Ezekiel 16:30

30 How hot with fever [was] your heart!' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. '{When you did} all of these actions {of a headstrong female prostitute},

Ezekiel 16:30 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:30

How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God
Through sin; and being destitute of the grace of God, and so unable to resist any temptation, or oppose any corruption or lust, but carried away with everyone that offers; indulging every lust, and yet not satisfied; weak as water, unstable, fickle, and inconstant, seeking after new gods, and new kinds of worship. The Targum is,

``how strong is the wickedness of thy heart!''

the stronger the wickedness of the heart, the weaker, the heart is: seeing thou doest all these [things];
all the idolatries before mentioned; which was an argument not of her strength, but weakness, and yet of boldness, impudence, and resolution, to have her will: the work of an imperious whorish woman;
a whore, as she is impudent, is imperious, is one that rules and governs. The Targum is, who rules over herself; does what she pleases, will have her will and way, and cannot bear any contradiction; and who rules over others, such as are her gallants, obliging them to do as she commands. Jarchi's note is,

``over whom her imagination (or corruption) rules.''

Ezekiel 16:30 In-Context

28 And you prostituted with the {Assyrians} on account of {your insatiable lust}, and you prostituted [with] them, and still you were not satisfied.

29 And you increased your fornication to [the] land of traders, [to] Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

30 How hot with fever [was] your heart!' {declares} the Lord Yahweh. '{When you did} all of these actions {of a headstrong female prostitute},

31 {when you built} your mound at [the] head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet you were not like a prostitute, [as you were] scorning [your] harlot's wages.

32 O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers.

Footnotes

• [a] Literally "declaration of"
• [b] Literally "at/in you to do"
• [c] Literally "deeds of a woman prostituting domineering"