Ezekiel 16:46

46 and thy greater sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that dwell at thy left side; but thy sister less than thou, that dwelleth at thy right side, is Sodom, and her daughters. (and thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that live at thy left side, or to the north; and thy younger sister, that liveth at thy right side, or to the south, is Sodom, and her daughters.)

Ezekiel 16:46 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:46

And thine elder sister [is] Samaria
The metropolis of the ten tribes; "sister" to the Jews, because of the same descent, having one and the same father; the "elder" or "greater" F24, because more in number and power; the kingdom of Israel consisted of ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah but of two; and the ten tribes also were the first in the apostasy from the true worship of God: she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand;
as Samaria the sister was the metropolis of the ten tribes, her daughters are the other cities and towns belonging thereunto; and so the Targum renders it, she and her villages; these were situated to the north of the land of Israel, as Judah was to the south, which with the Jews were left and right; as a man standing with his face to the east has the north on his left and the south on his right side: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, [is] Sodom and
her daughters;
where Lot the kinsman of Abraham lived, and from whom sprung the Ammonites and Moabites. Sodom was a lesser kingdom than that of Judah, and which lay to the south; that is, to the right of it; even that and the other cities, which perished with it, called her daughters, as Admah, Zeboim


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hlwdgh) "major", V. L. Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Ezekiel 16:46 In-Context

44 Lo! each man that saith a proverb commonly, shall take it in thee, and shall say, As the mother, so and the daughter of her. (Lo! each person who commonly saith a proverb, shall take it against thee, and shall say, As the mother, and so her daughter.)
45 Thou art the daughter of thy mother, that casted away her husband and her sons; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, that casted away their husbands and their sons. Thy mother is (an) Hittite, and thy father is (an) Amorite;
46 and thy greater sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that dwell at thy left side; but thy sister less than thou, that dwelleth at thy right side, is Sodom, and her daughters. (and thy elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters, that live at thy left side, or to the north; and thy younger sister, that liveth at thy right side, or to the south, is Sodom, and her daughters.)
47 But thou wentest not in the ways of them, neither thou didest after the great trespasses of them; hast thou done almost a little less curseder deeds than they, in all thy ways? (But wentest thou not in their ways, and didest thou not after their great trespasses? hast thou done any less cursed deeds than they, in all thy ways?)
48 (Yea, as) I live, saith the Lord God, for Sodom, thy sister, did not, she and her daughters (neither she nor her daughters), as thou didest, and thy daughters.
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.