Ezekiel 16:37
in Ezekiel 16therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
therefore behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them against thee on every side, and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
KJV
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
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This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
6 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD
on Ezekiel 16:35-39
“I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure,” and they become her judges, for “they will see you completely naked.” She receives “the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood.” The stripping undoes the clothing of verses 10 to 13.
This site's exposition
all those you loved
Loved and hated alike gather against her. Babylon, once courted, became the besieger, and Edom joined the plunder at Obadiah 11. Hosea 2:10 exposes the unfaithful wife before her lovers in the same way.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 35 and following) Therefore, prostitute, listen to the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because your bronze has been poured out, and your disgrace has been revealed in your fornication (in your adulteries), with your lovers, and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you have given to them.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure,....
As, when a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him, so when a man's ways displease the Lord he makes even his friends to be at war with him; and justly makes those a scourge and a plague to sinners, and instruments of their destruction, who were their tempters, and with whom they were partakers in wickedness.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
thy lovers--the Chaldeans and the Assyrians. The law of retribution is the more signally exemplified by God employing, as His instruments of judgment on Israel, those very nations whose alliance and idols Israel had so eagerly sought, besides giving her up to those who had been always her enemies.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
28 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָ֠כֵן | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הִנְנִ֨י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| מְקַבֵּ֤ץ | mekabetz | [am] about to gather | H6908 → | 127 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְאַהֲבַ֙יִךְ֙ | meahavayikh | lovers your | H157 → | 211 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| עָרַ֣בְתְּ | ʾaravt | you were pleasing | H6149 → | |
| עֲלֵיהֶ֔ם | ʾaleihem | to them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וְאֵת֙ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | [those] whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| אָהַ֔בְתְּ | ʾahavt | you loved | H157 → | 211 times |
| עַ֖ל | ʾal | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֣ר | ʾasher | [those] whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| שָׂנֵ֑את | sanet | you hated | H8130 → | 146 times |
| וְקִבַּצְתִּי֩ | vekibatzti | and I will gather | H6908 → | 127 times |
| אֹתָ֨ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| עָלַ֜יִךְ | ʾalayikh | on you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מִסָּבִ֗יב | misaviv | from round about | H5439 → | 336 times |
| וְגִלֵּיתִ֤י | vegileiti | and I will uncover | H1540 → | 186 times |
| עֶרְוָתֵךְ֙ | ʾervatekh | nakedness your | H6172 → | 54 times |
| אֲלֵהֶ֔ם | ʾalehem | to them | H413 → | 5510 times |
| וְרָא֖וּ | verau | and they will see | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֶרְוָתֵֽךְ׃ | ʾervatekh | nakedness your | H6172 → | 54 times |
לָ֠כֵן<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
הִנְנִ֨יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
מְקַבֵּ֤ץ[am] about to gather
mekabetzH6908 →127 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
מְאַהֲבַ֙יִךְ֙lovers your
meahavayikhH157 →211 times
אֲשֶׁ֣רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
עָרַ֣בְתְּyou were pleasing
ʾaravtH6149 →
עֲלֵיהֶ֔םto them
ʾaleihemH5921 →5755 times
וְאֵת֙and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֲשֶׁ֣ר[those] whom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
אָהַ֔בְתְּyou loved
ʾahavtH157 →211 times
עַ֖לto
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֲשֶׁ֣ר[those] whom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
שָׂנֵ֑אתyou hated
sanetH8130 →146 times
וְקִבַּצְתִּי֩and I will gather
vekibatztiH6908 →127 times
אֹתָ֨ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
עָלַ֜יִךְon you
ʾalayikhH5921 →5755 times
מִסָּבִ֗יבfrom round about
misavivH5439 →336 times
וְגִלֵּיתִ֤יand I will uncover
vegileitiH1540 →186 times
עֶרְוָתֵךְ֙nakedness your
ʾervatekhH6172 →54 times
אֲלֵהֶ֔םto them
ʾalehemH413 →5510 times
וְרָא֖וּand they will see
verauH7200 →1300 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
עֶרְוָתֵֽךְ׃nakedness your
ʾervatekhH6172 →54 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
Jeremiah 13:22And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.
it leads to
- Nahum 3:5
“Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
- Jeremiah 16:10–11
When you tell these people all these things, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our guilt? What is the sin that we have…
- Jeremiah 5:19
And when the people ask, ‘For what offense has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ You are to tell them, ‘Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods…
- Jeremiah 13:26
So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
- Nahum 3:5
Through
Hosea 2:3Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 16:22
And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.
- Amos 8:11–13
Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord GOD, when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words…
- Ezekiel 19:13
Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
- Isaiah 32:13–14
and for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers—even for every house of merriment in this city of revelry.
- Ezekiel 16:22
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.