Ezekiel 23:37-47

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, 1whom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to them as food.
38 "Again, they have done this to Me: they have 2defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have 3profaned My sabbaths
39 "For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My 4sanctuary 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, 5painted your eyes and 6decorated yourselves with ornaments;
41 and you sat on a splendid 7couch with a 8table arranged before it on which you had set My 9incense and My 10oil.
42 "The sound of a 11carefree multitude was with her; and 12drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the common * sort *. And they put 13bracelets on the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 "Then I said concerning her who was 14worn out by adulteries, 'Will they now commit adultery with her when she is thus?'
44 "But they went in to her as they would go in to a harlot. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.
45 "But they, righteous men, will 15judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 "For thus says the Lord GOD, 'Bring up a company against them and give them over to 16terror and plunder.
47 'The company will 17stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will slay their sons and their daughters and 18burn their houses with fire.

Ezekiel 23:37-47 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 18

  • 1. Ezekiel 16:20; Ezekiel 20:26
  • 2. 2 Kings 21:4, 7; Ezekiel 5:11; Ezekiel 7:20
  • 3. Jeremiah 17:27; Ezekiel 20:13, 24
  • 4. Jeremiah 7:9-11
  • 5. 2 Kings 9:30; Jeremiah 4:30
  • 6. Isaiah 3:18-23; Ezekiel 16:13-16
  • 7. Esther 1:6; Isaiah 57:7; Amos 6:4
  • 8. Isaiah 65:11; Ezekiel 44:16
  • 9. Jeremiah 44:17; Hosea 2:8
  • 10. Jeremiah 44:17; Hosea 2:8
  • 11. Ezekiel 16:49; Amos 6:3-6
  • 12. Jeremiah 51:7
  • 13. Genesis 24:30; Ezekiel 16:11, 12
  • 14. Ezekiel 23:3
  • 15. Ezekiel 16:38
  • 16. Jeremiah 15:4; Jeremiah 24:9; Jeremiah 29:18
  • 17. Leviticus 20:10; Ezekiel 16:40
  • 18. Jeremiah 39:8

Footnotes 7

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