Ezekiel 16:50 Meaning and Explanation
“And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.”
King James Version (KJV)
Read this verse in context with translation switching:
Read Full Chapter →Sodom is often remembered through a single word, while Ezekiel gives a fuller account of the city's iniquity. Verse 50 gathers the climax: pride grew into abomination before God, and God removed them. Its plain severity calls us to take both social neglect and arrogant rebellion seriously.
Ezekiel 16:50 identifies Sodom's pride, abomination before God, and resulting removal. The verse continues a moral portrait that includes abundance without care for the poor and needy.
The Context of Ezekiel 16:50
Jerusalem is being compared with her sisters, Samaria and Sodom. The Lord says Sodom had not done as Jerusalem had done. Verse 49 has already named Sodom's pride, fulness of bread, abundance of idleness, and failure to strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Verse 50 completes that description with haughtiness and abomination before God, then states that the Lord took them away as he saw good. The next verses return to Jerusalem: Samaria had not committed half her sins, and Jerusalem's multiplied abominations made her sisters seem more righteous by comparison. The chapter later promises restoration under God's remembered covenant.
What Does Ezekiel 16:50 Mean?
The sequence of words matters. "They were haughty" describes a lifted-up posture toward God and others. Verse 49 has shown how plenty and leisure existed alongside neglect of the poor and needy. Ezekiel then says they "committed abomination before me." The phrase places their conduct before the searching presence of God, whose judgment is neither uninformed nor arbitrary. The chapter does not define the specific abomination in this verse, so careful readers should not supply details beyond what Ezekiel states. The conclusion, "therefore I took them away as I saw good," attributes Sodom's removal to God's judgment. The Lord sees the whole matter truly and acts as righteous judge.
This verse clarifies the purpose of Ezekiel's reference to Sodom. The prophet is not giving a detached history lesson. He is exposing Jerusalem's pride by showing that she has surpassed a city already known as an object of judgment. Sodom's sins included an inward disposition, a social failure, and an abomination before God. Pride had practical consequences: those with bread and abundance did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. Biblical judgment is therefore concerned with the whole shape of a people's life. A community's wealth and ease become occasions for mercy, stewardship, and hospitality. When haughtiness governs them, abundance becomes evidence in an indictment rather than a blessing received with thanksgiving.
Jude 7 recalls Sodom as an example of divine judgment, while Ezekiel 16 preserves a needed breadth in our reading of the city. Both witnesses uphold God's holiness. Ezekiel also calls attention to pride and abandoned responsibility toward the poor. The connection helps us avoid selective moral concern. God sees secret desires, public practices, treatment of neighbors, and the use of material abundance. The promise at the end of Ezekiel 16 is equally important for hearing this judgment. God later speaks of bringing captivity again and establishing covenant. His righteous removal of Sodom does not license human cruelty or contempt; it calls Jerusalem to bear shame truthfully before the God whose mercy remains active.
Bible Verses Related to Ezekiel 16:50
“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.”
- Ezekiel 16:49
“Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven;”
- Genesis 19:24
“Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
- Jude 1:7
“Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.”
- Isaiah 1:17
Where Ezekiel 16:50 Echoes in Scripture
Jude 7 echoes Ezekiel's portrayal of Sodom as an example under divine judgment. Ezekiel contributes specific features that sharpen the picture: haughtiness, failure toward the poor and needy, and abomination before God. Together these passages call for reverence before God's holy judgment and sober attention to the forms sin takes in communal life.
How to Apply Ezekiel 16:50 Today
Where we have bread, time, security, or influence, this verse invites a generous and lowly use of them. Care for poor and needy people can take concrete forms: sharing food, supporting trustworthy relief, noticing isolated neighbors, and resisting habits that make others invisible. Haughtiness also deserves quiet examination. It can appear in contempt, self-sufficiency, or refusal to receive correction. We can ask God for a heart that receives abundance as a trust and seeks the good of those whose hands need strengthening.
Reflection & Prayer
How might comfort be training our hearts toward generosity, humility, and attention to those in need? Pray: "Lord, free us from haughtiness. Give us grateful hearts in abundance, open eyes toward the poor and needy, and reverence for your holy judgment. Teach us to use what we have in ways that strengthen others."