Lectionary Calendar
Wednesday, July 16th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Read the Bible

Contemporary English Version

Ezekiel 16:3

and tell them that I, the Lord God, am saying: Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Adoption;   Amorites, the;   Hittites;   Ingratitude to God;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Amorites;   Ashtoreth, Plural Ash'taroth;   Fornication;   Harlot;   Solomon's Song;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Hittites;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ezekiel;   Heth;   Jebus;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Amorites;   Ezekiel;   Hittites and Hivites;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Love, Lover, Lovely, Beloved;   Marriage;   Song of Songs;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Amorites ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Kedar;   Naked;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Hittites;   Solomon the song of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Adam in the Old Testament;   Canaan;   Gods;   Hittites;   Jebus;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Amorites;   Hittites;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
You are to say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hethite.
Hebrew Names Version
and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Yerushalayim: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Kana`ani; the Amori was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.
King James Version
And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
English Standard Version
and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
New American Standard Bible
and say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
New Century Version
Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Your beginnings and your ancestors were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
Amplified Bible
and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem (all of Israel), "Your [spiritual] origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your [spiritual] father was an Amorite and your [spiritual] mother a Hittite.
World English Bible
and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And say, Thus saith the Lord God vnto Ierusalem, Thine habitation and thy kindred is of the land of Canaan: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Legacy Standard Bible
and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Berean Standard Bible
and tell her this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: 'Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Complete Jewish Bible
Say that Adonai Elohim is telling Yerushalayim, ‘By origin and birth you are of the land of the Kena‘ani — your father was an Emori, and your mother was a Hitti.
Darby Translation
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.
Easy-to-Read Version
You must say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Look at your history. You were born in Canaan. Your father was an Amorite. Your mother was a Hittite.
George Lamsa Translation
And say, Thus says the LORD God to Jerusalem: Your root and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Good News Translation
Tell Jerusalem what the Sovereign Lord is saying to her: "You were born in the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
Lexham English Bible
and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites, your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
Literal Translation
and say, So says the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth is of the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
and saye: thus saieth the LORDE God vnto Ierusalem: Thy progeny and kynred came out of the londe of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Cethite.
American Standard Version
and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite.
Bible in Basic English
And say, This is what the Lord has said to Jerusalem: Your start and your birth was from the land of the Canaanite; an Amorite was your father and your mother was a Hittite.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
and say: Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem: Thine origin and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite.
King James Version (1611)
And say, Thus saith the Lord God vnto Ierusalem; Thy birth and thy natiuitie is of the land of Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And say, Thus saith the Lorde God vnto Hierusalem: thy habitation and kinred is of the lande of Chanaan, thy father was an Amorite, thy mother an Hittite.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
and thou shalt say,
English Revised Version
and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was an Hittite.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord God seith these thingis. A! thou Jerusalem, thi rote and thi generacioun is of the lond of Canaan; thi fadir is Amorrei, and thi moder is Cetei.
Update Bible Version
and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity is of the land of the Canaanite; the Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.
Webster's Bible Translation
And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity [is] of the land of Canaan; thy father [was] an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.
New English Translation
and say, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
New King James Version
and say, "Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
New Living Translation
Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord : You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
New Life Bible
Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: "Your beginning and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.
New Revised Standard
and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Therefore shalt thou say - Thus saith My Lord. Yahweh To Jerusalem, Thine origin and thy birth, were of the land of the Calamity, - Thy father was the Amorite. And mother a Hittite,
Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou shalt say: Thus saith the Lord God to Jerusalem: Thy root, and thy nativity is of the land of Chanaan, thy father was an Amorrhite, and thy mother a Cethite.
Revised Standard Version
and say, Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.
Young's Literal Translation
Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity [Are] of the land of the Canaanite, Thy father the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

Contextual Overview

1 The Lord said: 2 Ezekiel, son of man, remind the people of Jerusalem of their disgusting sins 3 and tell them that I, the Lord God, am saying: Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. 4 When you were born, no one cut you loose from your mother or washed your body. No one rubbed your skin with salt and olive oil, and wrapped you in warm blankets. 5 Not one person loved you enough to do any of these things, and no one even felt sorry for you. You were despised, thrown into a field, and forgotten.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thy birth: Heb. Thy cutting out, or habitation, Ezekiel 16:45, Ezekiel 21:30, Genesis 11:25, Genesis 11:29, Joshua 24:14, Nehemiah 9:7, Isaiah 1:10, Isaiah 51:1, Isaiah 51:2, Matthew 3:7, Matthew 11:24, Luke 3:7, John 8:44, Ephesians 2:3, 1 John 3:10

Amorite: Genesis 15:16, Deuteronomy 20:17, 1 Kings 21:26, 2 Kings 21:11

Hittite: Ezra 9:1

Reciprocal: Joshua 5:1 - all the kings Joshua 24:2 - Your fathers Judges 3:6 - General Psalms 136:23 - remembered Isaiah 43:27 - first father Isaiah 48:8 - a transgressor Ezekiel 16:22 - General Ezekiel 16:44 - As is Ezekiel 20:4 - cause Hosea 12:7 - a merchant Matthew 14:11 - and given

Cross-References

Genesis 16:1
Abram's wife Sarai had not been able to have any children. But she owned a young Egyptian slave woman named Hagar,
Genesis 16:4
Later, when Hagar knew she was going to have a baby, she became proud and was hateful to Sarai.
Genesis 16:5
Then Sarai said to Abram, "It's all your fault! I gave you my slave woman, but she has been hateful to me ever since she found out she was pregnant. You have done me wrong, and you will have to answer to the Lord for this."
Genesis 28:9
So he married Ishmael's daughter Mahalath, who was the sister of Nebaioth and the granddaughter of Abraham.
Genesis 30:4
Then Rachel let Jacob marry Bilhah,
Genesis 30:9
When Leah realized she could not have any more children, she let Jacob marry her servant Zilpah,
Genesis 32:22
Jacob got up in the middle of the night and took his wives, his eleven children, and everything he owned across to the other side of the Jabbok River for safety.
Genesis 35:22
During their time there, Jacob's oldest son Reuben slept with Bilhah, who was one of Jacob's other wives. And Jacob found out about it.
2 Samuel 5:13
After David left Hebron and moved to Jerusalem, he married many women from Jerusalem, and he had a lot of children.
1 Kings 11:3
Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married three hundred other women. As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn't like his father David, who had worshiped only the Lord God.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And say, thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem,.... To the inhabitants of Jerusalem, as the Targum:

thy birth and thy nativity [is] of the land of Canaan; here the Jewish ancestors for a time dwelt and sojourned, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and so the Targum, Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, interpret the first word, "thy habitation" or "sojourning" f: but whereas it follows, "and thy nativity", this does not solve the difficulty; which may be said to be of the land of Canaan, because their ancestors were born here; for though Abraham was a Chaldean he was called out of Chaldea into the land of Canaan, where Isaac was born; and so was Jacob, the father of the twelve tribes; besides, the Israelites were the successors of the Canaanites in their land, and so seemed to descend from them; and it is not unusual for such to be reckoned the children of those whom they succeed; to which may be added, that they were like to the Canaanites in their manners, particularly in their idolatries; and so their children, as such, are said to be the offspring and descendants of those whose examples they follow, or whom they imitate; see the history of Susannah in the Apocrypha:

"So he put him aside, and commanded to bring the other, and said unto him, O thou seed of Chanaan, and not of Juda, beauty hath deceived thee, and lust hath perverted thine heart.'' (Susannah 1:56)

thy father [was] an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite; Abraham and Sarah, who were, properly speaking, the one the father, the other the mother, of the Jewish nation, were Chaldeans; and neither Amorites nor Hittites; yet, because they dwelt among them; are so called; and especially since before their conversion they were idolaters, as those were; besides, the Jews who descended from Judah, and from whom they have their name, very probably sprung from ancestors who might be Amorites and Hittites: since Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite, and such an one seems to be Tamar, he took for his son Er, and by whom he himself had two sons, Pharez and Zarah, from the former of which the kings of Judah lineally descended, Genesis 37:2; besides, the Jews were the successors of these people, and possessed their land, and imitated them in their wicked practices, Amos 2:10; and these two, the Amorite and Hittite, of all the seven nations, are mentioned, because they were the worst, and the most wicked, Genesis 15:16. The Jews g say Terah the father of Abraham, and his ancestors, came from Canaan.

f מכריתיך "habitationes tuae", Pagninus, Calvin; "mansiones tuae", Montanus; "habitatio tua", Vatablus, Grotius; so R. Sol. Urbin. Ohel Moed, fol. 30. 1. g T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 44. 2. & Gloss. in ib.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Birth - See the margin; the word represents “origin” under the figure of “cutting out stone from a quarry” (compareIsaiah 51:1; Isaiah 51:1).

An Amorite - the Amorite, a term denoting the whole people. The Amorites, being a principal branch of the Canaanites, are often taken to represent the whole stock Genesis 15:16; 2 Kings 21:11.

An Hittite - Compare Genesis 26:34. The main idea is that the Israelites by their doings proved themselves to be the very children of the idolatrous nations who once occupied the land of Canaan. Compare Deuteronomy 20:17.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Ezekiel 16:3. Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan — It would dishonour Abraham to say that you sprung from him: ye are rather Canaanites than Israelites. The Canaanites were accursed; so are ye.

Thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite. — These tribes were the most famous, and probably the most corrupt, of all the Canaanites. So Isaiah calls the princes of Judah rulers of Sodom, Isaiah 1:10; and John the Baptist calls the Pharisees a generation or brood of vipers, Matthew 3:7. There is a fine specimen of this kind of catachresis in Dido's invective against AEneas: -

Nec tibi Diva parens, generis nec Dardanus auctor,

Perflde; sed duris genuit te cautibus horrens

Caucasus, Hyrcanaeque admorunt ubera tigres.

AEn. lib. iv. 365.

"False as thou art, and more than false, forsworn;

Not sprung from noble blood, nor goddess born:

But hewn from hardened entrails of a rock,--

And rough Hyrcanian tigers gave thee suck."

DRYDEN.


This is strong: but the invective of the prophet exceeds it far. It is the essence of degradation to its subject; and shows the Jews to be as base and contemptible as they were abominable and disgusting.


 
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