Ezekiel 16:19 kjv
My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 16:19 nkjv
Also My food which I gave you?the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you?you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was," says the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 16:19 niv
Also the food I provided for you?the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat?you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
Ezekiel 16:19 esv
Also my bread that I gave you ? I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey ? you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord GOD.
Ezekiel 16:19 nlt
Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign LORD.
Ezekiel 16 19 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Eze 16:21 | "took of thy sons, whom thou hast borne unto me, and hast sacrificed them unto them to be devoured." | Utter abandonment of God's children |
| Lev 18:21 | "Thou shalt not give any of thy seed to pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD." | Prohibition against child sacrifice |
| Deut 12:31 | "Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters have they burnt with fire unto their gods." | Warning against imitating Canaanite practices |
| 2 Kin 16:3 | "But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to be a burnt offering, and observed times, and used divinations, and sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger." | Historical example of child sacrifice |
| Jer 19:4 | "Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents;" | Jeremiah condemns similar practices |
| Psa 106:37 | "Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils," | Davidic lament over Israel's apostasy |
| Gal 5:19-21 | "Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." | Contrasting fleshly works with godly living |
| 1 Cor 10:14 | "Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." | New Testament exhortation against idolatry |
| Rev 18:3 | "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." | Babylon as a symbol of spiritual fornication |
| Eze 20:26 | "And I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they should not live;" | God giving over to sinful practices |
| Deut 23:17 | "There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel." | Purity laws regarding sexual practices |
| Jer 7:31 | "And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart." | God’s utter disapproval of Tophet sacrifices |
| Ps 16:4 | "Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips." | The psalmist refuses to associate with idolaters |
| Acts 7:42 | "Then God turned, and gave them up to worship the host of heaven; as it is written in the book of the prophets, O ye house of Israel, have ye offered to me slain beasts and sacrifices by the space of forty years in the wilderness?" | Stephen recounts Israel’s turning to idolatry |
| John 8:44 | "Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." | Jesus identifies the source of evil and lies |
| Rom 1:25 | "Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." | Mankind exchanging truth for falsehood and worshiping creation |
| 1 Cor 6:9-10 | "Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." | Listing sins that exclude from God's kingdom |
| Rev 21:8 | "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." | Listing those who face eternal judgment |
| Deut 32:17 | "They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not." | Israel worshiping new, unknown deities |
| Ezek 23:37-39 | "For they have committed adultery, and blood is in her hands, and with her idols have they committed adultery, and have also given their pass through the fire unto them, the same whom they bare: Moreover this they have done unto me: that they have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and have profaned my sabbaths. And when they had sacrificed their children unto their idols, then they came into my sanctuary in the same day to profane it; and, behold, thus have they done in the midst of mine house." | Detailed description of Oholibah's defilement, echoing Ezekiel 16 |
Ezekiel 16 verses
Ezekiel 16 19 Meaning
The verse describes a shocking act of consecration and sacrifice. The phrase "to cause them to pass through the fire unto them" signifies offering children as burnt offerings to idols, a practice detested by the Lord. This act represents Jerusalem's profound spiritual prostitution and deep engagement in Canaanite paganism.
Ezekiel 16 19 Context
This verse appears in Ezekiel chapter 16, where the prophet uses an extended allegory of a marriage and subsequent adultery to describe Jerusalem's spiritual unfaithfulness to God. Jerusalem, like a foundling abandoned and then beautified by God, became a great and glorious city, akin to a queen. However, instead of remaining devoted to her husband, God, she engaged in rampant idolatry and practiced abhorrent pagan rituals, particularly child sacrifice. This chapter is a severe condemnation of Jerusalem's deep-seated corruption and her descent into the abominable practices of the surrounding nations, which deeply offended the LORD. The historical context is the Babylonian exile, during which Ezekiel prophesied to the exiled Jews, offering explanations for their catastrophe and calling them to repentance.
Ezekiel 16 19 Word Analysis
- and: Connects clauses, showing progression or addition.
- hast: Second-person singular, present tense of "have," indicating possession or action.
- taken: (Hebrew: לָקַ֖חְתְּ – la qach · ṭĕ). Root meaning to seize, take, carry away. Implies a deliberate act of acquisition or possession. In this context, it refers to taking children from their parents or from the city itself.
- of: Indicates origin or separation.
- thy: Possessive pronoun, second person singular, belonging to you.
- sons: (Hebrew: בָּנַ֣יִךְ – bə·nā · ḵî). Children, offspring. The focus is on the fruit of the womb.
- whom: Relative pronoun, introducing a clause that specifies the sons.
- thou: Second-person singular pronoun.
- hast borne: (Hebrew: יְלַדְתְּ – yə·lač · ḏǝ). Root meaning to bear, beget, bring forth. Refers to the act of childbirth.
- unto: Towards, to.
- them: Refers to the idols or the recipients of the sacrifice.
- to: Indicates purpose or destination.
- pass: (Hebrew: הֶֽעָבִ֣יר – he · ʿā · ḇîr). Hiphil infinitive construct of עוּר (ʿûr), meaning to cause to pass over, to lead over. In the context of fire, it refers to causing something or someone to go through fire.
- through: Indicates movement within or across.
- the: Definite article.
- fire: (Hebrew: לְאֵ֔שׁ – lə·’ē · ḏû). Word for fire. Significant in Scripture, both as a symbol of God’s presence and judgment, and here in its perverted form for pagan sacrifice.
- unto: Towards.
- them: The idols again, the ultimate recipients of the horrific offering.
Word-Group Analysis
- "hast taken of thy sons, whom thou hast borne unto me": This phrase emphasizes the desecration. The children that God considers His own, birthed by Jerusalem, were taken from her and given over to other powers. This highlights the ultimate betrayal of covenant.
- "and hast sacrificed them unto them to be devoured": This speaks to the purpose of the act – sacrifice and destruction. The feeding or devouring aspect points to the insatiable, destructive nature of the idols to which these children were offered. It was a complete surrender of what belonged to God for consumption by false gods.
Ezekiel 16 19 Bonus Section
The practice of child sacrifice, specifically passing children through fire, was a prominent ritual associated with Canaanite deities like Molech. Scholars often connect this to the geographical location of Tophet in the Valley of Hinnom, a place later associated with perpetual punishment due to its association with such practices (Jer 7:31, 19:4-6). The children offered were often infants or very young children. The severity of this sin is underscored by God’s explicit condemnation and prohibition throughout the Old Testament law (Lev 18:21, Deut 12:31). This verse in Ezekiel reflects a consistent theme in prophetic literature: calling Israel back from the brink of such pagan immersions and reminding them of their exclusive covenantal obligation to the LORD. The New Testament echoes this abhorrence of practices that desecrate life and substitute worship of God with destructive spiritual forces.
Ezekiel 16 19 Commentary
Ezekiel 16:21 graphically portrays Jerusalem's supreme betrayal of God by offering her own children in fire sacrifices to pagan deities. This was not merely a deviation but a profound act of spiritual adultery and an abomination to the Lord. It demonstrates a complete inversion of life's purpose and a turning away from the Creator to serve destructive idols, which demanded the ultimate sacrifice – innocent human life. This severe sin is highlighted as a primary reason for God’s judgment upon the city.