Ezekiel 16:2
in Ezekiel 16“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;
KJV
Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
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This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
11 notes on this verse(Chapter 16, Verses 1, 2.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, make known the abominations of Jerusalem and say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, testify against Jerusalem for her iniquities, and say to her: Thus says the Lord God. In which the brief summary of each prophecy was, we have included the entire chapter, immediately following as it seemed to us.
This site's exposition
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
on Ezekiel 16:1-3
The chapter opens with the sharpest indictment in the prophets, and the Lord names the address before the argument: cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. The city's origin is unflattering by God's own choice of it, an Amorite father and a Hittite mother, the pagan Canaanite stock the histories record. Henry reads the ancestry as deliberate humbling rather than literal genealogy, a people with no claim on God by birth or merit, chosen and kept by grace alone. Gill notes the same point stands behind Israel's whole story, called while still among idolaters.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Why is it that I admire Ezekiel? Because the order was given him to make known to Jerusalem its abominations, and he did not place before his eyes any danger that would result from his preaching, but in order to keep only the precepts of God, he spoke whatever he was told. Let us realize that there was a mystery, that there was the revelation of a mysterious kind on the subject of Jerusalem and all that is said against it. Nevertheless, he prophesied, and accused it of fornication.
A commentator
John ChrysostomHOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 43 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
And again, Ezekiel makes this an accusation against them, that they did not grieve for the afflicted. What sayest thou, O Prophet? God punisheth, and shall I grieve for those that He is punishing? Yea verily: for God Himself that punisheth wisheth this: since neither does He Himself wish to punish, nay, even Himself grieves when punishing. Then be not thou glad at it. You will say, "If they are justly punished, we ought not to grieve." Why, the thing we ought to grieve for is this—that they were found worthy of punishment. Say, when thou seest thy son undergoing cautery or the knife, dost thou not grieve? and sayest thou not to thyself, "What is this? It is for health this cutting, to quicken his recovery; it is for his deliverance, this burning?" but for all that, when thou hearest him crying out, and not able to [bear it], the hope of health being restored is not enough to carry off the shock to nature. So also in the case of these, though it be in order to their health that they are punished, nevertheless let us show a brotherly feeling, a fatherly disposition. They are cuttings and cauteries, the punishments sent by God: but it is for this we ought to weep, that they were sick, that they needed such a mode of cure.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Terrible judgments threatened, ver. 35-43. An aggravation of their sin and of their punishment, ver. 44-59. A promise of mercy to a remnant, ver. 60-63 Commentary on Chapter XVI
quarantine:anchor (2026-07-29) — cites-ver-35/44/60-anchored-1-5
): " Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations (that is, her sins); set them in order before her." Note, 1. Sins are not only provocations which God is angry at, but abominations which he hates, as contrary to his nature, and which we ought to hate, Jer. xliv. The sins of Jerusalem are in a special manner so.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
cause Jerusalem to know--Men often are so blind as not to perceive their guilt which is patent to all. "Jerusalem" represents the whole kingdom of Judah.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
AND HOW THINK YOU did the prophet proceed in order to accomplish the solemn commission which had been thus intrusted to him? Did he begin by reminding the people of the law which was delivered to Moses on the top of Sinai? Did he picture to them the exceeding fearfulness and quaking of the leader of Israel’s host when he received that stony law in the midst of thunders and lightnings?
AND HOW THINK YOU did the prophet proceed in order to accomplish the solemn commission which had been thus intrusted to him? Did he begin by reminding the people of the law which was delivered to Moses on the top of Sinai? Did he picture to them the exceeding fearfulness and quaking of the leader of Israel’s host when he received that stony law in the midst of thunders and lightnings? Or did he, do you think, proceed to point out to them the doom which must inevitably befall them, because they had broken the divine law, and violated God’s holy statutes? No, my brethren; if he had been about to show to the then unprivileged gentiles their iniquity, he might have proceeded on legal grounds; he was now however about to deal with Jerusalem, the highly-favoured city, and here he does not bring to their mind the law; he does not begin dealing out law-thunders to them at all; he fetches obligations as his arguments to convince them of sin from the grace of God, rather than from the law of God. And, my brethren, as I am about this evening to address you who profess to be followers of the Son of God, and who by faith have “fled for refuge to the hope set before you in the gospel,”—as my business is to convince you of sin, I shall not begin by taking you to Sinai,—I shall not attempt to show you what the law is, and what that penalty is which devolves upon every man that breaks it; but, feeling that you are not under the law, but under grace, I shall draw arguments from the grace of God, from his gospel, from the favour which he has shown to you—arguments more powerful than any which can be fetched from the law, to show you the greatness of your sin, and the abomination of any iniquity which you have committed against the Lord your God.
Cause Jerusalem to know her abominations - And such a revelation of impurity never was seen before or since. Surely the state of the Jews, before the Babylonish captivity, was the most profligate and corrupt of all the nations of the earth. This chapter contains God’s manifesto against this most abominable people; and although there are many metaphors here, yet all is not metaphorical. Where there was so much idolatry, there must have been adulteries, fornications, prostitutions, and lewdness of every description.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And the word of prophecy from before the LORD was with me, saying:
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
7 Hebrew wordsEvery 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.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בֶּן־ | ben- | O son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָדָ֕ם | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| הוֹדַ֥ע | hoda' | make known to | H3045 → | 945 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖ם | yerushalim | Jerusalem | H3389 → | 643 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| תּוֹעֲבֹתֶֽיהָ׃ | toavoteiha | abominations its | H8441 → | 117 times |
בֶּן־O son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
אָדָ֕םhumankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
הוֹדַ֥עmake known to
hoda'H3045 →945 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
יְרוּשָׁלִַ֖םJerusalem
yerushalimH3389 →643 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
תּוֹעֲבֹתֶֽיהָ׃abominations its
toavoteihaH8441 →117 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach 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
Isaiah 58:1“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
it leads to
- Acts 7:51–52
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Titus 2:15
Speak these things as you encourage and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
- Hosea 8:1
Put the ram’s horn to your lips! An eagle looms over the house of the LORD, because the people have transgressed My covenant and rebelled against My law.
- Acts 20:26–27
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men.
- Ezekiel 3:17–21
“Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from My mouth, give them a warning from Me.
- Acts 7:51–52
Through
Ezekiel 20:4Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers
it leads to
- Ezekiel 22:2
“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 22:2
Through
Ezekiel 22:2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
it leads to
- Isaiah 58:1
“Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 20:4
Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? Confront them with the abominations of their fathers
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 58:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Charles Spurgeon, The New Park Street Pulpit, Sermon No. 323: “Vile Ingratitude!” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 43; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 6:1.