Ezekiel 16:41

Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses personified Jerusalem through Ezekiel, pronouncing the final phase of covenant judgment immediately after describing a mob's physical assault.

The words — The text foregrounds שָׂרְפוּ (sa.refu, "they will burn") with בָתַיִךְ (bataik, "your houses") and עָשׂוּ שְׁפָטִים (a.su shefatim, "they will execute judgments") before many women.

The thread — The burning of structures aligns with 2 Kings 25:9 and Jeremiah 39:8, while the termination of covenant prostitution mirrors the public admonition in Ezekiel 23:48.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to recognize that divine justice operates publicly and irrevocably, ending covenant betrayal without further concession.

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

וְשָׂרְפ֤וּve./sa.re.Fuand/ they will burn בָתַּ֙יִךְ֙va.Ta.yi/khhouses/ your בָּאֵ֔שׁba./'Eshwith <the>/ fire וְעָשׂוּ־ve./'a.su-and/ they will bring aboutבָ֣ךְva/khon/ youשְׁפָטִ֔יםshe.fa.Timjudgments לְעֵינֵ֖יle./'ei.Neito/ [the] eyes of נָשִׁ֣יםna.Shimwomen רַבּ֑וֹתra.Botmany וְהִשְׁבַּתִּיךְ֙ve./hish.ba.ti/Khand/ I will cause to cease/ you מִזּוֹנָ֔הmi./zo.Nahfrom/ a prostitute וְגַם־ve./gam-and/ also אֶתְנַ֖ן'et.Nan[the] hire of a prostitute לֹ֥אlo'not תִתְּנִי־ti.te.ni-you will give עֽוֹד׃odagain

King James Version

And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 23:48 So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.
2 Kings 25:9 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
Jeremiah 39:8 The Chaldeans set fire to the palace of the king and to the houses of the people, and they broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 52:13 He burned down the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem—every significant building.
Ezekiel 23:27 So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’
Deuteronomy 13:16 And you are to gather all its plunder in the middle of the public square, and completely burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. The city must remain a mound of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt.
Ezekiel 5:8 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.
Ezekiel 23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.
Deuteronomy 13:11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.
Deuteronomy 22:21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house, and there the men of her city will stone her to death. For she has committed an outrage in Israel by being promiscuous in her father’s house. So you must purge the evil from among you.