The Evangelical Universalist Forum

english grammar ezekiel 16:4

As to thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, Thou – thy navel hath not been cut, And in water thou wast not washed for ease, And thou hast not been salted at all, And thou hast not been swaddled at all.

is it the same time for “navel has not been cut” and “was not washed” “has not been salted” “has not been swaddled”
what does hebrew language say ?
thank you

I’m not sure what you’re asking. Three of my super-literal Hebrew text resources render those verbs past tense, if that is what you are asking. (God is poetically describing the history of Israel from her miserable beginnings, now past; to the days of her young bridehood, now past; to the days of her prideful adulteries, which started in the past but are currently continuing.)

However, the Concordant Literal version renders them present tense. So for example:

…in•day-of to-be-born-of you not he-is-cut navel(cord)-of-you…

…and so forth throughout the passage. “You are not washed for anointing” “You are not rubbed with salt” “You are not swaddled” You are being flung to surfaces of the field in loathing of your soul."

However, the context indicates that the present tense is being used to call attention to the past in remembrance as a narrative visionary “you are there” effect, so that the reader or hearer will experience the history of Israel firsthand: because the story continues in the same present tense through Israel’s salvation and choosing by God; God’s institution of marriage covenant with Israel; Israel’s pride and adulterous betrayal.

So past time is the correct translation as to contextual meaning, although stylistically the grammar may be present time.

Not sure if that was helpful… :question:

thank you for your help,
i wondered if the washing was at a different tense than the cut of navel and salt and swaddle

in the young’s literal it is HAVE BEEN+ VERB for cut,salt and swaddle and WAS VERB -ED for the washing of water, is it different tense ?
some translation translate RUB with salt, is it really RUB or just salted (not an idea of taking off dirty things) ?
thank you very much for your help
God bless you

No, the tenses are both present. Young isn’t wrong to translate past-tense in various ways, due to context, but the different past tenses are irrelevant.

“Rub” doesn’t seem to be literally in the verb {uemlch la} (and to be salted not), but culturally the translation makes sense. They wouldn’t just sprinkle a dash of salt on newborn baby. :slight_smile:

thank you

i wondered if salt goes away if we loose skin (we all loose skin everyday)
i don’t understand why it is not written RUB,it would be easier to understand
i have also a problem with “not salted AT ALL” it seems (i know that the exacct opposite can be true) that lot of salt is needed, maybe PERPETUAL salt
i recognize that the PERPETUAL idea seems stupid: verse 7 the BREADSTS (jerusalem has become an adult) so the need to be swaddle (it is written "not swaddle AT ALL " in verse 4 ) is not perpetual

People back then understood that you rubbed salt on a newborn baby to help clean him or her I guess. Translating it to include “rub” now would be helpful for the cultural context.

I doubt anything is intended other than to emphasize poetically that no one cared about Israel when she was born. Even YHWH doesn’t actually do anything in the poetic imagery other than see the poor baby thrown over the fence by the mother who didn’t want her and tell her to live.

It’s kind of odd that YHWH isn’t represented as taking Israel home and cleaning her up (cutting her umbilical cord, cleaning off the birthing blood, salting her down, etc.) and raising her as His daughter; but that would seem too much like incest I guess.

So instead, in the imagery, He tells the little baby to live, and then the next time He passes by, several years later, she’s a feral yet sexy teenage girl! :laughing: I guess that’s kind of romantic, in a way. No surprise she turns out to behave the way she does, though. (But then God wasn’t surprised Israel turned out the way she did.)