Misinterpretations often take the verse literally as a historical genealogy denying Israel's Abrahamic heritage or claiming Jews descend from Canaanites to fuel antisemitism, ignoring its metaphorical symbolism in a larger oracle of judgment; others spiritualize it excessively without context, missing God's point of gracious election despite unworthy origins, or apply it individualistically to personal sins without recognizing the national indictment of Jerusalem's idolatry.
Ezekiel 16:3
King James Version (1769)
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.
In this prophetic allegory, God addresses Jerusalem as an unfaithful wife, reminding her that her origins were not noble but rooted in the pagan Canaanite lands with an Amorite father and Hittite mother, emphasizing His sovereign grace in choosing, rescuing, and elevating her from such lowly, idolatrous beginnings into a covenant relationship, which forms the foundation for condemning her later spiritual harlotry and ingratitude.