What Does Ezekiel 16:15 Mean in the King James?
But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The collapse begins when beauty stops being something you have and becomes the thing you trust.
THE MEANING
The verse speaks now wherever you trust your own beauty as security: your renown, שְׁמֵךְ (shemekh, your name, the nature made known), becomes the occasion for sexual access offered to whoever passes by. Its ending strips the image to a blunt transaction: “his it was.”
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that being admired can keep you secure: here, renown born from beauty becomes the occasion for exposure.
THE ROOT
וַתִּבְטְחִי
vatibtechi
GROWS FROM
בטח
בטח (bāṭaḥ): to trust, feel secure, rely on.
The verse says she trusted in her beauty; בטח (bāṭaḥ) carries trust and felt security together. Its branches name what is secure and the place one relies on, revealing that the danger begins when beauty functions as refuge.
ALSO GROWS
bāṭûaḥ: secure, safe
בָּטוּחַ
This form shows the root’s sense of being secure, the very quality beauty is made to provide here.
mivṭāḥ: a place of confidence or refuge
מִבְטָח
This branch makes clear how trust can settle into a thing as a refuge; in the verse, beauty takes that place.
וַתִּזְנִי
vatizni
GROWS FROM
זנה
זנה (zānâ): to commit sexual infidelity or prostitution.
“played the harlot” in this verse is vatizni. The verb names a sexual act, not a vague lapse in loyalty. Its masculine and feminine forms keep that concrete force in view, while the verse ties the act to renown and to those who pass by.
ALSO GROWS
zonah: a woman who commits prostitution
זֹנָה
This feminine form shares the root exactly and preserves the verse’s direct sexual meaning.
zoneh: a man who commits prostitution
זֹנֶה
This masculine form shows the same root’s sexual force across gender.
THE PATTERN
When appearance or abundance becomes your security, desire can begin to govern what you expose and give away.
He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.THE THREAD
Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.Psalm 52:7 places trust in wealth; Ezekiel places it in beauty. Both use בטח (bāṭaḥ, to trust or feel secure), so the shared root reveals that what becomes your refuge is the turning point.
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