Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses personified Jerusalem after detailing her sins and her sisters' greater wickedness. He speaks this declaration immediately before commanding her to bear her own shame.
The words — שַׁבְתִּי (shav.Ti) literally means "I will turn back," and שְׁבִיתְהֶן (she.Vi.te.Hen) means "their captivity." These terms frame the divine action of reversing exile for Sodom, Samaria, and Jerusalem.
The thread — The motif of God restoring a nation from captivity appears in Ezekiel 29:14 for Egypt and connects to the broader prophetic pattern in Isaiah 19:24 and Jeremiah 12:16.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to accept that restoration is granted to the condemned alongside the accused. It demands relinquishing any claim to moral superiority when faced with unmerited divine mercy.
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
When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
Cross-references
- Isaiah 19:24 In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria—a blessing upon the earth.
- Jeremiah 12:16 And if they will diligently learn the ways of My people and swear by My name, saying, ‘As surely as the LORD lives’—just as they once taught My people to swear by Baal—then they will be established among My people.
- Ezekiel 29:14 I will restore Egypt from captivity and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.
- Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore Jacob from captivity and will have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be jealous for My holy name.
- Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.
- Psalms 14:7 Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come from Zion! When the LORD restores His captive people, let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad!
- Psalms 85:1 For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. You showed favor to Your land, O LORD; You restored Jacob from captivity.
- Psalms 126:1 A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers.
- Isaiah 1:9 Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
- Jeremiah 20:16 May that man be like the cities that the LORD overthrew without compassion. May he hear an outcry in the morning and a battle cry at noon,