CLARITY EDITION · OLD TESTAMENT
Ezekiel 16
Chapter 16 of 48
Chapter Overview
What happens in Ezekiel 16
In the longest chapter in Ezekiel, God tells the story of Jerusalem as an allegory of an abandoned baby girl whom God rescued, raised, and married. But she became unfaithful and chased after other gods. Despite her terrible betrayal, God promises to remember his covenant and restore her.
Scripture
Ezekiel 16
The Abandoned Baby
Study note
God told the story of Jerusalem's origins. The city's roots were in pagan Canaan, not in anything holy. God compared Jerusalem to an unwanted newborn baby thrown out in a field to die. No one cared for this baby. But God passed by, saw the child lying in its own blood, and commanded it to live. He made the baby grow into a beautiful young woman. This represented how God chose Israel when it was nothing and made it into a great nation.
1 The Lord spoke to me once more. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 "Son of man, force Jerusalem to face how revolting its behavior has been." Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
3 Tell them the Lord God says to Jerusalem: "Your roots trace back to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite." And 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.
4 "When you were born, nobody cut your cord. Nobody washed you. Nobody rubbed you with salt. Nobody wrapped you in blankets." And 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.
5 "Not a single person cared enough to do any of those things for you. You were tossed out into an open field -- abandoned and unwanted -- on the day you came into the world." None 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.
6 "Then I came along and found you lying there in your own blood. I looked at you, lying helpless in your blood, and I said, 'Live!' I commanded you, 'Live!'" And 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.
7 "I caused you to grow like a wildflower. You grew tall and developed into a beautiful young woman. But you were still exposed and unprotected." I 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.
God's Covenant and Blessings
Study note
When Jerusalem grew up, God entered into a marriage covenant with the city, symbolizing the covenant he made with Israel at Mount Sinai. He clothed the city in beautiful clothing, adorned it with jewelry, and fed it the finest food. Jerusalem became famous among the nations for its beauty. But God made clear that all this beauty came from him, not from the city itself.
8 "When I came by again later, you had reached the age for love. So I draped the edge of my robe over you to cover you. I made a solemn vow to you and entered into a binding covenant with you, says the Lord God. You became mine." Now 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.
9 "I bathed you in water, washed away all the blood, and rubbed you with the finest oils." Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
10 "I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put soft leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you in the finest linen and draped you in silk." I 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.
11 "I adorned you with beautiful jewelry -- bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck." I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
12 "I placed a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a gorgeous crown on your head." And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
13 "You were draped in gold and silver. Your clothing was fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You feasted on the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You grew breathtakingly beautiful -- fit to be a queen." Thus 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.
14 "Word of your beauty spread to every nation, because the splendor I gave you made it flawless, says the Lord God." And 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.
Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness
Study note
Instead of being grateful, Jerusalem became proud and used God's gifts to worship false gods. The city took God's gold and silver to make idols. It sacrificed children to pagan gods, something God found especially revolting. Jerusalem chased after alliances with Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon like an unfaithful wife. God said Jerusalem was even worse than a prostitute because she paid her lovers instead of being paid.
15 "But your beauty went to your head. You used your fame to become unfaithful, throwing yourself at anyone who walked by." But 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.
16 "You took your beautiful clothing and used it to decorate pagan worship sites on the hilltops, where you gave yourself away. Things like this should never happen!" And 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.
17 "You even melted down the gold and silver jewelry I gave you. You shaped them into male idol figures. Then you used them in your unfaithful worship." Thou 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,
18 "You draped your embroidered clothing over those idols. You set my oil and my incense before them as offerings." And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
19 "The food I provided for you -- the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you -- you laid out in front of those idols as a fragrant offering. That is exactly what happened, says the Lord God." My 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.
20 "Even worse, you took the sons and daughters you had given birth to for me and sacrificed them as food for your idols. Was all your unfaithfulness not enough already?" Moreover 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,
21 "You butchered my children and offered them up by passing them through fire." That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
22 "Through all your disgusting actions and unfaithfulness, you never once thought back to when you were young. Back then you were naked and helpless, lying in your own blood." And 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.
23 "What disaster! What disaster awaits you, says the Lord God! On top of all your other wicked acts," And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
24 "you built yourself a pagan shrine and set up a platform for idol worship in every public square." That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
25 "At every street corner you built your platforms and degraded your beauty by offering yourself to anyone passing through. Your unfaithfulness kept growing worse and worse." Thou 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.
26 "You chased after the Egyptians, your sinful neighbors. The more unfaithful you became, the more you stirred up my anger." Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
27 "So I struck back. I cut your land smaller. I handed you to the Philistine women who hated you. Even they were shocked by your shameless ways." Behold, 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.
28 "Still not satisfied, you threw yourself at the Assyrians too. But even that did not fill the emptiness." Thou 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.
29 "So you stretched your unfaithfulness all the way to Babylonia, that land of merchants. And still you were not satisfied." Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
30 "How weak your willpower is, says the Lord God, to do all these things! You acted like a bold, shameless woman with no self-control." How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
31 "You built your pagan shrines on every corner and your platforms in every public square. But you were even worse than a prostitute -- you refused to accept payment." In 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;
32 "You are like a married woman who brings strangers into her bed instead of staying faithful to her own husband!" But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
33 "Prostitutes receive payment, but you -- you are the one paying your lovers! You bribed them to come to you from every direction." They 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.
34 "You did everything backwards compared to other unfaithful women. No one pursued you -- you pursued them. You paid them instead of them paying you. You had it completely reversed." And 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.
God's Punishment
Study note
Because of Jerusalem's unfaithfulness, God would gather all the nations she had chased after and turn them against her. They would strip her bare and attack her. The punishment would match the sin of breaking the marriage covenant. God's jealous anger would finally be satisfied, and then he would be calm.
35 "So listen up, unfaithful city! Hear the Lord's message!" Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
36 The Lord God says: "You poured out your lust and showed yourself to your many lovers and your disgusting idols. You were unfaithful. You even offered the blood of your own children to them." Thus 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;
37 "I am going to gather every lover you ever enjoyed -- both the ones you loved and the ones you grew to hate. I will bring them against you from every side. I will strip you bare in front of them all." Behold, 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.
38 "I will hand down the sentence reserved for women who break their marriage vows and shed innocent blood. My furious, jealous wrath will crash down on you." And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
39 "I will turn you over to your former lovers. They will demolish your shrines and tear apart your platforms. They will rip off your clothes, take away all your fine jewelry, and leave you stripped bare." And 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.
40 "They will whip up a mob against you, pelt you with stones, and hack you apart with swords." They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
41 "They will torch your houses and punish you publicly. I will bring your unfaithfulness to a permanent end, and you will never again pay lovers." And 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.
42 "After that, my fury will cool down and my jealous anger will fade. I will finally be calm and no longer enraged." So 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.
43 "You forgot the days when you were young. You made me angry with all of this. So I am bringing the results of your actions down on your head, says the Lord God. Did you not pile disgusting acts on top of every other sin?" Because 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.
Worse Than Sodom and Samaria
Study note
God compared Jerusalem to her 'sisters': Samaria (the northern kingdom) and Sodom (the infamous city destroyed by fire). Jerusalem's sin was so great that it made even Sodom and Samaria look righteous by comparison. Sodom's sin was pride, laziness, and neglect of the poor. God said Jerusalem had no right to look down on her sisters when she had done even worse things.
44 "People who like clever sayings will say about you: 'Like mother, like daughter.'" Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45 "You truly are your mother's child -- she rejected her husband and children. You are your sisters' twin -- they also rejected their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite, your father an Amorite." Thou 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.
46 "Your older sister is Samaria, living to the north with her surrounding towns. Your younger sister is Sodom, living to the south with her surrounding towns." And 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.
47 "You did not copy what they did or follow their sickening ways. That was not bad enough for you. You became worse than them in every possible way." Yet 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.
48 "I swear on my life, says the Lord God: your sister Sodom and her towns never did the things you and your towns have done." As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
49 "Here was Sodom's sin: she and her people were arrogant, overfed, and carelessly comfortable. They never lifted a finger to help poor and struggling people." Behold, 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.
50 "They were full of pride and committed revolting acts before me. So I swept them away when I saw what they were doing." And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
51 "Samaria did not commit even half the sins you have. You have done far more revolting things than either of them. By comparison, you have made your sisters look righteous." Neither 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.
52 "Carry your own shame, then! You passed judgment on your sisters, yet your sins are far more horrible than theirs. Next to you, they look like saints. So be humiliated and bear your disgrace, since you are the one making them look good." Thou 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.
53 "But one day I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her towns, and Samaria and her towns. And right alongside them, I will restore your fortunes too." When 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:
54 "You will carry your shame. You will feel low for all you have done. Your actions made the others feel better about themselves." That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
55 "Your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, along with their towns, will be restored to what they once were. And you and your towns will be restored as well." When 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.
56 "Back in the days when you were puffed up with pride, you refused to even mention Sodom's name." For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,
57 "But that was before your own wickedness was dragged into the light. Now you are the one being ridiculed by the people of Aram and all their neighbors, and by the Philistines -- everyone around you looks down on you." Before 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.
58 "You must deal with the fallout from your immoral and disgusting behavior, says the Lord." Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.
God Remembers His Covenant
Study note
Despite everything, the chapter ends with an astonishing promise. Even though Jerusalem had broken the covenant, God would remember the covenant he made with her in her youth. He would establish an everlasting covenant with her. Jerusalem would be ashamed when she realized the depth of God's forgiveness. This promise points to the new covenant that God would make with his people, a theme that runs through Ezekiel.
59 The Lord God says: "I will treat you the way your own actions deserve. You thought nothing of your serious promises and broke the covenant." For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
60 "Even so, I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young. I will set up a covenant with you that lasts forever." Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
61 "Then you will look back on your behavior and be deeply ashamed when I give you your sisters -- both the older and the younger -- as daughters. This will not happen because of your covenant, but because of mine." Then 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.
62 "I will establish my covenant with you, and you will truly know that I am the Lord." And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
63 "Then you will remember everything you have done. You will be so ashamed that you will never again open your mouth to brag. I will have forgiven you completely for everything," says the Lord God. That 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.
Key Themes
Themes in Ezekiel 16
God's grace to the undeservingSpiritual unfaithfulnessCovenant loveGod remembers his covenant
Apply This Today
Living Ezekiel 16
This long chapter tells the story of a God who loved and rescued someone who had nothing to offer, only to watch them turn away. Yet even after all of Jerusalem's unfaithfulness, God promised to remember His covenant. No matter how badly we have failed, God's covenant love is greater than our sin.
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