Ezekiel 23:8-21

8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
9 “Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.
10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.
11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.
12 She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.
13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.
14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans[a] portrayed in red,
15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.[b]
16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.
18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her naked body, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.
19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.
20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.[c]

Ezekiel 23:8-21 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 24

  • 1. Exodus 32:4
  • 2. S Ezekiel 16:15
  • 3. S 2 Kings 18:11
  • 4. S Jeremiah 4:30
  • 5. Hosea 11:5
  • 6. Hosea 2:10
  • 7. Ezekiel 16:41
  • 8. Jeremiah 42:10
  • 9. Ezekiel 16:36
  • 10. S Jeremiah 3:7
  • 11. Jeremiah 3:8-11; S Ezekiel 16:51
  • 12. 2 Kings 16:7-15; S 2 Chronicles 28:16; S Ezekiel 16:15,28
  • 13. S 2 Kings 17:19; Hosea 12:2
  • 14. S Ezekiel 8:10
  • 15. Jeremiah 22:14; Nahum 2:3
  • 16. S Isaiah 5:27
  • 17. S Isaiah 57:9
  • 18. S Ezekiel 6:9
  • 19. Jeremiah 40:9
  • 20. S Ezekiel 16:29
  • 21. S Isaiah 57:8
  • 22. Psalms 78:59; Psalms 106:40; Jeremiah 6:8
  • 23. Jeremiah 12:8; Amos 5:21
  • 24. S Ezekiel 16:26

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or "Babylonians"
  • [b]. Or "Babylonia" ; also in verse 16
  • [c]. Syriac (see also verse 3); Hebrew "caressed because of your young breasts"
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