Ezekiel 16:30

30 How inconsistent is thy heart, said the Lord GOD, having done all these things, the work of a powerful harlot:

Ezekiel 16:30 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:30

How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God
Through sin; and being destitute of the grace of God, and so unable to resist any temptation, or oppose any corruption or lust, but carried away with everyone that offers; indulging every lust, and yet not satisfied; weak as water, unstable, fickle, and inconstant, seeking after new gods, and new kinds of worship. The Targum is,

``how strong is the wickedness of thy heart!''
the stronger the wickedness of the heart, the weaker, the heart is: seeing thou doest all these [things];
all the idolatries before mentioned; which was an argument not of her strength, but weakness, and yet of boldness, impudence, and resolution, to have her will: the work of an imperious whorish woman;
a whore, as she is impudent, is imperious, is one that rules and governs. The Targum is, who rules over herself; does what she pleases, will have her will and way, and cannot bear any contradiction; and who rules over others, such as are her gallants, obliging them to do as she commands. Jarchi's note is,
``over whom her imagination (or corruption) rules.''

Ezekiel 16:30 In-Context

28 Thou hast played the whore also with the sons of Assyria because thou wast insatiable; thou hast played the harlot with them and yet could not be satisfied.
29 Thou hast likewise multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan and of the Chaldeans, and yet thou wast not satisfied with this.
30 How inconsistent is thy heart, said the Lord GOD, having done all these things, the work of a powerful harlot:
31 building thine altars at the head of every way and making thine altars in every street! And thou hast not been as a harlot in that thou scornest hire,
32 but as a wife that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband!
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010