Ezekiel 23:37

37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they have committed adultery with their idols. They have even made the children they bore to Me pass through [the fire] as food for the idols.^[a]

Ezekiel 23:37 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:37

That they have committed adultery
Either literally, adultery with their neighbours' wives, which was a prevailing sin with this people; or figuratively, spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry: and blood is in their hands;
the Targum is,

``they have shed the blood of innocents with their hands;''

the blood of prophets and righteous men, sent unto them; and the blood of their infants in sacrificing to idols, as after mentioned: and with their idols have they committed adultery;
by worshipping them, which is spiritual adultery; and this being so explicitly mentioned, it seems to be distinguished from corporeal adultery in the first clause, which may be only there designed; and so Kimchi thinks: and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for
them through the fire, to devour them;
their children, who were the Lord's by national adoption, and who ought to have been trained up in the worship and service of God, were, in a most barbarous and unnatural manner, caused to pass through the fire, for or to the idols Molech and Baal; and that not merely by way of lustration and dedication, which was sometimes done by passing between two fires, but so as to be devoured and destroyed by the fire.

Ezekiel 23:37 In-Context

35 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says: "Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and promiscuity."

36 Then the Lord said to me: "Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare their abominations to them

37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; they have committed adultery with their idols. They have even made the children they bore to Me pass through [the fire] as food for the idols.

38 They also did this to Me: they defiled My sanctuary on that same day and profaned My Sabbaths

39 On the same day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, that is what they did inside My house.

Footnotes

• [a] Ezk 16:20-21; 20:26,31; 2 Kg 16:3