Ezekiel 23:34-44

34 You will drink and drain it dry, and with its broken pieces tear your breast. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken."
35 Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: "Because you forgot me and turned your back on me, you will suffer for your lust and your prostitution."
36 The Lord said to me, "Mortal man, are you ready to judge Oholah and Oholibah? Accuse them of the disgusting things they have done
37 They have committed adultery and murder - adultery with idols and murder of the children they bore me. They sacrificed my children to their idols.
38 And that is not all they did. They profaned my Temple and broke the Sabbath, which I had established
39 The very day that they killed my children as sacrifices to idols, they came to my Temple and profaned it!
40 "Again and again they sent messengers to invite men to come from a great distance, and the men came. The two sisters would bathe and put on eye shadow and jewelry.
41 They would sit on a beautiful couch, and in front of them they would have a table covered with good things, including the incense and the olive oil that I had given them.
42 The sound of a carefree crowd could be heard, a group of men brought in from the desert. They put bracelets on the women's arms and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 And I said to myself that they were using as a prostitute a woman worn out by adultery.
44 They went back to these prostitutes again and again. They went back to Oholah and Oholibah, those immoral women.

Ezekiel 23:34-44 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

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. [Verses 42-43 in Hebrew are unclear.]
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.