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Ezekiel 16:12

in Ezekiel 16

I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV

ASV

And I put a ring upon thy nose, and ear-rings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head.

KJV

And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.

This verse in Ezekiel 16

Commentary

13 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

And you are adorned with gold and silver. We have often said that gold pertains to the mind, and silver to eloquence. May the Lord grant us to receive divine understanding and wisdom, and to bring forth with eloquence what we conceive in our minds, and by no means to make an idol out of them as heretics do, of whom it is written: 'I gave them silver and gold, but they made a Baal out of silver and gold' (Hosea 2:8). And this, according to spiritual understanding, is more suited to the adornment of women.

This site's exposition

Then washed I thee with water

on Ezekiel 16:9-14

The Lord himself washes, anoints, clothes and crowns the bride, fine linen and silk, gold and silver, until her renown for beauty spreads among the nations. The chapter is explicit about the source of it: it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee. Henry reads the section as Israel's prosperity under David and Solomon, and Barnes adds that naming every ornament makes the coming betrayal weigh as heavily as it does; nothing here was self-made.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers4 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 6:10 · Written before 253.

proposed

We are not only anointed with this oil, but we also live.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

You have eaten both honey and oil, and you have become exceedingly beautiful. After clothing, she takes care of food, so that she may eat the honey and oil, or in parts, as many believe, or in a mixture of the three, sweeter bread, which is the bread that descended from heaven (John 6); and under three names, as some think, it indicates the sacrament of the Trinity: not that there is a different substance for each; but so that through the different names of honey, oil, and flour, the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit may be shown.

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(Verse 12.) And I placed a jewel above the mouth or nostrils. The Hebrew word 'Nezem' (except for Symmachus, who interpreted it as 'ἐπιῤῥίνιον') is translated by all as 'jewel'. Not that the jewels are placed in the nostrils that are called earrings because they hang from the ears, but so that the circles made in the likeness of earrings are called by the same name, and even today among other ornaments of women, golden circles are accustomed to hang from the front of the mouth and hang over the nostrils. We then understand them according to mystical understanding, when we can say with the Apostle: We are the good odor of Christ to those who are saved and to those who perish. To some, we are the odor of death leading to death; to others, we are the odor of life leading to life (II Cor. II, 15). When we live and it can be said of us, the dead shall not praise you, O Lord, but we who live (Psal. CXIII, 17), then God smells the fragrance of our good sacrifice, and we have a golden circle of senses and divine doctrines in our nostrils. When we are truly dead and are turned into mud and in the filth of vices, we have that ring in our nostrils, of which Solomon wrote: Like a gold ring in a pig's snout, so is the beauty of a woman who is ill-tempered. And circles in your ears. LXX: And wheels upon your ears. Who shuts his ears, so as not to hear the judgment of blood, and encloses them with thorns, so as not to become a partner to the envious and detractors, of whom it is written: Do not associate with detractors, for suddenly their destruction will come, and who knows the ruin of both (Prov. XXIV, 21, 22)? Both the one who detracts and the one who willingly listens to them have these circles and wheels in their ears, not the wheels that follow the Cherubim (for those are of angelic strength), but diminutive wheels that correspond to human frailty. […]

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 6:10 · Written before 253.

proposed

Almighty God, grant to us to be worthy of the crown and glory on our head.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

And I put a jewel on thy forehead,.... The same with the nose jewel, which was hung upon the forehead, and reached down to the nose and mouth; and, however disagreeable it may seem to us, was reckoned very ornamental in the eastern countries, Isa 3:21; and where now, as in Persia, as well as in all the Levant, the women put rings through their noses, which they pierce with needles, as Monsieur Thevenot (z) relates; so Dr. Shaw (a) says that nose jewels are used still by the Levant Arabs.
6 more voices on this verse

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

We need not be particular in the application of these. Her wardrobe was well furnished with rich apparel; they had embroidered work to wear, shoes of fine badgers' skins, linen girdles, and silk veils, bracelets and necklaces, jewels and ear-rings, and even a beautiful crown, or coronet.

The Nineteenth Century5 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

I put a jewel on thy forehead - על אפך al appech, upon thy nose. This is one of the most common ornaments among ladies in the east. European translators, not knowing what to make of a ring in the nose, have rendered it, a jewel on thy forehead or mouth, (though they have sometimes a piece of gold or jewel fastened to the center of their forehead.) I have already spoken of this Asiatic custom, so often referred to in the sacred writings: see Gen 24:22, Gen 24:42; Exo 32:2; Job 42:11; Pro 11:22; Isa 3:21; Hos 2:13.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

jewel on thy forehead--rather, "a ring in thy nose" (Isa 3:21). a crown--at once the badge of a bride, and of her being made a queen, as being consort of the King; the very name Israel meaning "a prince of God." So they are called "a kingdom of priests" (Ex 19:6; compare Re 1:6).

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase

THE root of Israel's nation was originally a lone man whose family and dependants formed a small Bedouin tribe wandering throughout the plains of Canaan. God separated and selected Abraham, who was in no way distinct from others in his parentage, and declared that in him and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. When the tribe had somewhat multiplied, God found them in Egypt, a herd of slaves helplessly crushed beneath the foot of Pharaoh. They were sorely burdened with labors for which they received no reward. They were without spirit to resent the oppressions of their taskmasters and without power to succeed had the energy been there. Yet God brought them out of Egypt. He led them through the wilderness, chased out powerful nations before them, settled them in the most fertile country and there multiplied them at such an extraordinary rate, and enriched and endowed them with such power that the little kingdom of Israel became famous among the nations of the earth! And in the days of Solomon its scepter was respected far and wide. The nations of the earth stood still and wondered how so small a monarchy had come to be so exceedingly rich and great. It was entirely through the favor of Jehovah that these great blessings had been received. He had a favor to Abraham's race. He revealed Himself to them and not to others. He chose them to be His people and made them the custodians of His Law. His worship was kept up among them and while they were faithful to Him they were a happy and a prosperous people whose renown went forth to Tarshish and the isles—and the excellence of whose laws and government was respected and admired even by such distant nations as those which were governed by the queen of the South. The beauty of the nation consisted entirely in what God had done for it—its comeliness was a comeliness which Jehovah had put upon it.
THE root of Israel's nation was originally a lone man whose family and dependants formed a small Bedouin tribe wandering throughout the plains of Canaan. God separated and selected Abraham, who was in no way distinct from others in his parentage, and declared that in him and in his seed should all the nations of the earth be blessed. When the tribe had somewhat multiplied, God found them in Egypt, a herd of slaves helplessly crushed beneath the foot of Pharaoh. They were sorely burdened with labors for which they received no reward.
A jewel on thy forehead - literally, “a nose-ring on thy nostril” (Gen 24:22 note).

How the passage was read

What the Jewish commentators add

And I put a nose ring on your nose [Jonathan renders:] And I placed the ark of My covenant among you.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 16:12:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And I adorned you with ornaments E pare toy, and I adorned you. [Jonathan renders:] And I adorned you with the adornment of the words of the Torah, written on the two stone tablets.
Rashi: France, 1040–1105 · Rashi on Ezekiel 16:11:1, via Sefaria, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg

This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.

Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.

The words behind it

10 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וָאֶתֵּ֥ןand I put

    vaetenH54142011 times

  • נֶ֙זֶם֙a ring

    nezemH5141

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • אַפֵּ֔ךְnose your

    ʾapekhH639276 times

  • וַעֲגִילִ֖יםand earrings

    vaagilimH5694

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H59215755 times

  • אָזְנָ֑יִךְears your

    ʾazenayikhH241187 times

  • וַעֲטֶ֥רֶתand a crown of

    vaateretH585023 times

  • תִּפְאֶ֖רֶתbeauty

    tiferetH859751 times

  • בְּרֹאשֵֽׁךְ׃on head your

    beroshekhH7218599 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Jeremiah 13:18

    Say to the king and to the queen mother: “Take a lowly seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.”

    it leads to

    • Jeremiah 22:26

      I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another land, where neither of you were born—and there you both will die.

    • 2 Kings 24:12

      Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his commanders, and his officials all surrendered to the king of Babylon. So in the eighth year of his reign, the king of Babylon took him…

    • 2 Kings 24:15

      Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, as well as the king’s mother, his wives, his officials, and the leading men of the land. He took them into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

    • 2 Chronicles 33:12

      And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.

    • 2 Chronicles 33:19

      His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled…

  • Through

    Isaiah 28:5

    On that day the LORD of Hosts will be a crown of glory, a diadem of splendor to the remnant of His people,

    it leads to

    • 1 Peter 5:4

      And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

    • Isaiah 60:19

      No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your…

    • Isaiah 62:3

      You will be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Prophet Ezekiel, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 813: “The Privileged Man” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 6:10.