Ezekiel 19:10
in Ezekiel 19Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, planted by the water; it was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant waters.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy mother was like a vine, in thy blood, planted by the waters: it was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
KJV
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
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This verse in Ezekiel 19
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThy mother (Jerusalem) is like a vine in thy blood - Of this expression I know not what to make. Some think the meaning is “A vine planted by the waters to produce the blood of the grape.” See Deu 32:14. Others, for בדמך bedamecha, in thy blood, would read ברמון berimmon, in or at a pomegranate; like a vine planted by or beside a pomegranate-tree, by which it was to be supported. And so the Septuagint and Arabic appear to have read. Calmet reads כרמך carmecha, thy vineyard, instead of בדמך bedamecha, in thy blood.
This site's exposition
like a vine in thy blood
on Ezekiel 19:10-11
The allegory changes: Judah is now a vine planted by the waters, its strong rods fit to be the sceptres of them that bare rule. Keil ties the figure back to the vine brought out of Egypt in Psalm 80, the same national image carried across the canon.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 10 and following) Your mother is like a vine planted over the water, your blood. Its fruits and branches grew abundantly from many waters. And solid rods became scepters of rulers for it, and its stature was elevated in its branches. And it saw its height in the multitude of its palm trees. And in anger, it was uprooted and thrown to the ground, and a scorching wind dried up its fruit. Its strong rods withered and dried up, and fire consumed it. And now she has been transplanted into a desert in an impassable land and thirsty.
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Orders given to the prophet to bewail the fall of the royal family, which had long made so great a figure by virtue of a covenant of royalty made with David and his seed, so that the eclipsing and extinguishing of it are justly lamented by all who know what value to put upon the covenant of our God, as we find, after a very large account of that covenant with David ( Ps. lxxxix.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
, which we translate in thy blood ) "thou wast such a vine as this." When Zedekiah was quiet and easy under the king of Babylon's yoke his kingdom flourished thus. See how slow God is to anger, how he defers his judgments, and waits to be gracious. This vine is now quite destroyed.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood,....
Places of great wickedness may prosper for a while; and a vine set in blood may be full of branches. Jerusalem was full of able magistrates, men of sense, men of learning and experience, that were strong rods, branches of this vine of uncommon bulk and strength, or poles for the support of this vine, for such magistrates are.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A new metaphor taken from the vine, the chief of the fruit-bearing trees, as the lion is of the beasts of prey (see Eze 17:6). in thy blood--"planted when thou wast in thy blood," that is, in thy very infancy; as in Eze 16:6, when thou hadst just come from the womb, and hadst not yet the blood washed from thee.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thy mother - Judah or Jerusalem. Jehoiachin is still addressed. In thy blood - Blood is equivalent to “life” Gen 9:4. The clause is equivalent to “Thy mother is a vine, living in thy blood,” i. e., in the life of thee and of thy children. The excellency of a vine is in her fruitful branches; the glory of a mother in her noble children. Jeremiah was to write Jehoiachin childless (see the note at Jer 22:30); Ezekiel here takes a general view of the king and princes of the blood royal.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Your mother is like a vine This is still part of the lamentation.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The Congregation of Yisrael, when performing the Torah, is like a vine planted by a spring of water, whose branches are beautiful and whose boughs cast shade, planted by much water.
sturdy rods for the scepters of the rulers Powerful rulers and mighty kings.
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. 4 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
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִמְּךָ֥ | ʾimekha | mother your | H517 → | 220 times |
| כַגֶּ֛פֶן | khagefen | like <the> vine | H1612 → | 55 times |
| בְּדָמְךָ֖ | bedamekha | in blood your | H1818 → | 360 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | at | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| מַ֣יִם | mayim | water | H4325 → | 581 times |
| שְׁתוּלָ֑ה | shetulah | planted | H8362 → | 10 times |
| פֹּֽרִיָּה֙ | poriyah | fruitful | H6509 → | |
| וַֽעֲנֵפָ֔ה | vaanefah | and full of branches | H6058 → | |
| הָיְתָ֖ה | hayetah | it was | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| מִמַּ֥יִם | mimayim | from waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| רַבִּֽים׃ | rabim | many | H7227 → | 454 times |
אִמְּךָ֥mother your
ʾimekhaH517 →220 times
כַגֶּ֛פֶןlike <the> vine
khagefenH1612 →55 times
בְּדָמְךָ֖in blood your
bedamekhaH1818 →360 times
עַל־at
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
מַ֣יִםwater
mayimH4325 →581 times
שְׁתוּלָ֑הplanted
shetulahH8362 →10 times
פֹּֽרִיָּה֙fruitful
poriyahH6509 →
וַֽעֲנֵפָ֔הand full of branches
vaanefahH6058 →
הָיְתָ֖הit was
hayetahH1961 →3559 times
מִמַּ֥יִםfrom waters
mimayimH4325 →581 times
רַבִּֽים׃many
rabimH7227 →454 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
Deuteronomy 8:7For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 11:9–12
and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Exodus 3:8
I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and…
- Ezekiel 20:6
On that day I swore to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of…
- Deuteronomy 6:10–11
And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you…
- Deuteronomy 11:9–12
Through
Deuteronomy 8:9a land where you will eat food without scarcity, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and whose hills are ready to be mined for copper.
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 22:14
Now behold, I have taken great pains to provide for the house of the LORD—100,000 talents of gold, 1,000,000 talents of silver, and bronze and iron too great to be weighed. I have also…
- Joshua 22:8
saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”
- Deuteronomy 33:25
May the bolts of your gate be iron and bronze, and may your strength match your days.”
- Job 28:2
Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore.
- 1 Chronicles 22:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.