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Ezekiel 16:7-34

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7 and grow up like a plant of the field." You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8 I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you, and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.
9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you, and anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric.
11 I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck,
12 a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric, and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen.
14 Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.
15 But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by.
16 You took some of your garments, and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be.
17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images, and with them played the whore;
18 and you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them.
19 Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey—you set it before them as a pleasing odor; and so it was, says the Lord God.
20 You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough!
21 You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them.
22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.
23 After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord God),
24 you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square;
25 at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself to every passer-by, and multiplying your whoring.
26 You played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger.
27 Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.
28 You played the whore with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.
29 You multiplied your whoring with Chaldea, the land of merchants; and even with this you were not satisfied.
30 How sick is your heart, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore;
31 building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment.
32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!
33 Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings.
34 So you were different from other women in your whorings: no one solicited you to play the whore; and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different.
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Ezekiel 16:7-34 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

Footnotes 6

  • [a]. Gk Syr: Heb [Live! I made you a myriad]
  • [b]. Cn: Heb [ornament of ornaments]
  • [c]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
  • [d]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
  • [e]. Heb adds [let it be his]
  • [f]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.