Ezekiel 16:4

Ezekiel 16:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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.
• New International Version (NIV)On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
• English Standard Version (ESV)And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.
• New King James Version (NKJV)As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

Context of Ezekiel 16:4

2‘Son of man, warn Jerusalem's people about the disgusting things that they do. 3Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says to Jerusalem's people: You were born in the land of Canaan. That is where you came from. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite. They did not take proper care of you on the day that you were born. They did not wash you properly. They did not cut your cord. They did not put salt or oil on your skin. They did not put cloths around you. 5Nobody was kind enough to do any of these things for you. Instead, they threw you out into a field. Nobody loved you on the day that you were born. 6Then I saw you as I went that way. You were lying there on the ground in your blood. You were trying to move. While you lay there, I said to you, ‘Stay alive.’

Ezekiel 16:4 word by word

וּמוֹלְדוֹתַ֗יִךְ בְּי֨וֹם הוּלֶּ֤דֶת אֹתָךְ֙ לֹֽא־כָרַּ֣ת שָׁרֵּ֔ךְ וּבְמַ֥יִם לֹֽא־רֻחַ֖צְתְּ לְמִשְׁעִ֑י וְהָמְלֵ֙חַ֙ לֹ֣א הֻמְלַ֔חַתְּ וְהָחְתֵּ֖ל לֹ֥א חֻתָּֽלְתְּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• thy nativityמוֹלֶ֫דֶתmôledeth · relativesH4138
• in the dayיוֹםyôm · dayH3117
• thou wast bornיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
• thy navelשֹׁרshôr · umbilical cordH8270
• was not cutכָּרַתkârath · to cut: cutH3772
• neither wast thou washedרָחַץrâchats · to wash: washH7364
• in waterמַיmayim · waterH4325
• to suppleמִשְׁעִיmish‛îy · cleansingH4935
• thou wast not saltedמָלַחmâlach · to saltH4414
• nor swaddledחָתַלchâthal · to entwineH2853

Cross-references for Ezekiel 16:4

• Ezekiel 20:8But your ancestors did not obey me. They refused to listen to me. None of them destroyed their disgusting idols. They continued to worship the idols of Egypt. So I decided to show them that I was very angry. I said that I would punish them there in Egypt.
• Genesis 15:13Then the Lord said to Abram, ‘Be sure of this: Your descendants will live in a foreign country. They will be strangers there. People will do bad things to them and they will become slaves. This will continue for 400 years.
• Exodus 1:11So the Egyptians made the Israelites work as their slaves. The Egyptian masters made the Israelites do very hard work. They had to build cities for the king, Pharaoh, where he could store food for his people. The names of the cities were Pithom and Rameses.
• Exodus 2:23After a long time had passed, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites were still slaves of the Egyptians. That made them very sad and they complained loudly. God heard them when they cried for help.
• Exodus 5:16Our masters no longer give us any straw. But they say “Make bricks!” Then they hit us. But it is your people who are doing wrong things, not us.’
• Deuteronomy 5:6‘I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt, the country where you were slaves.
• Deuteronomy 15:15Remember that you were once slaves in Egypt. But the Lord your God rescued you from there. This is why I am giving you this command today.
• Joshua 24:2Joshua said to the people, ‘This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says: “A long time ago, your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates river. They included Terah who was the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshipped other gods.
• Nehemiah 9:7You are the Lord God who chose Abram. You brought him out of Ur, in Babylonia. You changed his name to be Abraham.
• Hosea 2:3If she does not return to me, I will remove all her clothes. She will have nothing to wear, like the day when she was born. She will be ashamed. Her life will be useless and empty, like a dry land that has no water. Then I will leave her to die because she has no water to drink.
• Acts 7:6This is what God said to him: “Your descendants will live in a foreign country for 400 years. The people in that country will cause your descendants to be their slaves. They will be very cruel to them.
• Lamentations 2:20‘Look at us, Lord,’ you should say. ‘You have done all this to your people. Women eat their own children now! They eat the children that they took care of. People have killed your own priests and prophets in your holy house!
• Luke 2:7This was her first baby, and it was a boy. She put cloths around him. Then she put him in an animal's food box. She did this because the rooms for visitors were full of people.

Commentaries on Ezekiel 16:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4As for thy nativity, etc. - This verse refers to what is ordinarily done for every infant on its birth. The umbilical cord, by which it received all its nourishment while in the womb, being no longer necessary, is cut at a certain distance from the abdomen: on this part a knot is tied, which firmly uniting the sides of the tubes, they coalesce, and incarnate together. The extra part of the cord on the outside of the ligature, being cut off from the…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4To supple thee - i. e., to cleanse thee.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4-5Jerusalem’s parents are described as cruel and uncaring. They did not care for her when she was born. They did not do the normal things people did to help a newborn baby. Usually, someone cut the umbilical cord. They washed the baby. They rubbed salt and oil on the child’s skin to clean and protect her. Then they wrapped the baby tightly in cloth to keep her warm and safe. But none of this happened to Jerusalem. Instead, she was thrown into an open field…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Israel's helplessness in her first struggling into national existence, under the image of an infant (Ho 2:3) cast forth without receiving the commonest acts of parental regard. Its very life was a miracle (Ex 1:15-22). navel ... not cut--Without proper attention to the navel cord, the infant just born is liable to die. neither ... washed in water to supple thee--that is, to make the skin soft. Rather, "for purification"; from an Arabic root [Maurer]…Read the comment

Topics related to Ezekiel 16:4

• Ablution
• Children
• God Continued...
• Midwifery
• Navel
• Obstetrics
• Sanitation
• Swaddle

In the dictionaries

• Birth
• Confound
• Eminent
• Equal
• Fornication
• Gird
• Justify
• Rest
• Salt
• Solomon, Song of

Commentaries on Ezekiel 16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings