What is the meaning of Ezekiel 16:43?

Because you did not remember the days of your youth

Israel once depended entirely on God’s mercy, pictured earlier in the chapter as an abandoned infant rescued and cherished (Ezekiel 16:4-14).

• Forgetting that first love meant neglecting covenant gratitude (Deuteronomy 32:18; Jeremiah 2:2-3).

• The Lord sees forgetfulness of His past grace as the seedbed of later rebellion (Revelation 2:4-5).

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but enraged Me with all these things

“All these things” points back to the list of spiritual adulteries in verses 15-34—idols, foreign alliances, even child sacrifice.

• Idolatry insults the exclusive covenant relationship (Exodus 34:14; Jeremiah 3:6-9).

• Repeated provocation “enrages” the Lord, as in Psalm 78:40-41 where Israel’s sins grieved Him again and again.

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I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD

Divine justice makes sin its own downfall.

• The exile to Babylon fulfils this promise (2 Kings 24:20; Ezekiel 23:22-27).

• Scripture’s consistent principle: “whatever a man sows, he will reap” (Galatians 6:7; Obadiah 15; Proverbs 1:31).

• God’s verdict is personal and certain—He Himself will see it done.

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Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?

The Lord presses the charge: their latest outrage crowns an already staggering record.

• “Lewdness” evokes shameless, open immorality (2 Chronicles 36:14-16).

• Stacking sin upon sin hardens hearts and accelerates judgment (Romans 2:5; Hebrews 3:12-13).

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summary

Ezekiel 16:43 is God’s solemn reckoning with a people who forgot His early kindness, piled up idolatrous provocations, and must now face the consequences they themselves have earned. The verse underscores three truths: remembering God’s past grace guards loyalty, persistent sin provokes divine wrath, and God’s justice inevitably causes sin to rebound on the sinner. Even so, later in the chapter (16:60-63) the Lord promises eventual restoration, showing that His faithful covenant love outlasts human faithlessness.