Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:4
On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD addresses Jerusalem through Ezekiel, describing the neglect she experienced on the day of her birth.
The words — The text notes that your cord was not cut (כָּרַת, kha.Rat, "it was cut off") and that you were not washed with water (מַיִם, Ma.yim, "water"). These terms record the literal absence of newborn care rites.
The thread — This birth abandonment motif runs alongside the exposure in Hosea 2:3 and the foreign status in Genesis 15:13. The deprivation echoes the unfulfilled labor demands in Exodus 5:16.
Why it lands — The passage states that Jerusalem received no compassionate care and was discarded, requiring the reader to acknowledge total human helplessness. It demands acceptance that any subsequent restoration originates solely from divine action, not from the subject's condition or worth.
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
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.
- Exodus 5:16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet we are told, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.”
- Deuteronomy 15:15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.
- Joshua 24:2 And Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your fathers, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates and worshiped other gods.
- Exodus 2:23 After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God.
- Deuteronomy 5:6 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
- Luke 2:12 And this will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”
- Acts 7:6 God told him that his descendants would be foreigners in a strange land, and that they would be enslaved and mistreated four hundred years.