Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:49
Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — YHWH speaks directly to Jerusalem, naming the core iniquity of her sister Sodom as the benchmark against which Jerusalem's own guilt will be measured. This sits mid-oracle in Ezekiel 16, where Jerusalem is personified as a wayward woman under judgment.
The words — גָּאֹן (ga'on) is not mild pride but haughty arrogance, a loftiness that sets one above others; paired with שִׂבְעַת (siv'at), "surfeit," it paints fullness that has curdled into indifference.
The thread — Genesis 13:10 shows the material abundance of the plain that set the stage for Sodom's condition; Ezekiel 28:2 applies the same ga'on logic to Tyre's ruler, and Psalms 138:6 states God's posture toward the proud from a distance.
Why it lands — The verse strips away the assumption that Sodom's sin was only sexual or violent; its defining failure was wealth that never became generosity, and it holds the reader to that same standard.
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, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Cross-references
- 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.)
- Psalms 138:6 Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, tell the ruler of Tyre that this is what the Lord GOD says: Your heart is proud, and you have said, ‘I am a god; I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the sea.’ Yet you are a man and not a god, though you have regarded your heart as that of a god.
- Luke 12:16 Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance.
- Proverbs 18:12 Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor.
- Isaiah 3:9 The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Ezekiel 18:12 He oppresses the poor and needy; he commits robbery and does not restore a pledge. He lifts his eyes to idols; he commits abominations.
- Ezekiel 18:16 He does not oppress another, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery. He gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing.
- Daniel 5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways.
- Genesis 19:9 “Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door.