Ezekiel 16:53 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Ezekiel 16:53
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:
to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, qal sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
captivity
שְׁבִ֣יתְהֶ֔ןshe.Vi.te.Hen
H7622
exile · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine plural
captivity
שְׁב֤וּתshe.vit
H7622
exile · noun, common feminine singular construct
Sodom
סְדֹם֙se.Dom
H5467
Sedom · proper noun, a place name
daughters
וּבְנוֹתֶ֔יהָu.ve.no.Tei.ha
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
captivity
שְׁב֥וּתshe.vit
H7622
exile · noun, common feminine singular construct
Samaria
שֹׁמְר֖וֹןsho.me.Ron
H8111
Shomeron · proper noun, a place name
daughters
וּבְנוֹתֶ֑יהָu.ve.no.Tei.ha
H1323
a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms… · conjunction + noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
captivity
וּשְׁב֥וּתu.she.vit
H7622
exile · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct
captives
שְׁבִיתַ֖יִךְshe.vi.Ta.yikh
H7622
exile · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person feminine singular
midst
בְּתוֹכָֽהְנָהbe.to.Kha.he.nah
H8432
a bisection · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 19:24-25 In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land:
Jeremiah 12:16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD liveth; as they taught my peop…
Ezekiel 29:14 And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return into the land of Pathros, into the land of their habitation; an…
Ezekiel 39:25 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be…
Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
Psalms 14:7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Isr…
Psalms 85:1 LORD, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob.
Psalms 126:1 When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Ezekiel 16:44-59
The prophet here further shows Jerusalem her abominations, by comparing her with those places that had gone before her, and showing that she was worse than any of them, and therefore should, like them, be utterly and irreparably ruined. We are all apt to judge of ourselves by comparison, and to imagine that we are sufficiently good if we are but as good as such and such, who are thought passable; or that we are not dangerously bad if we are no worse than such and such, who, though bad, are not of the worst. Now God by the prophet shows Jerusalem,
I. That she was as bad as her mother, that is, as the accursed devoted Canaanites that were the possessors of this land before her. Those that use…
Here follows a promise of restoration. Even the sore chastisements coming on Judah would fail to reform its people; God's returning goodness alone would effect this, to show how entirely of grace was to be their restoration. The restoration of her erring sisters is mentioned before hers, even as their punishment preceded her punishment; so all self-boasting is excluded [FAIRBAIRN]. "Ye shall, indeed, at some time or other return, but Moab and Ammon shall return with you, and some of the ten tribes" [GROTIUS].
bring again . . . captivity--that is, change the affliction into prosperity (so Job 42:10). Sodom itself was not so restored (Jer 20:16), but Ammon and Moab (her representatives, as s…
They are more righteous than thou - תצדקנה ממך tetsuddaknah mimmech, "They shall be justified more than thou." They are less guilty in the sight of God, for their crimes were not accompanied with so many aggravations. This phrase casts light on Luk 18:14 : "This man went down to his house justified rather than the other." Less blame in the sight of God was attached to him. He always had fewer advantages, and now he was a true penitent; while the other was boasting of what he had done, and what he had not done.
The Church Fathers
Anger is something other than God himself, so that it is never part of him, nor does he share in it in any way.
(Verse 53, 54.) And I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore your own fortune among them, so that you may bear your shame and be confounded in everything you have done, consoling them. LXX: And I will restore their fortunes like the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, I will restore the fortune of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortune among them, so that you may bear your punishment and have shame for everything you have done, in order to provoke me to anger. Jerusalem made great progress, that after the confusion and ignominy that was brought upon it by the judgment of God, it willingly accepted and carried, saying: I will bear the wrath of the Lord, for I have sinned against Him, let restoration be promised to it in its former state. But yet, because by the comparison of its crimes, Sodom and Samaria were justified, of which one is on the right and the other on the left; first, the conversion or captivity of Sodom is restored, as Aquila interpreted; secondly, the captivity of Samaria, as Aquila and Symmachus also translated; and lastly, Jerusalem, which was oppressed by greater iniquity, will be restored, and it had shown that its sinful sisters were just in comparison to itself. For of whom is it doubted that among three sinners, rather sinners, a gentile, a heretic, and a churchman, he is more deserving of greater punishments, who is deserving of greater dignity? For the powerful, as we have said, endure torments powerfully (Wisdom 6:7). But he who is least deserving is deserving of mercy. And the servant who knows the will of his master, and does not do it, will be beaten with many (Luke 12:47). Therefore Peter also says: It is time for judgment to begin with God's house (1 Peter 4:17). And in this same place, the prophet commands those who have axes: 'From my saints begin' (Above, IX, 6) , that Jerusalem, having been converted and restored to its former state before its sisters, may bear its own shame, and be confounded, and blush over those things which it has sinned, and in all things may console its sisters, while it endures more weighty things (Jerem. VI) . Or certainly, it is confounded and blushes for this reason, because it has provoked God to anger. From this it is clear that the anger of God is not natural, but rather…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Fornication — In every form of it was sternly condemned by the Mosaic law (Lev. 21:9; 19:29; Deut. 22:20, 21, 23-29; 23:18; Ex. 22:16). (See ADULTERY.) But this word is more frequently used in a symbolical than in…
Sodom — Burning; the walled, a city in the vale of Siddim (Gen. 13:10; 14:1-16). The wickedness of its inhabitants brought down upon it fire from heaven, by which it was destroyed (18:16-33; 19:1-29; Deut.…
Solomon, Song of — Called also, after the Vulgate, the “Canticles.” It is the “song of songs” (1:1), as being the finest and most precious of its kind; the noblest song, “das Hohelied,” as Luther calls it. The…
Lasciviousness · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Sodom · .Of wickedness — .Of wickedness
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Ezekiel 16:53
When I shall bring again their captivity,.... The captivity of Sodom and Samaria, as after mentioned:
the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters; which some understand as what never will be, as it never yet has been: Sodom remains to this day a dead sea, and the ten tribes are not returned:
then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them; that is, it shall never be brought again, according to the above sense; but rather this is to be understood of the calling of the Gentiles, comparable to Sodom for their wickedness, as the great city of Rome is, Revelation 11:8; and of the calling of God's elect among the ten tribes,…
Ezekiel 16:53
53. 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:
53. Et convertam captivitatem earum, captivitatem Sodomae et filiarum ejus, et c.aptivitatem Samartiae et filiarum ejus, et captivitatem captivitatum tuarum in medio ipsarum.
He here confirms again what we lately saw, that the Jews were doomed and devoted to final destruction, nor was it possible for them to escape any more than for Sodom to rise again and Samaria to be restored to her original dignity. The Jews foolishly corrupt this passage, since they think that r…
But this disgrace will not be the conclusion. Because of the covenant which the Lord concluded with Israel, Jerusalem will not continue in misery, but will attain to the glory promised to the people of God; - and that in such a way that all boasting will be excluded, and Judah, with the deepest shame, will attain to a knowledge of the true compassion of God. - Yet, in order that all false confidence in the gracious promises of God may be prevented, and the sinful nation be thoroughly humbled, this last section of our word of God announces the restoration of Sodom and Samaria as well as that of Jerusalem, so that all boasting on the part of Israel is precluded. - Eze 16:53. And I will turn th…
The power of God’s grace, even more than his judgment, would make Jerusalem feel ashamed of her association with such “parents” and “sisters” (16:44-52).
Rashi on Ezekiel 16:53
the captivity of Sodom Heb. שְּׁבוּת. I shall cure the land of brimstone and salt, and I shall settle it with inhabitants.
in their midst Heb. בְּתוֹכָהְנָה, like בְּתוֹכָן.
