Yechezkel 22:9

9 In thee are anashim that slander to cause shefach dahm; and in thee are they who eat upon the harim; in the midst of thee they commit zimmah (lewdness).

Yechezkel 22:9 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 22:9

In thee are men that carry tales to shed blood
Innocent blood, as the Targum; such who go from house to house, as pedlars do, with their wares or spices, as the word F1 signifies; hence the Syriac version renders it "merchants"; and carry tales and lies of innocent persons, and stir up others against them to wrath and revenge, and shed their blood; or that go to the courts of judicature, and there accuse innocent persons, and bear false witness against them, to the taking away of their lives. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it "thieves": who commonly are murderers: and in thee they eat upon the mountains; that is, there were such in Jerusalem who used to go to the mountains where idols were worshipped, and eat the things that were sacrificed to them; or partook of the feast made to the honour of them. So the Targum,

``in thee they served idols on the mountains:''
in the midst of thee they commit lewdness;
a general word for all manner of uncleanness, as adultery, fornication, incest of which some particulars follow.
FOOTNOTES:

F1 (lykr yvna) "homines mercaturae, [vel] aromatis"; so Ben Melech observes.

Yechezkel 22:9 In-Context

7 In thee have they treated with contempt av and em in the midst of thee; they have dealt by oshek (oppression) with the ger (alien, proselyte); in thee have they mistreated the yatom and the almanah.
8 Thou hast despised Mine kadoshim, and hast profaned My Shabbatot.
9 In thee are anashim that slander to cause shefach dahm; and in thee are they who eat upon the harim; in the midst of thee they commit zimmah (lewdness).
10 In thee have they uncovered the ervat av (nakedness of their father, i.e., had incest with mother or stepmother), in thee have they raped her that had the teme’at haniddah (the uncleanness of the menstruation period).
11 And ish hath committed to’evah with his neighbor’s isha; and another hath lewdly made tameh his kallah (daughter-in-law); and another in thee hath raped his achot, his bat aviv.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.