Ezekiel 16:39

Then 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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The speaker addresses the covenant-breaker described in Ezekiel 16, pronouncing judgment immediately after detailing the penalty for spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 16:38). The declaration occurs within a prophetic oracle of imminent divine punishment.

The words — וְ/נָתַתּ֨י (ve./na.ta.Ti) translates literally to "and I will give," while וְ/הָרְס֤וּ (ve./ha.re.Su) means "and they will tear down." These verbs frame the transfer of authority and the destruction of idolatrous structures.

The thread — The stripping imagery recurs in Ezekiel 23:26 and Hosea 2:3, while the destruction of high places echoes Ezekiel 16:24. Each reference reinforces the pattern of covenant betrayal and its consequent exposure.

Why it lands — The text demands recognition that idolatry invites tangible consequences rather than mere spiritual abstraction. It requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment operates through historical agents and material loss.

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

וְנָתַתִּ֨יve./na.ta.Tiand/ I will give אוֹתָ֜ךְ'o.Ta/kh<obj.>/ you בְּיָדָ֗םbe./ya.Da/min/ hand/ their וְהָרְס֤וּve./ha.re.Suand/ they will tear down גַבֵּךְ֙ga.be/Khmound/ your וְנִתְּצ֣וּve./ni.te.Tzuand/ they will be broken down רָמֹתַ֔יִךְra.mo.Ta.yi/khhigh places/ your וְהִפְשִׁ֤יטוּve./hif.Shi.tuand/ they will strip off אוֹתָךְ֙'o.to/Kh<obj.>/ you בְּגָדַ֔יִךְbe.ga.Da.yi/khclothes/ your וְלָקְח֖וּve./la.ke.Chuand/ they will take כְּלֵ֣יke.Lei[the] articles of תִפְאַרְתֵּ֑ךְtif.'ar.Te/khbeauty/ your וְהִנִּיח֖וּךְve./hi.ni.Chu/khand/ they will leave/ you עֵירֹ֥ם'ei.Romnakedness וְעֶרְיָֽה׃ve./'er.Yahand/ bareness

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 23:26 They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.
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.
Ezekiel 16:24 you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.
Isaiah 3:16 The LORD also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—
Isaiah 27:9 Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
Ezekiel 7:22 I will turn My face away from them, and they will defile My treasured place. Violent men will enter it, and they will defile it.
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.
Ezekiel 16:31 But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
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
Hosea 2:9 Therefore I will take back My grain in its time and My new wine in its season; I will take away My wool and linen, which were given to cover her nakedness.