Tree of Life Version
Ezekiel 16:20
20“You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore for Me, and sacrificed them to be eaten by them. Were your obscene practices not enough?
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?
- English Standard Version (ESV)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
- 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,
Context of Ezekiel 16:20
18You took your embroidered garments, covered them and placed My oil and My incense before them. 19My bread that I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey that I fed you with, you set before them as a sweet aroma. That is what happened.” It is a declaration of Adonai. “You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore for Me, and sacrificed them to be eaten by them. Were your obscene practices not enough? 21You slaughtered My children, making them pass through fire for them. 22In all your abominations and harlotry, you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about 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 16:21You slaughtered My children, making them pass through fire for them.
- Ezekiel 23:4Their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholibah, her sister. They became Mine, and they gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
- Genesis 17:7Yes, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, in order to be your God and your seed’s God after you.
- Exodus 13:2“Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, from every womb of Bnei-Yisrael, both men and animals—this is Mine.”
- Deuteronomy 29:11Each of you is to cross over into the covenant of Adonai your God that He is cutting with you today, and into His oath.
- Ezekiel 20:26I let them become polluted in their own gifts, when they offered up all that opened the womb to pass through the fire, so that I might make them desolate, so that they would know that I am Adonai.
- Ezekiel 23:37For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols and even offered their children, whom they bore for Me, to be devoured.
- 2 Kings 16:3Instead he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and even made his son pass through the fire, like the abominations of the nations whom Adonai had dispossessed before Bnei-Yisrael.
- 2 Chronicles 33:6Furthermore, he made his children pass through the fire in the valley of Ben-hinnom and practiced witchcraft, divination and sorcery, and consulted ghosts and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of Adonai, provoking Him to anger.
- Psalms 106:37They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
- Isaiah 57:5You who burn with lust among the oaks and under every green tree, who sacrifice your children in the wadis and under the clefts of the rocks?
- Jeremiah 7:31They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire—which I did not command, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Jeremiah 32:35They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, to make their sons and their daughters pass through fire to Molech—something I never commanded them, nor did it enter My mind that they would do this loathsome thing, causing Judah to sin.”
- Micah 6:7Will Adonai be pleased with thousands of rams, with hordes of rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my belly for the sin of my soul?
- Ezekiel 8:17He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it too light a thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations they practice here, that they must also fill the land with violence and provoke Me still more? Look, they are putting the twig to My nose!
- Jeremiah 2:34Moreover on your skirts is found the blood of the innocent 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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