Ezekiel 23:30-40

30 'These things will be done to you because you have 1played the harlot with the nations, because * you have defiled yourself with their idols.
31 'You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give 2her cup into your hand.'
32 "Thus says the Lord GOD, 'You will 3drink your sister's cup, Which is deep and wide. You will be 4laughed at and held in derision; It contains much.
33 'You will be filled with 5drunkenness and sorrow, The cup of horror and desolation, The cup of your sister Samaria.
34 'You will 6drink it and drain it. Then you will gnaw its fragments And tear your breasts; for I have spoken,' declares the Lord GOD.
35 "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have 7forgotten Me and 8cast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.' "
36 Moreover, the LORD said to me, "Son of man, will you 9judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then 10declare to them their abominations
37 "For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, 11whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food.
38 "Again, they have done this to Me: they have 12defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have 13profaned My sabbaths
39 "For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My 14sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.
40 "Furthermore, they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came -for whom you bathed, 15painted your eyes and 16decorated yourselves with ornaments;

Ezekiel 23:30-40 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 23

In this chapter the idolatries of Israel and Judah are represented under the metaphor of two harlots, and their lewdness. These harlots are described by their descent; by the place and time in which they committed their whoredoms; by their names, and which are explained, Eze 23:1-4, the idolatries of Israel, or the ten tribes, under the name of Aholah, which they committed with the Assyrians, and which they continued from the Egyptians, of whom they had learned them, are exposed, Eze 23:5-8, and their punishment for them is declared, Eze 23:9,10 then the idolatries of Judah, or the two tribes, under the name of Aholibah, are represented as greater than those of the ten tribes, Eze 23:11, which they committed with the Assyrians, Eze 23:12, with the Chaldeans and Babylonians, Eze 23:13-18 in imitation of the Egyptians, reviving former idolatries learnt of them, Eze 23:19-21, wherefore they are threatened, that the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and Assyrians, should come against them, and spoil them, and carry them captive, Eze 23:22-35, and the prophet is bid to declare the abominable sin of them both, Eze 23:36-44, and to signify that they should be judged after the manner of adulteresses, should be stoned, and dispatched with swords, their sons and their daughters, and their houses burnt with fire; by which means their adulteries or idolatries should be made to cease, Eze 23:45-49.

as the Targum; another prophecy, one upon the same subject, as in Eze 16:1,

\\saying\\; as follows:

28967-950611-1613-Eze23.2

Cross References 16

  • 1. Ezekiel 6:9
  • 2. 2 Kings 21:13; Jeremiah 7:14, 15; Ezekiel 23:33
  • 3. Psalms 60:3; Isaiah 51:17; Jeremiah 25:15
  • 4. Ezekiel 5:14, 15; Ezekiel 16:57; Ezekiel 22:4, 5
  • 5. Jer 25:15, 16, 27; Habakkuk 2:16
  • 6. Psalms 75:8; Isaiah 51:17
  • 7. Isaiah 17:10; Jeremiah 3:21; Ezekiel 22:12; Hosea 8:14; Hosea 13:6
  • 8. 1 Kings 14:9; Jeremiah 2:27; Jeremiah 32:33
  • 9. Jeremiah 1:10; Ezekiel 20:4; Ezekiel 22:2
  • 10. Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 16:2; Micah 3:8
  • 11. Ezekiel 16:20; Ezekiel 20:26
  • 12. 2 Kings 21:4, 7; Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 7:20
  • 13. Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:13, 24
  • 14. Jeremiah 7:9-11
  • 15. 2 Kings 9:30; Jeremiah 4:30
  • 16. Isaiah 3:18-23; Ezekiel 16:13-16

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or "It will be for jesting and deriding because of its great size"
  • [b]. I.e. idols
  • [c]. Or "you" (women)
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