New Living Translation
Ezekiel 16:8-32
8And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
9“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.
10I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather.
11I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,
12a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.
13And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were!
14Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.
15“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.
16You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?
17You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!
18You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them.
19Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.
20“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?
21Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?
22In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.
23“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness,
24you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.
25On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.
26Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.
27That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct.
28You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.
29You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.
30“What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute.
31You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment.
32Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.
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