What Does Ezekiel 16:10 Mean?
I clothed you with embroidered work, and shod you in badger skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
I 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.THE KEY
The word translated “girded” also means to bind up a wound, so the fine linen is adornment that wraps and holds you in care.
THE MEANING
You are being clothed in deliberate care: embroidery, sandals, fine linen wrapped around you, and silk over you. The covering does more than conceal exposure; it secures and adorns the body with dignity.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Being exposed means you are unworthy of beauty or care.
THE ROOT
וָאֶחְבְּשֵׁךְ
va’ekhbeshekh
GROWS FROM
חבש
ḥ-b-š
To bind or wrap; the same root can describe binding a wound.
The word rendered “girded” also names binding up wounds and saddling an animal. Fine linen is not merely laid over you: it is wrapped around and secured, so ornament carries the sense of practical care.
ALSO GROWS
ḥubbāšû: Bound up, referring to wounds.
חֻבָּשׁוּ
Isaiah uses this root for wounds that have not been bound; the shared word reveals the care carried in linen wrapped around the body.
vayyaḥavosh: Saddled his donkey.
וַיַּחֲבֹשׁ
In Genesis 22:3, the same root describes fastening a saddle in place; here it likewise suggests something wrapped and secured around the body.
רִקְמָה
riqmah
GROWS FROM
רקם
r-q-m
To embroider, making patterned work with thread.
“broidered work” in this verse is riqmah. The word for this embroidered work shares its root with the word rendered “curiously wrought” in Psalm 139:15. The garment’s detailed beauty echoes the language used for a body formed with detail, so adornment answers exposure with crafted beauty.
ALSO GROWS
ruqqamti: Curiously wrought or embroidered.
רֻקַּמְתִּי
Psalm 139:15 uses this form for the speaker being formed in secret, linking embroidery with the body’s intricate making.
roqem: An embroiderer or maker of needlework.
רֹקֵם
Exodus 26:36 uses this word for needlework on the tent’s hanging, showing the same root at work in a crafted covering.
THE PATTERN
The exposed body is met with covering that restores dignity rather than leaving exposure as the final word.
And the LORD God made tunics of skin for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.I will exult greatly in the LORD; my living soul shall leap in my God; for he has clothed me in garments of deliverance, he has wrapped me in the robe of alignment, as a bridegroom dons a headdress, and as a bride binds on her jewels.But the father said to his servants, "Quickly, bring out the first robe and put it on him, and give a ring into his hand and sandals onto his feet."THE THREAD
From the sole of the foot to the head there is no unbroken place in it, but wounds, welts, and fresh blows. They have not been closed, nor bound up, nor softened with oil.The Hebrew behind “girded” here and “bound up” in Isaiah is חבש (ḥ-b-š). Ezekiel shows linen fastened around the body; Isaiah names wounds left unbound, making the shared word reveal clothing as care for what is exposed.
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