time was"
[f]. Lit "to whom it might be"
[g]. Lit "things which had not happened nor will it be"
[h]. Lit "articles of beauty"
[i]. Lit "and you...offer it"
[j]. Lit "them"
[k]. Lit "them"
[l]. Lit "great of flesh"
[m]. Lit "domineering"
[n]. Lit "They"
[o]. Lit "after you"
[p]. Lit "them"
[q]. Lit "their hands, and they"
[r]. Lit "articles of beauty"
[s]. Lit "bring up an assembly"
[t]. Lit "a harlot's hire"
[u]. So with ancient versions; Heb "are angry against"
[v]. Lit "Her"
[w]. Lit "Her"
[x]. Lit "on your left"
[y]. I.e. environs; so through v 55
[z]. Lit "from your right"
[aa]. I.e. environs; so through v 55
[ab]. Lit "grasp the hand of"
[ac]. Many ancient mss and versions read "as you have seen"
[ad]. Lit "mediated for"
[ae]. Lit "in their midst"
[af]. Lit "the captivity of your captivity"
[ag]. Heb includes "will return...state" after Sodom also
[ah]. Lit "as at the time of"
[ai]. So with many mss and one version; M.T. "Aram"