Ezekiel 16:4 On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

◄ Ezekiel 16:4 ►

New International Version
On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

New Living Translation
On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth.

English Standard Version
And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

Berean Standard Bible
On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

King James Bible
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

New King James Version
As for your nativity, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths.

New American Standard Bible
As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

NASB 1995
“As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

NASB 1977
“As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

Legacy Standard Bible
As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

Amplified Bible
And as for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing, nor were you rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.

Christian Standard Bible
As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn’t cut on the day you were born, and you weren’t washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
As for your birth, your umbilical cord wasn’t cut on the day you were born, and you weren’t washed clean with water. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

American Standard Version
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

Contemporary English Version
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.

English Revised Version
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When you were born, your umbilical cord wasn't cut. You weren't washed with water to make you clean. You weren't rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloth.

Good News Translation
When you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord or washed you or rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths.

International Standard Version
Now as to your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord wasn't cut. You weren't washed with water to clean you, and nobody rubbed you with salt. And it's certain that you weren't wrapped in strips of cloth.

Majority Standard Bible
On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

NET Bible
As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets.

New Heart English Bible
As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you; you weren't salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

Webster's Bible Translation
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

World English Bible
As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all.

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
As for your nativity, in the day you were born, "" Your navel has not been cut, "" And you were not washed in water for ease, "" And you have not been salted at all, "" And you have not been swaddled at all.

Young's Literal Translation
As to thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, Thou -- thy navel hath not been cut, And in water thou wast not washed for ease, And thou hast not been salted at all, And thou hast not been swaddled at all.

Smith's Literal Translation
And thy nativity, in the day thou wert born thy navel was not cut, and thou wert not washed in water for my looking upon; and salting, thou wert not salted, and swathing, thou wert not swathed.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when thou wast born, in the day of thy nativity thy navel wits not cut, neither wast thou washed with water for thy health, nor salted with salt, nor swaddled with clouts.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And when you were born, on the day of your nativity, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water for health, nor salted with salt, nor wrapped with cloths.

New American Bible
As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut; you were not washed with water or anointed; you were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in swaddling clothes.

New Revised Standard Version
As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths.

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
And as for the one who bore you, in the day you were born she did not cut your navel, neither did she wash you with water nor did she salt your body with salt nor wrap you in swaddling clothes at all.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And she who bore you in the day of your birth did not cut off your umbilical cord and she did not wash you, neither did she salt you in salt, nor did she wrap you in swaddling strips

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water for cleansing; thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And as for thy birth in the day wherein thou wast born, thou didst not bind thy breasts, and thou wast not washed in water, neither wast thou salted with salt, neither wast thou swathed in swaddling-bands.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness
…3and tell her that 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. 4On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Isaiah 64:6
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.

Hosea 2:3
Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

Job 14:1-4
“Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble. / Like a flower, he comes forth, then withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure. / Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You? ...

Psalm 51:5
Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.

John 3:5-6
Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. / Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Ephesians 2:1-3
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, / in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. / All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.

Isaiah 1:6
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.

Lamentations 2:19
Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.

1 Corinthians 6:11
And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Titus 3:5
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 2:2
“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.

Deuteronomy 32:18
You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

Psalm 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb; the liars go astray from birth.

Isaiah 48:8
You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.

Treasury of Scripture

And as for your nativity, in the day you were born your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to supple you; you were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

for

Ezekiel 20:8,13
But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me: they did not every man cast away the abominations of their eyes, neither did they forsake the idols of Egypt: then I said, I will pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt…

Genesis 15:13
And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

Exodus 1:11-14
Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses…

to supple thee.

Lamentations 2:20,22
Behold, O LORD, and consider to whom thou hast done this. Shall the women eat their fruit, and children of a span long? shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? …

Luke 2:7,12
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn…

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Bands Birth Born Clean Cleanse Cleansing Cloths Cord Cut Ease Folded Nativity Navel Rubbed Salt Salted String Supple Swaddled Swathed Washed Wast Water Weren't Wrapped

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Bands Birth Born Clean Cleanse Cleansing Cloths Cord Cut Ease Folded Nativity Navel Rubbed Salt Salted String Supple Swaddled Swathed Washed Wast Water Weren't Wrapped

Ezekiel 16

1. Under the parable of a wretched infant is shown the natural state of Jerusalem
6. God's extraordinary love toward her,
15. Her grievous judgment
35. Her sin, equal to her mother,
46. and exceeding her sisters, Sodom and Samaria,
59. calls for judgments
60. Mercy is promised her in the end

Berean Study Bible

On the day of your birth
This phrase sets the stage for a metaphorical depiction of Jerusalem's origins. In the Hebrew context, birth often symbolizes the beginning of a covenant relationship with God. The "day of birth" here is not just a literal birth but represents the inception of Israel as a nation chosen by God. Historically, this can be seen as the time when God called Abraham and set apart his descendants.

your cord was not cut
The umbilical cord, in ancient times, was cut to signify the beginning of an independent life. The failure to cut the cord symbolizes neglect and abandonment. Spiritually, it suggests that Israel was not given the care and attention needed to thrive independently without God's intervention. This imagery highlights Israel's initial helplessness and dependence on divine grace.

nor were you washed with water to cleanse you
Washing a newborn was a customary practice to purify and protect the child. The absence of this cleansing indicates a lack of care and concern. In a spiritual sense, it reflects Israel's impurity and need for God's cleansing. Water, often a symbol of purification in the Bible, underscores the necessity of divine intervention for spiritual cleanliness.

you were not rubbed with salt
Rubbing a newborn with salt was an ancient practice believed to promote health and strength. The omission of this practice signifies neglect and vulnerability. Salt, in biblical terms, often represents preservation and covenant (as seen in the "salt of the covenant" in Leviticus 2:13). The lack of salt symbolizes Israel's initial state without the preserving covenant of God.

or wrapped in cloths
Swaddling a child was a sign of care and protection. The absence of swaddling cloths suggests exposure and defenselessness. This imagery conveys Israel's initial state of being unprotected and exposed to the elements, both physically and spiritually. It emphasizes the need for God's protective embrace to nurture and secure His people.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) Washed in water to supple thee.--The various particulars of this and the following verse describe a child cast out into the field immediately upon its birth, unpitied by any one, and in a condition in which it must soon have perished. Neither the text nor the margin seems to have hit upon the sense of the word translated "to supple," the probable meaning of which is "to cleanse." The rubbing of the body of the new-born infant with salt, a custom still prevailing in some parts of the east, probably had a symbolical, as well as a supposed physical effect; and is recommended for the latter reason by Galen (De Sanit. i. 7). The wrapping the body tightly in swaddling-bands (Comp. Luke 2:7) is still common, even in Italy. The time here referred to in the life of Israel is that in which it passed from its embryonic state in the family of the patriarchs to a nation in the bondage of Egypt. Despised, oppressed, and enslaved, no other people ever became a nation under such circumstances. Humanly speaking, national life was an impossibility for them.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - As for thy nativity, etc. We ask, as we interpret the parable, of what period in the history of Israel Ezekiel speaks. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are ignored by him, and he starts from a time of misery and shame. It is obvious that the only period which corresponds to this is that of the sojourn of Israel as an oppressed and degraded people in the land of Goshen. He paints, with a Dantesque minuteness, the picture of a child just born, abandoned by its mother and neglected by all others from the very moment of its birth. It lies unwashed and foul to look upon. No woman's care does for it the commonest offices of motherhood. For to supple, read, with the Revised Version, to cleanse. The practice still met with in the East of rubbing the newborn child with salt may have rested partly on sanitary grounds (Jerome, in loc. Galen, 'De San.,' 1:7), partly on its symbolic meaning (Numbers 18:19). When this was done, the child was wrapt in swaddling clothes (Luke 2:7), but these too were wanting in the picture which Ezekiel draws. The whole scene may have been painted from the life. Such a birth may well have been witnessed during the march of the exiles, when the brutality of their Chaldean drivers allowed no halt, and the child was left to perish of neglect, and the thought may then have flashed across Ezekiel's mind that the pity which he felt for the deserted infant was a faint shadow of that which Jehovah had felt for Israel in the degradation of their heathen bondage.

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

On the day
בְּי֨וֹם (bə·yō·wm)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3117: A day

of your birth
וּמוֹלְדוֹתַ֗יִךְ (ū·mō·wl·ḏō·w·ṯa·yiḵ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 4138: Nativity, lineage, native country, offspring, family

your cord
שָׁרֵּ֔ךְ (šār·rêḵ)
Noun - masculine singular construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 8270: A string, the umbilical cord

was not
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

cut,
כָרַּ֣ת (ḵār·raṯ)
Verb - QalPass - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 3772: To cut, to destroy, consume, to covenant

nor
לֹֽא־ (lō-)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

were you washed
רֻחַ֖צְתְּ (ru·ḥaṣt)
Verb - Pual - Perfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 7364: To wash, wash off or away, bathe

with water
וּבְמַ֥יִם (ū·ḇə·ma·yim)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 4325: Water, juice, urine, semen

for cleansing.
לְמִשְׁעִ֑י (lə·miš·‘î)
Preposition-l | Adverb
Strong's 4935: A cleansing

You were not
לֹ֣א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

rubbed with salt
וְהָמְלֵ֙חַ֙ (wə·hā·mə·lê·aḥ)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hofal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 4414: To rub to pieces, pulverize, to disappear as dust, to salt

or wrapped in cloths.
וְהָחְתֵּ֖ל (wə·hā·ḥə·têl)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hofal - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 2853: Perhaps entwine, enwrap

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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 16:4 As for your birth in the day (Ezek. Eze Ezk)