Ezekiel 23

1 The word of the Lord came to me:
2 Mortal, there were two women, the daughters of one mother;
3 they played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled.
4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem
5 Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriors
6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen.
7 She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted.
8 She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.
9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.
10 These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.
11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister.
12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men.
13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way.
14 But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion
15 with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea.
16 When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust.
18 When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister.
19 Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egyp
20 and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions.
21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts
22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:
23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors, all of them riding on horses.
24 They shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances.
25 I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire.
26 They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels.
27 So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more.
28 For thus says the Lord God: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust;
29 and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings
30 have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols.
31 You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.
32 Thus says the Lord God: You shall drink your sister's cup, deep and wide; you shall be scorned and derided, it holds so much.
33 You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. A cup of horror and desolation is the cup of your sister Samaria;
34 you shall drink it and drain it out, and gnaw its sherds, and tear out your breasts; for I have spoken, says the Lord God.
35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.
36 The Lord said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds
37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.
38 Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths
39 For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.
40 They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;
41 you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil.
42 The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the arms of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.
43 Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her.
44 For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women.
45 But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 For thus says the Lord God: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder.
47 The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses.
48 Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done.
49 They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord God.

Ezekiel 23 Commentary

Chapter 23

A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof.

- In this parable, Samaria and Israel bear the name Aholah, "her own tabernacle;" because the places of worship those kingdoms had, were of their own devising. Jerusalem and Judah bear the name of Aholibah, "my tabernacle is in her," because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen, to put his name there. The language and figures are according to those times. Will not such humbling representations of nature keep open perpetual repentance and sorrow in the soul, hiding pride from our eyes, and taking us from self-righteousness? Will it not also prompt the soul to look to God continually for grace, that by his Holy Spirit we may mortify the deeds of the body, and live in holy conversation and godliness?

Footnotes 7

  • [a]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
  • [b]. Meaning of Heb uncertain
  • [c]. Two Mss: MT [from Egypt]
  • [d]. Cn: Heb [for the sake of]
  • [e]. Compare verses 6 and 12: Heb [officers and called ones]
  • [f]. Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain
  • [g]. Heb [hands]

Chapter Summary

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:

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Ezekiel 23 Commentaries

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.