Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:10
I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Jerusalem, portrayed as a neglected newborn, within a historical allegory tracing the city’s origins and covenant history. The declaration follows a ritual washing and anointing, marking the shift from purification to royal preparation.
The words — רִקְמָה (rikmah) means multicolored embroidered cloth, and תַּחַשׁ (tachash) denotes fine leather. These terms specify the exact materials of the garments and sandals provided by the speaker.
The thread — The same embroidered cloth and fine linen reappear in Ezekiel 16:13 and Ezekiel 16:18 as markers of royal status, echoing the blue, purple, and scarlet curtain described in Exodus 26:36. This lexical pattern links Jerusalem’s intended honor to sacred craftsmanship.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that the recipient’s status derives entirely from external provision rather than inherent merit. It requires the reader to acknowledge the source of the clothing before evaluating its later misuse.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 16:18 You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.
- Ezekiel 16:13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen.
- Exodus 26:36 For the entrance to the tent, you are to make a curtain embroidered with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely spun linen.
- Psalms 45:13 All glorious is the princess in her chamber; her gown is embroidered with gold.
- Isaiah 61:10 I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
- Genesis 41:42 Then Pharaoh removed the signet ring from his finger, put it on Joseph’s finger, clothed him in garments of fine linen, and placed a gold chain around his neck.
- Exodus 26:14 Also make a covering for the tent out of ram skins dyed red, and over that a covering of fine leather.
- Exodus 28:5 They shall use gold, along with blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
- Exodus 39:27 For Aaron and his sons they made tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver,
- Isaiah 61:3 to console the mourners in Zion—to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.