Ezekiel 16:5

Mercy and compassion Loneliness

³ and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

⁴ On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.

No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.

⁶ Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’

⁷ I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.
KJV: None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
WEB: No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.
ASV: No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, for that thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou wast born.
DARBY: No eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, from abhorrence of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
BLB: No eye showed pity to you, to do for you one of these [things] to have compassion on you, and you were thrown out into the face of the field in the loathing of your soul on the day you were born.

ÅB: Intet øye ynkedes over deg, så de gjorde noe slikt med deg og forbarmet seg over deg; men du ble kastet ut på marken den dag du ble født, fordi de ikke ønsket at du skulle leve.
OTB: Ingen så på deg med medlidenhet eller hadde medfølelse for å gjøre noen av disse tingene for deg. Snarere ble du kastet ut på den åpne marken, for du ble foraktet den dagen du ble født.
B1930: Intet øie ynkedes over dig, så de gjorde noget sådant med dig og forbarmet sig over dig; men du blev kastet ut på marken den dag du blev født, fordi de ikke ønsket at du skulde leve.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
Read in context
Numbers 19:16
Anyone in the open field who touches someone who has been killed by the sword or has died of natural causes, or anyone who touches a human bone or a grave, will be unclean for seven days.
Read in context
Exodus 1:22
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people: “Every son born to the Hebrews you must throw into the Nile, but every daughter you may allow to live.”
Read in context
Lamentations 4:3
Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
Read in context
Genesis 21:10
and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”
Read in context
Isaiah 49:15
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!
Read in context
Lamentations 2:19
Arise, cry out in the night from the first watch of the night. Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord. Lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your children who are fainting from hunger on the corner of every street.
Read in context
Jeremiah 22:19
He will be buried like a donkey, dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
Read in context