Ezekiel 16 is the sixteenth chapter of the

Book of Ezekiel The Book of Ezekiel is the third of the Latter Prophets in the Tanakh and one of the major prophetic books, following Isaiah and Jeremiah. According to the book itself, it records six visions of the prophet Ezekiel, exiled in Babylon, during ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' Old Testament of the Christian

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

. This book contains prophecies attributed to the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

Ezekiel, and is one of the

Books of the Prophets Nevi'im (; he, נְבִיאִים ''Nəvīʾīm'', Tiberian: ''Năḇīʾīm,'' "Prophets", literally "spokespersons") is the second major division of the Hebrew Bible (the ''Tanakh''), lying between the Torah (instruction) and Ketuvim (wri ...

. Biblical scholar R. E. Clements calls this chapter "an Old Testament parable of the prodigal daughter", describing a shocking illustration of ungrateful

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

in contrast to God's enduring love to her. This chapter is often linked to Ezekiel 23, which deals with two daughters, symbolizing the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah.

Text

The original text was written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

. This chapter is divided into 63 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), the Petersburg Codex of the Prophets (916), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and

Codex Leningradensis The Leningrad Codex ( la, Codex Leningradensis [Leningrad Book]; he, כתב יד לנינגרד) is the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew, using the Masoretic Text and Tiberian vocalization. According to its colopho ...

(1008). Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the

Dead Sea Scrolls The Dead Sea Scrolls (also the Qumran Caves Scrolls) are ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts discovered between 1946 and 1956 at the Qumran Caves in what was then Mandatory Palestine, near Ein Feshkha in the West Bank, on the ...

, that is, 3Q1 (3QEzek; 50 BCE–50 CE) with extant verses 31–33.Dead sea scrolls - Ezekiel
/ref> There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

known as the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond ...

, made in the last few centuries BC. Extant ancient manuscripts of the

version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), designated by siglum B or 03 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), δ 1 ( von Soden), is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century),

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII), designated by the siglum A or 02 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering of New Testament manuscripts), δ 4 (in the von Soden numbering of New Testament manuscripts), is a manu ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century) and

Codex Marchalianus Codex Marchalianus designated by siglum Q is a 6th-century Greek manuscript copy of the Greek version of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh or Old Testament) known as the Septuagint. The text was written on vellum in uncial letters. Palaeographically it ...

(Q;

\mathfrak

^Q; 6th century).

Verse 2

: ''Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,'' * "Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ''-''): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel. * "Abomination" (Hebrew: תּוֹעֵבָה '')'': something loathsome or objectionable, especially for "Jehovah" (), "specially used for things belonging to the worship of idols" or idolatrous practices and objects.

Verse 3

: ''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.'' God "commands Ezekiel to inform Jerusalem of the accusation brought against her, and in verses 3—34 provides a 'biography' for his bride".Galambush, Julie (2007), ''Ezekiel'' in Barton, J. and Muddiman, J. (2001)
The Oxford Bible Commentary
, p. 545 The assimilation of Israel with those former residents f the land of Israelled to

apostasy Apostasy (; grc-gre, ἀποστασία , 'a defection or revolt') is the formal disaffiliation from, abandonment of, or renunciation of a religion by a person. It can also be defined within the broader context of embracing an opinion that ...

Verse 6

: ''And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood,'' : ''I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood,'' : '' Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.'': KJV * "Polluted" (Hebrew: מִתְבּוֹסֶסֶת ''miṯ-bō-se-seṯ'', from the root verb בּוּס , "tread down with feet" or "trample"):

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

connects it to (, numbered as 60:14 in Hebrew version): "God ... shall tread down (Hebrew: יָבוּס) our enemies."

Verse 16

:''Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.'' Chaldea: "the land of the trader" or "the land of merchants". The

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...

lacks the wording which describes Chaldea as a trading nation.

Verses 44-52

An unfavourable comparison of Jerusalem to

Samaria Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first ...

and Sodom.

Verses 59-63

God promises at last to forgive Jerusalem.

Verse 60

: ''Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth,'' :: ''and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.'' God's remembrance of God's covenant with the patriarchs of Israel was anticipated in .The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. p. 1198-1201 Hebrew Bible.

Notes

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * *

External links

Jewish

Ezekiel 16 Hebrew with Parallel EnglishEzekiel 16 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

Ezekiel 16 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ezekiel 16 16