Ezekiel 16:9
in Ezekiel 16Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Then washed I thee with water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
KJV
Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
⋯
This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWashed - It was a very ancient custom among the eastern people, to purify virgins who were to be espoused. And I anointed - They were anointed that were to be married, as Ruth iii, 3.
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
(V.9) And you became mine, and I washed you with water, and I cleansed your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. For I spread my wings and covered your shame, and I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you; therefore you have become my possession: that which once belonged to another, when you appeared unclean, you began to belong to me, when I established my covenant with you by oath.
"Untie the donkey and bring it to me."He began with a manger and finished with a donkey, in Bethlehem with a manger, in Jerusalem with a donkey. This is like, "Rejoice, daughter of Zion, for behold, your king is coming to you, just and lowly …
This is in accordance with what the Samaritan, who is interpreted as a guardian, did: he first soothed wounds with the infusion of oil, and then restrained them with the severity of wine (Luke 10). But our Lord was anointed with another oil, which did not mitigate the pain of wounds, but bestowed joy, as the Holy Spirit said to him: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions (Ps. 44:8).
With this linen, the loins are girded whenever the thick incentives of lust are to be restrained and nothing of gross humor is left in them. And we fulfill the precept of the Apostle who says: Stand therefore, having your loins girded with truth (Ephes. VI, 14); as if he were saying in other words, with linen.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
When God said, Israel is my son, my first-born--Let my people go, that they may serve me, that word, backed as it was with so many works of wonder, thoroughly washed away their blood; and when God led them under the convoy of the pillar of cloud and fire he spread his skirt over them.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Then washed I thee with water,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
washed I thee--as brides used to pass through a preparatory purification (Es 2:12). So Israel, before the giving of the law at Sinai (Ex 19:14); "Moses sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes." So believers (1Co 6:11). oil--emblem of the Levitical priesthood, the type of Messiah (Ps 45:7).
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.
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.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And I clothed you with embroidered garments “And I clothed you with embroidered garments of the spoils of your enemies.”
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And I dressed you in embroidered garments from your enemies' treasure, and placed a shoe of glory on your feet, and sanctified from among you the priests to be serving before Me in a linen turban, and the high priest in colored garments.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֶרְחָצֵ֣ךְ | vaerchatzekh | and I washed you | H7364 → | 72 times |
| בַּמַּ֔יִם | bamayim | with <the> water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| וָאֶשְׁטֹ֥ף | vaeshtof | and I washed off | H7857 → | 31 times |
| דָּמַ֖יִךְ | damayikh | blood<s> your | H1818 → | 360 times |
| מֵֽעָלָ֑יִךְ | mealayikh | from on <the> you | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וָאֲסֻכֵ֖ךְ | vaasukhekh | and I anointed you | H5480 → | |
| בַּשָּֽׁמֶן׃ | bashamen | with <the> oil | H8081 → | 193 times |
וָאֶרְחָצֵ֣ךְand I washed you
vaerchatzekhH7364 →72 times
בַּמַּ֔יִםwith <the> water
bamayimH4325 →581 times
וָאֶשְׁטֹ֥ףand I washed off
vaeshtofH7857 →31 times
דָּמַ֖יִךְblood<s> your
damayikhH1818 →360 times
מֵֽעָלָ֑יִךְfrom on <the> you
mealayikhH5921 →5755 times
וָאֲסֻכֵ֖ךְand I anointed you
vaasukhekhH5480 →
בַּשָּֽׁמֶן׃with <the> oil
bashamenH8081 →193 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
Psalms 23:5You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
it leads to
- Ephesians 3:20
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
- Psalms 92:10
But You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox; with fine oil I have been anointed.
- Psalms 45:7
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you above your companions with the oil of joy.
- Psalms 16:5
The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; You have made my lot secure.
- 1 John 2:20
You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
- Ephesians 3:20
Through
1 John 2:27And as for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But just as His true and genuine anointing teaches you about all…
it leads to
- John 14:26
But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
- 1 John 2:20–21
You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.
- 1 Corinthians 2:13
And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
- John 14:26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 813: “The Privileged Man” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON TATIAN'S DIATESSARON 18:1; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.