English Standard Version
Ezekiel 16:20
20And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter
Ezekiel 16:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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,
- New International Version (NIV)“ ‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,
- New Living Translation (NLT)“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?
Context of Ezekiel 16:20
18And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.
Read all of Ezekiel 16Ezekiel 16:20 word by word
וַתִּקְחִ֞י אֶת־בָּנַ֤יִךְ וְאֶת־בְּנוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָלַ֣דְתְּ לִ֔י וַתִּזְבָּחִ֥ים לָהֶ֖ם לֶאֱכ֑וֹל הַמְעַ֖ט מִתַּזְנוּתָֽיִךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Moreover thou hast takenלָקַחlâqach · to take: takeH3947
- thy sonsבֵּןbên · son: childH1121
- and thy daughtersבַּתbath · daughterH1323
- whom thou hast borneיָלַדyâlad · to begetH3205
- unto me, and these hast thou sacrificedזָבַחzâbach · to sacrificeH2076
- unto them to be devouredאָכַל'âkal · to eatH398
- of thy whoredomsתַּזְנוּתtaznûth taznûth · fornicationH8457
- a small matterמְעַטme‛aţ me‛âţ · littleH4592
Cross-references for Ezekiel 16:20
- Ezekiel 16:21that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?
- Ezekiel 23:4Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
- Genesis 17:7And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
- Exodus 13:2"Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine."
- Deuteronomy 29:11your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water,
- Ezekiel 20:26and I defiled them through their very gifts in their offering up all their firstborn, that I might devastate them. I did it that they might know that I am the Lord.
- Ezekiel 23:37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.
- 2 Kings 16:3but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6And he burned his sons as an offering in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, and used fortune-telling and omens and sorcery, and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
- Psalms 106:37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons;
- Isaiah 57:5you who burn with lust among the oaks, under every green tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks?
- Jeremiah 7:31And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.
- Jeremiah 32:35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
- Micah 6:7Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"
- Ezekiel 8:17Then he said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations that they commit here, that they should fill the land with violence and provoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their nose.
- Jeremiah 2:34Also on your skirts is found the lifeblood of the guiltless poor; you did not find them breaking in. Yet in spite of all these things
Commentaries on Ezekiel 16:20
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Borne unto me - me is emphatic. The children of Yahweh have been devoted to Moloch. The rites of Moloch were twofold; (1) The actual sacrifice of men and children as expiatory sacrifices to, false gods. (2) The passing of them through the fire by way of purification and dedication. Probably the first is alluded to in Ezekiel 16:20; the two rites together in Ezekiel 16:21.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-22Jerusalem even sacrificed her sons and daughters to false gods. The nations around Israel practiced child sacrifice to show total commitment to a deity. This was common in the worship of the gods Molech and Chemosh (see Deuteronomy 12:31; 2 Kings 3:27). Israel sometimes took part in this terrible sin.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 20-2120-21. sons and ... daughters borne unto me--Though "thy children," yet they belong "unto Me," rather than to thee, for they were born under the immutable covenant with Israel, which even Israel's sin could not set aside, and they have received the sign of adoption as Mine, namely, circumcision. This aggravates the guilt of sacrificing them to Molech. to be devoured--not merely to pass through the fire, as sometimes children were made to do (Le 18:21)…Read the comment
Topics related to Ezekiel 16:20
In the dictionaries
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
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Commentaries