What Does Ezekiel 16:48 Mean in the King James?
As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
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 condemned city is called your sister, yet even she has not done what you have done.
THE MEANING
This verse speaks to the reader who finds safety in a worse example: that comparison does not settle the measure of their own conduct. The living oath places the claim under God’s present judgment. The shock is plain, the one treated as infamous has not gone as far as the one addressed.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The false belief this undoes is that being less notorious than the worst example makes your own conduct acceptable; here, the condemned example is still surpassed.
THE ROOT
עָשְׂתָה
ʿāśətāh
GROWS FROM
עשה
ʿ-ś-h
Do, make, bring about.
The Hebrew repeats this same root for Sodom’s actions and yours. The comparison weighs what each has done, so a notorious reputation cannot decide the verdict in advance.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāsâ: Do, make.
עָשָׂה
These are the root’s basic actions, the same family behind both forms in the verse.
maʿaseh: Deed, work.
מַעֲשֶׂה
This noun makes visible the concrete deeds that the repeated verb measures.
חַי
ḥay
GROWS FROM
חיה
ḥ-y-h
Live, be alive.
“As I live” grounds the comparison in the living speaker’s own reality. The verse presents its judgment as active and present, not as a detached saying about the past.
ALSO GROWS
ḥāyâ: Live, remain alive.
חָיָה
This verb shares the root of the oath’s word for “live.”
ḥayyîm: Life, living.
חַיִּים
The related noun carries the same language of life that gives the oath its force.
THE PATTERN
A comparison with another’s wrongdoing can turn back on the one who uses it as shelter.
Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee.Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.THE THREAD
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.The same Hebrew word אֲחוֹתֵךְ (ʾaḥōtēḵ, “your sister”) links the comparison to Sodom’s description. The kinship remains even as the verdict distinguishes their conduct, bringing the reader’s own measure into view.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us