I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
Parallel translations
- WEB I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent ornament. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.
- BSB I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
- NKJV I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
- NASB I made you very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.
- NLT And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.
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 made the child flourish and grow into beautiful maturity, yet she remained naked and bare. Growth without covering still left her exposed.
Overview
Under God's blessing, Israel multiplied and grew great, a likely allusion to her increase in Egypt and the wilderness. Yet she was still 'naked and bare,' not yet brought into covenant. The verse shows God's providential care preparing her for the covenant relationship He will establish next.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- Exod 1:7And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.
- Deut 1:10The LORD your God hath multiplied you, and, behold, ye are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.
- Isa 62:3Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
- Ezek 16:10–13I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
- Neh 9:18–25Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations;
- Hos 2:3Lest I strip her naked, and set her as in the day that she was born, and make her as a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst.
- Ezek 16:16And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
- Ps 149:2–4Let Israel rejoice in him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King.
- Ps 148:14He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints; even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the LORD.
- Acts 7:17But when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,
- Exod 12:37And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, beside children.
- Job 1:21And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
- Ps 135:4For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
- Deut 4:8And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?
- Song 4:5Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
- Deut 33:26–29There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky.
- Exod 3:22But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
- Isa 61:10I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
- Ezek 16:22And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
- Deut 32:10–14He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
- Ps 147:20He hath not dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise ye the LORD.
- Gen 22:17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
- Hos 2:9–10Therefore will I return, and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the season thereof, and will recover my wool and my flax given to cover her nakedness.
- Rev 3:17–18Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
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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 16:7 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
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