Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:21
You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Jerusalem as an unfaithful spouse, pronouncing judgment during a covenant crisis for her historical idolatry.
The words — The Hebrew תּשְׁחַטִי (tishchaTi) means "you slaughtered," paired with הַעֲבִיר (ha'aviR), "made pass through," which the text uses to describe the physical transfer of children into idolatrous rites.
The thread — This practice mirrors the condemned rituals in Leviticus 18:21, Deuteronomy 18:10, and the historical record in 2 Kings 17:17.
Why it lands — The text states that covenant betrayal manifests as the violent surrender of offspring to false gods, requiring a reader to recognize idolatry as concrete violence rather than abstract error.
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
That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
Cross-references
- 2 Kings 17:17 They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Leviticus 18:21 You must not give any of your children to be sacrificed to Molech, for you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
- Deuteronomy 18:10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, practices divination or conjury, interprets omens, practices sorcery,
- 2 Kings 21:6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.
- Jeremiah 19:5 They have built high places to Baal on which to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I never commanded or mentioned, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Leviticus 20:1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
- 2 Kings 23:10 He also desecrated Topheth in the Valley of Ben-hinnom so that no one could sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.
- Psalms 106:37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.