Ezekiel 16:39
in Ezekiel 16Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy vaulted place, and break down thy lofty places; and they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take thy fair jewels; and they shall leave thee naked and bare.
KJV
And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
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This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
6 notes on this verseAnd I also will give thee into their hand,.... Into the hand of their lovers and enemies that should be gathered against them, the Assyrians and Chaldeans, with others that joined them, as in Eze 16:37; and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thine high places; the city of Jerusalem, the temple, and altars; and not only these, but even the high places and altars which were set up for idolatrous uses; all should be destroyed by the Chaldean army.
This 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
level your mounds
The lovers tear down the shrines built for them. Gill names them as the Chaldeans and their allies, who destroyed city, temple and high places together. Clarke compares the patrons who finally strip a kept woman of all they gave.
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 Nineteenth Century2 voices
They shall strip thee also of thy clothes - thy fair jewels - Alluding to a lot common enough to prostitutes, their maintainers in the end stripping them of all they had given them.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
judge thee, as women that break wedlock-- (Le 20:10; compare Eze 16:2). In the case of individual adulteresses, stoning was the penalty (Joh 8:4, 5). In the case of communities, the sword.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְנָתַתִּ֨י | venatati | and I will give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אוֹתָ֜ךְ | ʾotakh | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּיָדָ֗ם | beyadam | in hand their | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וְהָרְס֤וּ | veharesu | and they will tear down | H2040 → | 43 times |
| גַבֵּךְ֙ | gabekh | mound your | H1354 → | 13 times |
| וְנִתְּצ֣וּ | venitetzu | and they will be broken down | H5422 → | 42 times |
| רָמֹתַ֔יִךְ | ramotayikh | high places your | H7413 → | 5 times |
| וְהִפְשִׁ֤יטוּ | vehifshitu | and they will strip off | H6584 → | 43 times |
| אוֹתָךְ֙ | ʾotokh | <obj.> you | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּגָדַ֔יִךְ | begadayikh | clothes your | H899 → | 217 times |
| וְלָקְח֖וּ | velakechu | and they will take | H3947 → | 966 times |
| כְּלֵ֣י | kelei | [the] articles of | H3627 → | 325 times |
| תִפְאַרְתֵּ֑ךְ | tifartekh | beauty your | H8597 → | 51 times |
| וְהִנִּיח֖וּךְ | vehinichukh | and they will leave you | H5117 → | 142 times |
| עֵירֹ֥ם | ʾeirom | nakedness | H5903 → | 10 times |
| וְעֶרְיָֽה׃ | veeryah | and bareness | H6181 → | 6 times |
וְנָתַתִּ֨יand I will give
venatatiH5414 →2011 times
אוֹתָ֜ךְ<obj.> you
ʾotakhH853 →10935 times
בְּיָדָ֗םin hand their
beyadamH3027 →1618 times
וְהָרְס֤וּand they will tear down
veharesuH2040 →43 times
גַבֵּךְ֙mound your
gabekhH1354 →13 times
וְנִתְּצ֣וּand they will be broken down
venitetzuH5422 →42 times
רָמֹתַ֔יִךְhigh places your
ramotayikhH7413 →5 times
וְהִפְשִׁ֤יטוּand they will strip off
vehifshituH6584 →43 times
אוֹתָךְ֙<obj.> you
ʾotokhH853 →10935 times
בְּגָדַ֔יִךְclothes your
begadayikhH899 →217 times
וְלָקְח֖וּand they will take
velakechuH3947 →966 times
כְּלֵ֣י[the] articles of
keleiH3627 →325 times
תִפְאַרְתֵּ֑ךְbeauty your
tifartekhH8597 →51 times
וְהִנִּיח֖וּךְand they will leave you
vehinichukhH5117 →142 times
עֵירֹ֥םnakedness
ʾeiromH5903 →10 times
וְעֶרְיָֽה׃and bareness
veeryahH6181 →6 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
Ezekiel 23:26They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 13:22
And 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ezekiel 23:29
They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity
- Jeremiah 13:22
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
Through
Ezekiel 23:29They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity
it leads to
- Ezekiel 23:25–26
And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They…
- Ezekiel 23:45–47
But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.
- Ezekiel 23:25–26
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.