Ezekiel 16:20
New International Version
“’And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

New Living Translation
“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?

English Standard Version
And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter

Berean Standard Bible
You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

King James Bible
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

New King James Version
“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,

New American Standard Bible
“Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter?

NASB 1995
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

NASB 1977
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me, and you sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

Legacy Standard Bible
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?

Amplified Bible
“Moreover, you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to Me, and you destroyed them as sacrifices [to your man-made gods]. Were your gross immoralities so small a matter?

Christian Standard Bible
“ ‘You even took your sons and daughters you bore to me and sacrificed them to these images as food. Wasn’t your prostitution enough?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
You even took your sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them to these images as food. Wasn’t your prostitution enough?

American Standard Version
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter,

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And you took your sons and your daughters that you bore to me, and you sacrificed them as food, beside your fornications

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And thou tookest thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou borest, land didst sacrifice these to them to be destroyed. Thou didst go a-whoring as if that were little,

Contemporary English Version
But you did something even worse than that--you sacrificed your own children to those idols!

Douay-Rheims Bible
And thou hast taken thy sons, and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne to me: and best sacrificed the same to them to be devoured. Is thy fornication small?

English Revised Version
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter,

GOD'S WORD® Translation
" 'You took your sons and daughters, who belonged to me, and you sacrificed them as food to idols. Wasn't your prostitution enough?

Good News Translation
"Then you took the sons and the daughters you had borne me and offered them as sacrifices to idols. Wasn't it bad enough to be unfaithful to me,

International Standard Version
"Then you took your sons and daughters whom you bore for me and sacrificed them for your idols to eat. As though your prostitutions were an insignificant thing,

JPS Tanakh 1917
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Were thy harlotries a small matter,

Literal Standard Version
And you take your sons and your daughters whom you have born to Me, | And sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of your whoredoms,

Majority Standard Bible
You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?

New American Bible
The sons and daughters you bore for me you took and offered as sacrifices for them to devour! Was it not enough that you had become a prostitute?

NET Bible
"'You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,

New Revised Standard Version
You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your whorings were not enough!

New Heart English Bible
"'Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

Webster's Bible Translation
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne to me, and these hast thou sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this of thy lewdness a small matter,

World English Bible
“‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

Young's Literal Translation
And thou dost take thy sons and thy daughters Whom thou hast born to Me, And dost sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of thy whoredoms,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness
19And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD. 20You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.…

Cross References
Exodus 13:2
"Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast."

Exodus 13:12
you are to present to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD.

Deuteronomy 29:11
your children and wives, and the foreigners in your camps who cut your wood and draw your water--

Deuteronomy 29:12
so that you may enter into the covenant of the LORD your God, which He is making with you today, and into His oath,

Psalm 106:37
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.

Psalm 106:38
They shed innocent blood--the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.

Jeremiah 7:31
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire--something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.


Treasury of Scripture

Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and these have you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Is this of your prostitutions a small matter,

thy sons

Ezekiel 16:21
That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?

Ezekiel 23:4
And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah.

Genesis 17:7
And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

and these

Ezekiel 20:26,31
And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD…

Ezekiel 23:37,39
That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them

2 Kings 16:3
But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, yea, and made his son to pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel.

be devoured [heb] devour

Ezekiel 8:17
Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put the branch to their nose.

Jeremiah 2:34,35
Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these…

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Behaviour Bore Born Borne Daughters Devoured Enough Food Hadst Harlotries Idols Lewdness Matter Moreover Offering Prostitution Sacrifice Sacrificed Small Whoredoms
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Behaviour Bore Born Borne Daughters Devoured Enough Food Hadst Harlotries Idols Lewdness Matter Moreover Offering Prostitution Sacrifice Sacrificed Small Whoredoms
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














(20) Hast sacrificed unto them, i.e., hast sacrificed the children unto the idols. This was a terrible development of the later idolatries of Israel. At first the custom appears to have been a ceremony of passing young children through the fire to thereby consecrate them to Moloch; but afterwards it became an actual sacrifice of them in the fire to the idol. The Lord speaks of them in Ezekiel 16:20, as "thy children whom thou hast borne unto Me;" they were indeed Israel's children, but still children whom God had given to her. Then in Ezekiel 16:21, by a most significant change of the pronoun, He calls them "My children," the sin itself being aggravated by giving to the idol that which belonged to Jehovah. The last clause of the verse would be better translated, Were thy whoredoms too little?--i.e., was not apostacy enough without adding thereto this terrible and unnatural crime?

Verse 20. - The next stage of idolatry is that of Moloch worship, which never wholly ceased as long as the monarchy of Judah lasted (2 Kings 16:3; Psalm 106:37; Isaiah 57:5; Jeremiah 7:32; Jeremiah 19:5; Micah 6:7; Leviticus 18:21; Leviticus 20:2). It will be noticed that the words, "the fire," are in italics, i.e. are not in the Hebrew, the verb "to pass through" having acquired so technical a meaning that it was enough without that addition. This, as the closing words indicate, was the crowning point. As though idolatry in itself was a small matter, it was intensified by infanticide.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
You even took
וַתִּקְחִ֞י (wat·tiq·ḥî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 3947: To take

the sons
בָּנַ֤יִךְ (bā·na·yiḵ)
Noun - masculine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 1121: A son

and daughters
בְּנוֹתַ֙יִךְ֙ (bə·nō·w·ṯa·yiḵ)
Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 1323: A daughter

you bore
יָלַ֣דְתְּ (yā·laḏt)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 3205: To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineage

to Me
לִ֔י (lî)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's Hebrew

and sacrificed
וַתִּזְבָּחִ֥ים (wat·tiz·bā·ḥîm)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - second person feminine singular | third person masculine plural
Strong's 2076: To slaughter for sacrifice

them
לָהֶ֖ם (lā·hem)
Preposition | third person masculine plural
Strong's Hebrew

as food to idols.
לֶאֱכ֑וֹל (le·’ĕ·ḵō·wl)
Preposition-l | Verb - Qal - Infinitive construct
Strong's 398: To eat

Was your prostitution
מִתַּזְנוּתָֽיִךְ׃ (mit·taz·nū·ṯā·yiḵ)
Preposition-m | Noun - feminine plural construct | second person feminine singular
Strong's 8457: Harlotry, idolatry

not enough?
הַמְעַ֖ט (ham·‘aṭ)
Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 4592: A little, fewness, a few


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 16:20 Moreover you have taken your sons (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 16:19
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