What Does Ezekiel 16:52 Mean in the King James?
Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
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 verse makes judgment a mirror: your deeds align your sisters by comparison, while the same root names the alignment you lack.
THE MEANING
You are addressed as the one who judges, yet the verdict leaves your own shame for you to bear. Your deeds are described as more abominable than your sisters’, so they stand as more righteous beside you. The repeated command keeps that exposure in view.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that naming another person’s failure establishes your own innocence; here, the comparison turns back on the judge.
THE ROOT
תִּצְדַּקְנָה
titzdaqnah
GROWS FROM
צדק
ṣ-d-q
To be right or just; alignment.
“more righteous / justified” in this verse is titzdaqnah. “More righteous” and “hast justified” both draw on צדק (ṣ-d-q), the root of being right or aligned. Your sisters’ standing is comparative: your actions make them appear aligned beside you, while you are left bearing your shame.
ALSO GROWS
tsedeq: Rightness, justice, alignment.
צֶדֶק
This noun from the same root names the quality the comparison measures: who stands as right beside whom.
tsedaqah: Justice or right conduct.
צְדָקָה
The related word ties alignment to conduct; in this verse, the comparison follows from what has been done, not from a label.
שְׂאִי
se’i
GROWS FROM
נשא
n-ś-ʾ
To lift, carry, or take up.
The command to bear your shame appears twice, making shame a load that stays with the one addressed. The root can describe carrying a burden or being raised up, but here its repeated force is downward: the shame must be carried.
ALSO GROWS
massa: A burden or load.
מַשָּׂא
This noun from נשא makes the image concrete: what is borne is a weight.
nasi: A leader or prince, associated with one raised up.
נָשִׂיא
The root can point toward being lifted into prominence as well as carrying; here, the repeated command turns the focus to carrying shame.
THE PATTERN
Judgment used against another returns as a measure that exposes the judge.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.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.I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.THE THREAD
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.The Hebrew תִּצְדַּק (titzdaq, “be found right”) in Psalm 51:4 shares the צדק (ṣ-d-q, “rightness, alignment”) root with Ezekiel’s “righteous” and “justified.” Psalm places that alignment under judgment; Ezekiel shows the same root turning into a comparison that exposes the judge.
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