“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Parallel Translations
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“ ‘ “Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
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Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
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Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fulness of bread, and careless ease was in her and in her daughters; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (34)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 16:49 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 13:10 Lot lifted up his eyes, and saw all the plain of the Jordan, that it was well-watered everywhere, before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt, as you go to Zoar.
- Psalms 138:6 For though Yahweh is high, yet he looks after the lowly; but he knows the proud from afar.
- Ezekiel 28:2 “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God—
- Luke 12:16-20 He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’
- Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.
- Isaiah 3:9 The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Ezekiel 18:12 has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,
- Ezekiel 18:16 hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
- Daniel 5:23 but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. You have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, or hear, or know; and you have not glorified the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways.
- Genesis 19:9 They said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one fellow came in to live as a foreigner, and he appoints himself a judge. Now we will deal worse with you than with them!” They pressed hard on the man Lot, and came near to break the door.
- Deuteronomy 32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.
- Proverbs 16:5 Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to Yahweh: they shall certainly not be unpunished.
- Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.
- Proverbs 21:4 A high look and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.
- Proverbs 21:13 Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.
- Isaiah 3:14-15 Yahweh will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their leaders: “It is you who have eaten up the vineyard. The plunder of the poor is in your houses. What do you mean that you crush my people, and grind the face of the poor?” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Isaiah 16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.
- Ezekiel 28:9 Will you yet say before him who kills you, ‘I am God’? But you are man, and not God, in the hand of him who wounds you.
- Ezekiel 28:17 Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor. I have cast you to the ground. I have laid you before kings, that they may see you.
- Daniel 4:30 The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”
- Amos 5:11-12 Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn away the needy in the courts.
- Obadiah 1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
- Micah 3:2-4 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron. Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”
- Luke 16:19-21 “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
- Luke 17:28 Likewise, even as it was in the days of Lot: they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built;
- 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
- Genesis 18:20 Yahweh said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous,
- Isaiah 22:13-14 and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.” Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, “Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
- Ezekiel 18:7 and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;
- Ezekiel 29:3 Speak and say, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the middle of his rivers, that has said, ‘My river is my own, and I have made it for myself.’
- Daniel 4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.
- Amos 6:3-6 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall; who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
- Amos 8:4-6 Hear this, you who desire to swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail, Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’ ”
- Luke 21:34 “So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain Here God begins to show the reason why he…
Here God begins to show the reason why he extenuated the wickedness of Sodom in comparison with that of his own people: for if he had spoken generally, without explaining the counsel of God, his language would have been incredible, and so would have been ineffectual. But now God shows that he did not pronounce rashly what we heard before, namely, that the Jews were worse than the Sodomites. How so? for this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, says he, first pride, then fullness of bread, and luxury in which they were in the habit of indulging, and of drowning themselves in ease to enjoy a long peace; afterwards, they did not seize the hand of the poor. Now he adds —
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He allegeth these four vices, pride, excess, idleness and…
He allegeth these four vices, pride, excess, idleness and contempt of the poor, as four principal causes of such abomination, wherefore they were so horribly punished, Gen. 19:24.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy…
Eze 16:49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
Ver. 49. Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride,] i.e., Haughty mindedness and high conceitedness of their own surpassing excellence and stable felicity. This was the first firebrand that set Sodom on fire.
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Fulness of bread.] Gourmandise and surquedry. This fulness bred forgetfulness, and this saturity security.
“ Luxuriant animi rebus plerumque secundis:
Nec facile est aequa commoda mente pati. ”
And abundance of idleness.] Tranquillitas tranquillitatis, rest of rest; and this abused to idleness, deep idleness, which is the devil’s pillow, and the mother of many mischiefs; for he shall not but do naughtily that does nothing.
Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor.] Inhospitable they were, and unmerciful. The two angels might have lain in the streets for them; neither would they let them rest when Lot had lodged them.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The iniquity; iniquity, either for iniquities, or the fountain…
The iniquity; iniquity, either for iniquities, or the fountain and occasion of all amongst the Sodomites.
Pride; a haughty mind, swelled with the excellency, beauty, and grandeur of their state, and vaunting of it above their neighbours.
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Fulness of bread, i.e. luxury, and riotous excess in eating and drinking: their plenty was not their sin, but they made it occasion of sin to themselves; they were very intemperate in their diet.
Abundance of idleness; every thing so plentiful, that they little regarded to employ themselves, but were idle and slothful, or deeply secure in their peace, plenty, and honour, neither feared God’s wrath or man’s sword; the first was the fault of particular sinners, the latter was the sin and fault of the community.
Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy; she refused to help strangers, as appeareth in the history of the angels’ entertainment, Ge 19; nor was she mindful of helping the poor with counsel and defence; they were unmerciful and hard-hearted toward the poor amongst them. This was a great sin to those that abounded in wealth, as the Sodomites did.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And they were haughty,.... Sodom and her daughters, the…
And they were haughty,.... Sodom and her daughters, the inhabitants of that place, and the cities adjacent; they lifted up themselves above God and man; they were above regarding the poor and needy; and were elated and swelled with their plenty and prosperity, and behaved very insolently, both to fellow citizens and strangers; see Gen 19:4;
and committed abomination before me; perhaps referring to that sin, which has its name from them; a sin abominable to God, and scandalous to human nature; and which they committed openly and publicly, neither fearing God, nor regarding men; and are said to be sinners before the Lord, Gen 13:13;
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therefore I took them away as I saw good; both as to time and manner, as he in his sovereignty thought most fit and proper, by raining fire and brimstone on them, and setting them forth as an example of the vengeance of eternal fire: or, "when I saw" (c); their sin and wickedness, as soon as he saw it; see Gen 18:20. The Vulgate Latin and Arabic versions render it, "as thou sawest", or "hast seen"; appealing to the Jews themselves, who were very well acquainted with the fact; for the destruction of Sodom was notorious and flagrant.
(c) "cum vidi", Cocceius; so some in Vatablus; "postea quam", Tigurine version, Piscator, Starckius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain This was - The fountain and occasion of all.…
This was - The fountain and occasion of all. Fulness of bread - Excess in eating and drinking. Strengthen - She refused to help strangers.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 49. This was the iniquity of thy sister…
Verse 49. This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom] If we are to take this place literally, Sodom was guilty of other crimes besides that for which she appears to have been especially punished; in addition to her unnatural crime, She is charged with pride, luxury, idleness, and uncharitableness; and these were sufficient to sink any city to the bottomless pit.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Eze 16:49-50. Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom,…
Eze 16:49-50. Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, &c. — The inhabitants of Sodom “abused that plenty which God gave them to pride and idleness, which gave rise to those enormities that they afterward were guilty of. The Scripture takes notice of the fruitfulness of the soil where Sodom stood,” Gen 13:10. — Lowth. Such is the depravity of human nature, that plenty, and a freedom from toil and danger, often prove people’s ruin; and therefore, if we were truly wise, we should be as much afraid of prosperity as we are of any of those supposed evils which are the frequent objects of our fears. Neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy — Pride and luxury make men expensive in their way of living, and regardless of the wants and miseries of others. And they were haughty — Hebrew, ותגבהינה, they were high, lofty, arrogant in their deportment toward good men, vexing Lot’s righteous soul, toward the angels, whom they assaulted in his house, and toward God himself, all whose laws they trampled under foot, Gen 13:13; and before whom they committed abominations of the most heinous and detestable kind; arriving by degrees to the height of impiety and wickedness. And, indeed, when pride has got the ascendency in a man he is in the high road to all abominations. And therefore I took them away as I saw good — Destroyed their cities, people, and country, by a most tremendous, unexpected, and unexampled judgment.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sodom, &c. That is, these were the steps by…
Sodom, &c. That is, these were the steps by which the Sodomites came to fall into those abominations for which they were destroyed. For pride, gluttony, and idleness, are the high road to all kinds of lust; especially when they are accompanied with a neglect of the works of mercy. (Challoner) --- These crimes alone are great enough; (Luke xvi. 19.) and the prophets never accuse the Jews of unnatural lust. Hence Ezechiel takes no notice of it here, as he probably refers to the manners of the Moabites, &c., who were then living, Isaias xvi. 6. (Calmet) --- Abundance and idleness produce crimes; temperance and labour bring forth good fruit. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain pride--inherited by Moab, her offspring (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:26),…
pride--inherited by Moab, her offspring (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:26), and by Ammon (Jer 49:4). God, the heart-searcher, here specifies as Sodom's sin, not merely her notorious lusts, but the secret spring of them, "pride" flowing from "fullness of bread," caused by the fertility of the soil (Gen 13:10), and producing "idleness."
abundance of idleness--literally, "the secure carelessness of ease" or idleness.
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neither did she strengthen . . . the poor--Pride is always cruel; it arrogates to itself all things, and despises brethren, for whose needs it therefore has no feeling; as Moab had not for the outcast Jews (Isa 16:3-4; Jer 48:27; Luk 16:19-21; Jam 5:1-5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 49, 50. This was the iniquity of thy sister…
49, 50. This was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom — Pride, and wealth, and abundance of idleness (R.V., “prosperous ease”), indifference to the poor and haughtiness (religious bravado) toward God — this was her iniquity, and for this the Sodomites were destroyed “when I saw it” (Gen_18:21); or “according to what I saw.” — Plumptre. But Jehovah was never “married” to Sodom as to Jerusalem. Sodom never deserted a divine husband whose kindness had exalted her to heaven. Even Sodom was not guilty of that.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 49. abundance of idleness] prosperous ease, as R.V., lit.…
49. abundance of idleness] prosperous ease, as R.V., lit. prosperity of quiet. Sodom lived in security and suffered no calamities, as Jer_48:11 says of Moab, “Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees; he hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity.” On “fulness of bread” and consequent pride and forgetfulness of God cf. Deu_32:15; Hos_13:6; Pro_30:7.
strengthen the hand] Or, take hold of the hand, i.e. to help or rescue. Prosperity led to pride and inhumanity and then to abominations (Eze_16:50).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (49) Pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.—The…
(49) Pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness.—The description strikes at the causes rather than the overt acts of sin, and the unnatural crimes which are always associated in our minds with the name of Sodom are not mentioned. It is noticeable, however, that the distinct sin which is mentioned in this passage is the negative one too common in all ages, “neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Vers. 49, 50. It is noticeable that what we…
Vers. 49, 50. It is noticeable that what we commonly speak of as the specific sin of the cities of the plain is not mentioned here. The prophet fixes on the point which made Sodom a luxurious and sensual city, the graver evil being just hinted at in the word abominations, and as the outcome of the evil tendencies. So in like manner the special sin of Samaria, the worship of the calves, is not named, but taken for granted. (For fulness of bread, see Pro_30:9: Hos_13:6; Deu_8:12) Prosperity and luxury in her case, as in that of other wealthy cities, hardened the hearts of men against the poor and needy. There was probably a sufficient reason for the omission which has been pointed out. It was wiser to dwell on the sins which were common to the two cities rather than on the vice which, though it existed in Jerusalem, (2Ki_23:7) was probably not prevalent there. As I saw good; better, according to what I saw. The word "good" is not in the Hebrew, and the words apparently refer to Gen_18:21.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues to speak about Jerusalem as if the city were his unfaithful wife. The city represents the people who live there. (See: Metaphor and Metonymy)
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arrogant in her leisure, careless and unconcerned about anything
Yahweh describes Sodom as a rich woman who has more than enough food and lives in security. (See: Metaphor)
She did not strengthen the hands of the poor and needy people
Here the word "hands" represents the people who work with their hands. The words "poor" and "needy" emphasize that these are people who cannot help themselves. AT: "She did not help the people who could not help themselves" (See: Synecdoche and Doublet)
translationWords
sin
Sodom
arrogant
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.