New Living Translation
Ezekiel 16:3
3Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Ezekiel 16:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- New International Version (NIV)and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
- English Standard Version (ESV)and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
- New King James Version (NKJV)and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Context of Ezekiel 16:3
1Then another message came to me from the Lord: 2“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins. Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth. 5No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.
Read all of Ezekiel 16Ezekiel 16:3 word by word
וְאָמַרְתָּ֞ כֹּה־אָמַ֨ר אֲדֹנָ֤י יְהוִה֙ לִיר֣וּשָׁלִַ֔ם מְכֹרֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ וּמֹ֣לְדֹתַ֔יִךְ מֵאֶ֖רֶץ הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֑י אָבִ֥יךְ הָאֱמֹרִ֖י וְאִמֵּ֥ךְ חִתִּֽית׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- And sayאָמַר'âmar · to sayH559
- the Lordאֲדֹנָי'ădônây · LordH136
- Godיְהֹוִהyehôvih · YHWH/GodH3069
- unto Jerusalemיְרוּשָׁלִַ֫ם, יְרוּשְׁלֵםyerûshâlaim yerûshâlayim · JerusalemH3389
- Thy birthמְכֹרָהmekûrâh mekôrâh · originH4351
- and thy nativityמוֹלֶ֫דֶתmôledeth · relativesH4138
- of the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- of Canaanכְּנַעֲנִיkena‛anîy · CanaaniteH3669
- thy fatherאָב'âb · fatherH1
- an Amoriteאֱמֹרִי'ĕmôrîy · AmoriteH567
- and thy motherאֵם'êm · motherH517
- an Hittiteחִתִּיchittîy · HittiteH2850
Cross-references for Ezekiel 16:3
- Ezekiel 16:45For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
- Ezekiel 21:30“Now return the sword to its sheath, for in your own country, the land of your birth, I will pass judgment upon you.
- Genesis 11:25After the birth of Terah, Nahor lived another 119 years and had other sons and daughters.
- Joshua 24:14“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone.
- Nehemiah 9:7“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram and brought him from Ur of the Chaldeans and renamed him Abraham.
- Isaiah 1:10Listen to the Lord, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”
- Isaiah 51:1“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance— all who seek the Lord! Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.
- Matthew 3:7But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?
- Matthew 11:24I tell you, even Sodom will be better off on judgment day than you.”
- Luke 3:7When the crowds came to John for baptism, he said, “You brood of snakes! Who warned you to flee the coming wrath?
- John 8:44For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies.
- Ephesians 2:3All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
- 1 John 3:10So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.
- Genesis 15:16After four generations your descendants will return here to this land, for the sins of the Amorites do not yet warrant their destruction.”
- Deuteronomy 20:17You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the Lord your God has commanded you.
- 1 Kings 21:26His worst outrage was worshiping idols just as the Amorites had done—the people whom the Lord had driven out from the land ahead of the Israelites.)
Commentaries on Ezekiel 16:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan - It would dishonor Abraham to say that you sprung from him: ye are rather Canaanites than Israelites. The Canaanites were accursed; so are ye. Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite - These tribes were the most famous, and probably the most corrupt, of all the Canaanites. So Isaiah calls the princes of Judah rulers of Sodom, Isaiah 1:10; and John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a generation…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3Birth - See the margin; the word represents “origin” under the figure of “cutting out stone from a quarry” (compare Isaiah 51:1). An Amorite - the Amorite, a term denoting the whole people. The Amorites, being a principal branch of the Canaanites, are often taken to represent the whole stock Genesis 15:16; 2 Kings 21:11. An Hittite - Compare Genesis 26:34. The main idea is that the Israelites by their doings proved themselves to be the very children of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-3Ezekiel begins by describing Jerusalem’s weak and unlikely beginnings. He says the city came from Canaanite roots and was like the child of an Amorite father and a Hittite mother. The city existed long before Israel entered the land under Joshua. During Joshua’s campaign, Israel did not fully capture Jerusalem. The city remained in the hands of its original Canaanite population. Later, King David captured Jerusalem and made it his capital. Even then, the…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. birth ... nativity--thy origin and birth; literally, "thy diggings" (compare Is 51:1) "and thy bringings forth." of ... Canaan--in which Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob sojourned before going to Egypt, and from which thou didst derive far more of thy innate characteristics than from the virtues of those thy progenitors (Eze 21:30). an Amorite ... an Hittite--These, being the most powerful tribes, stand for the whole of the Canaanite nations (compare Jos 1:4…Read the comment
Topics related to Ezekiel 16:3
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
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries