Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:37
therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord God speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem at the conclusion of a detailed indictment covering idolatry, sexual immorality, and child sacrifice. The declaration marks the transition from accusation to enacted judgment.
The words — מְקַבֵּ֤ץ (me.kab.bêṣ) translates to "[I am] gathering," coupled with הִנְנִ֨י (hin·nî) "behold/here I am" to signal immediate divine action. לָכֵן (lā·ḵēn) "therefore" binds this gathering directly to the preceding charges of promiscuity and bloodshed.
The thread — The imagery of stripped nakedness before gathered lovers runs through Hosea 2:10 and Hosea 2:3, where exposure follows idolatrous alliances. Jeremiah 13:22 frames similar shame as the direct consequence of accumulated iniquity.
Why it lands — The text states that God will assemble both loved and hated figures to witness Jerusalem's complete nakedness before inflicting punishment. It requires the reader to acknowledge that covenant betrayal removes all protection, leaving the accused fully visible to those they betrayed.
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
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Hosea 2:3 Otherwise, 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 die of thirst.
- Hosea 2:10 And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.
- Jeremiah 13:26 So I will pull your skirts up over your face, that your shame may be seen.
- Lamentations 1:8 Jerusalem has sinned greatly; therefore she has become an object of scorn. All who honored her now despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns away.
- Ezekiel 23:9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.
- Hosea 8:10 Though they hire allies among the nations, I will now round them up, and they will begin to diminish under the oppression of the king of princes.
- Nahum 3:5 “Behold, I am against you,” declares the LORD of Hosts. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations and your shame to the kingdoms.
- Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
- Jeremiah 4:30 And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.