Ezekiel 16:4
Context16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water; 1 you were certainly not rubbed down with salt, nor wrapped with blankets. 2
Ezekiel 40:3
Context40:3 When he brought me there, I saw 3 a man whose appearance was like bronze, with a linen cord and a measuring stick in his hand. He was standing in the gateway.
1 tn Heb “in water you were not washed for cleansing” or “with water you were not washed smooth” (see D. I. Block, Ezekiel [NICOT], 1:473, n. 57, for a discussion of possible meanings of this hapax legomenon).
2 sn Arab midwives still cut the umbilical cords of infants and then proceed to apply salt and oil to their bodies.
3 tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a verb.