Ezekiel 23:3-21

3 and they played the harlot in Egypt. They 1played the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.
4 "Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah
5 "Oholah played the harlot while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the 2Assyrians, her neighbors,
6 who were clothed in purple, 3governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7 "She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she 4defiled herself.
8 "She did not forsake her harlotries 5from the time in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
9 "Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her 6lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted.
10 "They 7uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they slew her with the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.
11 "Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was 8more corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister.
12 "She lusted after the 9Assyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
13 "I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took the same way.
14 "So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men 10portrayed on the wall, images of the 11Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion
15 girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians * in Chaldea, the land of their birth.
16 "When she saw * them she 12lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 "The 13Babylonians * came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.
18 "She 14uncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then I became 15disgusted with her, as I had become disgusted with her 16sister.
19 "Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt
20 "She 17lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 "Thus you longed for the 18lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth

Ezekiel 23:3-21 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 18

  • 1. Leviticus 17:7; Jeremiah 3:9
  • 2. 2 Kings 15:19; 2 Kings 16:7; 2 Kings 17:3; Ezekiel 16:28; Hosea 5:13; Hosea 8:9, 10
  • 3. Ezekiel 23:12, 13
  • 4. Ezekiel 20:7; Ezekiel 22:3, 4; Hosea 5:3; Hosea 6:10
  • 5. Exodus 32:4; 1 Kings 12:28; 2 Kings 10:29; 2 Kings 17:16; Ezekiel 23:3, 19
  • 6. Ezekiel 16:37; Ezekiel 23:22
  • 7. Ezekiel 16:37, 41
  • 8. Jeremiah 3:8-11; Ezekiel 16:51
  • 9. 2 Kings 16:7
  • 10. Ezekiel 8:10
  • 11. Ezekiel 16:29
  • 12. Ezekiel 23:20; Matthew 5:28
  • 13. 2 Kings 24:17
  • 14. Jeremiah 8:12; Ezekiel 21:24; Ezekiel 23:10
  • 15. Psalms 78:59; Psalms 106:40; Jeremiah 12:8
  • 16. Ezekiel 23:9; Amos 5:21
  • 17. Ezekiel 16:26; Ezekiel 17:15
  • 18. Jeremiah 3:9; Ezekiel 23:3

Footnotes 16

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