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“Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.
Ezekiel 16:59 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB “‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
  • KJV For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.
  • BSB For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
  • NKJV For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
  • NASB For this is what the Lord God says: “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

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

God will deal with Jerusalem according to what she has done, for she broke the covenant and despised her sworn oath. Covenant unfaithfulness has consequences.

Overview

The Lord, the covenant-keeping God, holds Jerusalem accountable for breaking the marriage-like covenant of the earlier allegory. Her despising of the oath underscores the seriousness of pledged loyalty to God. Yet this just charge sets the stage for the astonishing promise of an everlasting covenant to follow.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 16

  • Isa 24:5The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
  • Ezek 17:19“Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘As I live, surely my oath that he has despised, and my covenant that he has broken, I will even bring it on his own head.
  • Deut 29:25Then men will say, “Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,
  • Jer 31:32not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was a husband to them,” says Yahweh.
  • Jer 22:9Then they shall answer, ‘Because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh their God, and worshiped other gods, and served them.’”
  • Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
  • Matt 7:1–2“Don’t judge, so that you won’t be judged.
  • Ezek 17:13–16He took some of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land;
  • Exod 24:1–8He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
  • Ezek 7:4My eye will not spare you, neither will I have pity; but I will bring your ways on you, and your abominations will be among you. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’
  • 2 Chr 34:31–32The king stood in his place, and made a covenant before Yahweh, to walk after Yahweh, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statutes, with all his heart, and with all his soul, to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
  • 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.
  • Ezek 14:4Therefore speak to them, and tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Every man of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart, and puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet; I Yahweh will answer him therein according to the multitude of his idols;
  • Deut 29:10–15All of you stand today in the presence of Yahweh your God; your heads, your tribes, your elders, and your officers, even all the men of Israel,
  • Jer 2:19“Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backsliding will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing, that you have forsaken Yahweh your God, and that my fear is not in you,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
  • Rom 2:8–9but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 16:59YouTube · 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 16:59 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.