Ezekiel 16:49

Translations

Modern

Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

Traditional

Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

Literal

Behold, this was the guilt of Sodom your sister: Pride, fullness of bread, and the ease of idleness was unto her and unto her daughters, and the hand of the poor and needy she did not strengthen.

Latin

Ecce hæc fuit iniquitas Sodomæ sororis tuæ: superbia, saturitas panis et abundantia, et otium ipsius et filiarum ejus: et manum egeno et pauperi non porrigebant:

Original

Hebrew

English

Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.

Notes

Ezekiel 16:46–50

Samaria, Jerusalem’s older (or larger) sister, engaged in improper worship since Jeroboam introduced golden calves at the national shrines in Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:28–33).
Sodom, Jerusalem’s younger (or smaller) sister, became known for sexual sin (Genesis 19:4–9) and for pride, gluttony, laziness, and neglect of the poor and needy.

Ezekiel 16:1–63

In Ezekiel 16, Jerusalem is described as an unfaithful wife and a prostitute. This language is very strong. Even in English, the chapter can be difficult to read. In its ancient setting, it would have sounded even more shocking.

Ezekiel used graphic language to show how serious Judah’s sin was. He did not try to make his message softer or more polite. He spoke in a direct and forceful way.

This strong language is the main point of the chapter. Ezekiel wanted the people to feel how terrible their sin was in God’s sight. The shocking description helped them understand that God’s judgment was not unfair.

If Ezekiel had used softer words, the people might not have understood the full seriousness of their sin. The strong picture was necessary to show why God’s judgment was justified (that is, right and fair).

Ezekiel 15:1–24:14

This section includes eight metaphors, each showing from a different angle the certainty of Jerusalem's upcoming judgment. The images are of:

a worthless vine (Ezekiel 15);
a faithless wife (Ezekiel 16);
a vine and two eagles (Ezekiel 17);
Sour grapes (Ezekiel 18);
a lion and her cubs (Ezekiel 19);
a sword (Ezekiel 21);
two corrupt sisters (Ezekiel 23); and
a cooking pot (Ezekiel 24).

Theme notes and profiles

Apostasy and Renewal Biblical Marriage God’s Covenants The Broken Covenant

Events

Prophecies of Ezekielc. 593 BC

Related verses

Genesis 13:10
And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
Psalm 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
Ezekiel 28:2
“Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
Luke 12:16–20
Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.
Daniel 5:23
Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.
Ezekiel 18:16
He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
Ezekiel 18:12
He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.
Isaiah 3:9
The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
Proverbs 18:12
Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
Micah 3:2–4
You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.
Luke 16:19–21
Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor.
Luke 17:28
It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.

Places

Sodom: Wicked city destroyed by God for its sins

Glossary

Adultery Bride of Christ Cities of the Plain Ezekiel, Book of Hell Jude, Letter of Sexual Immorality

Topics

Being Gay Bread: (Fulness of) of Abundance Homelessness Idleness: General Scriptures Concerning Lasciviousness: Figurative National Sins: Often Caused by Prosperity Poor: Unclassified Scriptures Relating To Sin: National, Punishment of Social Injustice Sodom of Wickedness Sodom: Wickedness of the Inhabitants of Waste

Ezekiel 16:49

Translations?

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Events?

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