Ezekiel 16:1-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 16
A Parable of Infidelity. 1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.(A) 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: By origin and birth you belong to the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, your mother a Hittite.[a](B) 4 [b]As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were not washed with water or anointed; you were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in swaddling clothes.(C) 5 No eye looked on you with pity or compassion to do any of these things for you. Rather, on the day you were born you were left out in the field, rejected.
6 Then I passed by and saw you struggling in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, “Live!” 7 I helped you grow up like a field plant, so that you grew, maturing into a woman with breasts developed and hair grown; but still you were stark naked. 8 I passed by you again and saw that you were now old enough for love. So I spread the corner of my cloak[c] over you to cover your nakedness; I swore an oath to you and entered into covenant with you—oracle of the Lord God—and you became mine.(D) 9 Then I bathed you with water, washed away your blood, and anointed you with oil.(E) 10 I clothed you with an embroidered gown, put leather sandals on your feet; I gave you a fine linen sash and silk robes to wear.(F) 11 I adorned you with jewelry, putting bracelets on your arms, a necklace about your neck,(G) 12 a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver; your garments made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. Fine flour, honey, and olive oil were your food. You were very, very beautiful, fit for royalty.(H) 14 You were renowned among the nations for your beauty, perfected by the splendor I showered on you—oracle of the Lord God.
15 But you trusted in your own beauty and used your renown to serve as a prostitute. You poured out your prostitution on every passerby—let it be his.(I)
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- 16:3–4 By origin and birth…Hittite: Jerusalem’s pre-Israelite origins are the breeding ground for its inability to respond faithfully to the Lord’s generosity.
- 16:4–5 In this chapter, Ezekiel represents Jerusalem and Samaria as unwanted, abandoned sisters whom the Lord rescues and cares for. Here the prophet depicts Jerusalem as a newborn female, abandoned and left to die, an accepted practice in antiquity for females, who were considered financial liabilities by their families. That the infant has no one, not even her mother, to tie off her umbilical cord, wash her clean, and wrap her in swaddling clothes emphasizes Jerusalem’s death-like isolation and accentuates the Lord’s gracious action in her behalf. The practice of rubbing the skin of newborns with salt is an attested Palestinian custom that survived into the twentieth century.
- 16:8 I spread the corner of my cloak: one way to acquire a woman for marriage; cf. Ru 3:9. In Dt 23:1 a son’s illicit sexual relations with his father’s wife is described as “uncovering the edge of the father’s garment.”
Ezekiel 16:60
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
60 But I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young; I will set up an everlasting covenant[a] with you.(A)
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Ezekiel 16:63
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
63 that you may remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I pardon you for all you have done—oracle of the Lord God.(A)
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