Ezekiel 23:37

37 They have committed both adultery and murder—adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning as sacrifices the children they bore to me.

Ezekiel 23:37 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:37

That they have committed adultery
Either literally, adultery with their neighbours' wives, which was a prevailing sin with this people; or figuratively, spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry: and blood is in their hands;
the Targum is,

``they have shed the blood of innocents with their hands;''
the blood of prophets and righteous men, sent unto them; and the blood of their infants in sacrificing to idols, as after mentioned: and with their idols have they committed adultery;
by worshipping them, which is spiritual adultery; and this being so explicitly mentioned, it seems to be distinguished from corporeal adultery in the first clause, which may be only there designed; and so Kimchi thinks: and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for
them through the fire, to devour them;
their children, who were the Lord's by national adoption, and who ought to have been trained up in the worship and service of God, were, in a most barbarous and unnatural manner, caused to pass through the fire, for or to the idols Molech and Baal; and that not merely by way of lustration and dedication, which was sometimes done by passing between two fires, but so as to be devoured and destroyed by the fire.

Ezekiel 23:37 In-Context

35 “And because you have forgotten me and turned your back on me, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: You must bear the consequences of all your lewdness and prostitution.”
36 The LORD said to me, “Son of man, you must accuse Oholah and Oholibah of all their detestable sins.
37 They have committed both adultery and murder—adultery by worshiping idols and murder by burning as sacrifices the children they bore to me.
38 Furthermore, they have defiled my Temple and violated my Sabbath day!
39 On the very day that they sacrificed their children to their idols, they boldly came into my Temple to worship! They came in and defiled my house.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.