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But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.
Ezekiel 16:43 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB “‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord Yahweh: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.
  • KJV Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.
  • BSB Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?
  • NKJV Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely I will also recompense your deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
  • NASB Since you have not remembered the days of your youth but have caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Because she forgot the days of her youth and raged against God, He will repay her conduct on her own head. Forgetting grace brings just recompense.

Overview

God names the root again: she 'did not remember the days of her youth,' her rescue from helplessness, and instead provoked Him. Therefore He returns her deeds upon her. The verse ties the whole indictment together, with forgetfulness of grace producing rebellion, and rebellion producing judgment.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Ezek 16:22In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.
  • Ezek 11:21But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads,’ says the Lord Yahweh.”
  • Ezek 22:31Therefore I have poured out my indignation on them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have brought their own way on their heads,” says the Lord Yahweh.
  • Ps 78:42They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
  • Ps 106:13They soon forgot his works. They didn’t wait for his counsel,
  • Ezek 6:9Those of you that escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how I have been broken with their lewd heart, which has departed from me, and with their eyes, which play the prostitute after their idols. Then they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.
  • Isa 63:10But they rebelled, and grieved his holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy, and he himself fought against them.
  • Amos 2:13Behold, I will crush you in your place, as a cart crushes that is full of grain.
  • Acts 7:51“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
  • Eph 4:30Don’t grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
  • Ezek 7:8–9Now I will shortly pour out my wrath on you, and accomplish my anger against you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
  • Deut 32:21They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
  • Ps 78:40How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert!
  • Rom 2:8–9but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
  • Ezek 7:3–4Now is the end on you, and I will send my anger on you, and will judge you according to your ways. I will bring on you all your abominations.
  • Ezek 9:10As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
  • Jer 2:32“Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me for days without number.
  • Ps 95:10Forty long years I was grieved with that generation, and said, “It is a people that errs in their heart. They have not known my ways.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 16:43YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.

How Ezekiel 16:43 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.