Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:46
Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to your north; and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to your south.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, identifying her as the daughter of a despising mother and naming her two political relatives. The oracle occurs during a prophetic indictment of Jerusalem’s moral decay and covenant unfaithfulness.
The words — אֲחוֹתֵךְ (achotech) translates literally as “your sister,” establishing a familial bond that carries shared culpability. שְׂמֹאול (semol) means “north” or “left side,” geographically locating Samaria relative to Jerusalem.
The thread — The sister allegory recurs in Ezekiel 23:4 with Oholah and Oholibah, while the broader theme of faithless Israel appears in Jeremiah 3:8 and the Jordan plain description in Genesis 13:10. These references trace a consistent scriptural pattern of using familial and geographical metaphors to diagnose national sin.
Why it lands — The text demands that readers acknowledge Jerusalem’s guilt is not isolated but shared with neighboring nations. It forces the recognition that proximity to corruption does not excuse greater depravity, requiring honest assessment of one's own moral trajectory.
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 thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 23:4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
- Genesis 13:10 And Lot looked out and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan, all the way to Zoar, was well watered like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.)
- Jeremiah 3:8 She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
- Ezekiel 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as you and your daughters have done.
- Ezekiel 16:51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.
- Ezekiel 16:53 But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.
- Ezekiel 16:61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.
- Genesis 14:8 Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim
- Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous,
- Genesis 19:24 Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.