Charles Ellicott Commentary Ezekiel 16:8

"Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Jehovah, and thou becamest mine." — Ezekiel 16:8 (ASV)

Now when I passed by thee. —Here, as in Ezekiel 16:6, omit the when, and render, “and I passed by you.” Two separate visits are spoken of: the one in Israel’s infancy in Egypt, when God blessed and multiplied her (Ezekiel 16:6); the other when she had become a nation, and God entered into covenant with her in the Exodus and at Sinai. The verse describes this covenant in terms of the marriage relation, a figure very frequent in Scripture. On the phrase spread my skirt, compare Ruth 3:9, and on becamest mine, Ruth 4:10.