Ezekiel 16:46

46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, 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

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Ezekiel 16:46 In-Context

44 "Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: 'Like mother, like daughter!'

45 You are your mother's daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.

47 You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.

48 As I live," says the Lord God, "neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.