What is the meaning of Ezekiel 16:21?

You slaughtered My children

• The Lord calls the victims “My children,” underscoring that every life is His creation (Psalm 24:1).

• Israel’s sin is not abstract; it is the literal murder of their own sons and daughters (Psalm 106:37–38).

• By wording it this way, God highlights both parental betrayal and covenant treachery (Deuteronomy 14:1–2).

• The phrase exposes the lie that these children belonged to the parents to dispose of at will; they were God’s heritage (Psalm 127:3).

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And delivered them up

• “Delivered” shows premeditation—parents handed over their children, similar to Ahaz who “made his son pass through the fire” (2 Kings 16:3).

• The action is willful, not coerced; it pictures a transaction in which children become an “offering” (Jeremiah 19:5).

• This handing over breaks both the sixth commandment (Exodus 20:13) and the parental duty to teach children God’s ways (Deuteronomy 6:6–7).

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Through the fire

• The phrase recalls the detestable rites at the Valley of Ben-Hinnom, later called Gehenna (2 Chronicles 28:3; Jeremiah 7:31).

• Leviticus 18:21 had explicitly forbidden causing offspring “to pass through the fire to Molech,” so the sin is flagrant rebellion, not ignorance.

• Fire here symbolizes total destruction—nothing is left to reclaim—mirroring the spiritual devastation idolatry brings (Deuteronomy 12:31).

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To idols

• The horror is compounded because the children are offered to powerless, false gods (Isaiah 44:9, 19–20).

• Behind these idols lurk demonic powers (1 Corinthians 10:20), making the sacrifice both physical murder and spiritual adultery (Ezekiel 23:37).

• God contrasts Himself—the living, covenant-keeping Lord—with these lifeless statues that demand death but give no life (Psalm 115:4–8).

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summary

Ezekiel 16:21 is God’s blunt indictment of Judah for the literal sacrifice of their own children in fiery rites to false gods. By calling the victims “My children,” the Lord stresses His ownership of every life and the depth of the betrayal. The verse exposes deliberate, covenant-breaking violence, vividly portraying how idolatry twists parental love into murder. It stands as a sobering reminder that turning from the living God to any rival, ancient or modern, always devalues life and ends in destruction.