Ezekiel 23:2-12

2 Thou, son of man, two women were the daughters of one mother,

3 and did fornication in Egypt; in their young waxing age they did fornication; there the breasts of them were made low, and the teats of the time of marriage of them were broken.

4 Forsooth the names of them be, Oholah, the more sister, and Oholibah, the less sister of her. And I had them, and they childed sons and daughters; certainly the names of them be Samaria Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah. (And their names be, Oholah, the elder sister, and Oholibah, her younger sister. And I had them, and they gave birth to sons and daughters; yea, their names be Samaria Oholah, and Jerusalem Oholibah.

5 Therefore Oholah did fornication on me, and was wild on her lovers, on Assyrians nighing, (And then Oholah did fornication against me, and was mad for her lovers, yea, for the Assyrians, who were nearby,)

6 (who were) clothed with jacinth, princes, and magistrates, young men of covetousness, all knights (all of them horsemen), (yea,) riders of horses.

7 And she gave her fornications on them, on all the chosen sons of Assyrians; and in all on which she was wild, she was defouled in the uncleanness of them. (And she did her fornications with them, with all the chosen sons of the Assyrians; and with all whom she was mad for, she was defiled in their uncleanness.)

8 Furthermore and she left not her fornications, which she had in Egypt (And furthermore, she left not her fornications, which she had learned in Egypt); for why and they slept with her in the youth of her, and they brake the teats of the time of marriage of her, and they shed out their fornication [up]on her.

9 Therefore I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of Assur, on whose lechery she was wild. (And so I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the sons of the Assyrians, whose lechery she was mad for.)

10 They discovered the shame of her; they took away the sons and the daughters of her, and killed her with sword; and the women were made (in)famous, that is, made a scandal, and they did dooms in her. (They uncovered her shame, or her nakedness; they took away her sons and her daughters, and killed her with the sword; and she was made infamous, that is, was made a scandal, among women, and they brought in judgements against her.)

11 And when her sister Oholibah had seen this, she was wild in lechery more than that sister, and gave unshamefastly her fornication, on the fornication of her sister, (And when her sister Oholibah had seen this, she was mad with lechery more than her elder sister was, and unshamefastly, or unabashedly, she did her fornication, more than her sister's fornication,)

12 to the sons of Assyrians, to dukes and magistrates coming to her, that were clothed with diverse cloth(ing), to knights that were borne on horses, and to young men with noble shape, to all men. (with the sons of the Assyrians, with princes, or leaders, and magistrates coming to her, who were clothed with diverse clothing, with horsemen who were carried by horses, and with young men of noble form, yea, with all their men.)

Ezekiel 23:2-12 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:

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