Ezekiel 23:11-21

11 "Her sister Oholibah saw all this, but she became even worse than her sister in lust and whoring, if you can believe it.
12 She also went crazy with lust for Assyrians: ambassadors and governors, military men smartly dressed and mounted on fine horses - the Assyrian elite.
13 And I saw that she also had become incredibly filthy. Both women followed the same path.
14 But Oholibah surpassed her sister. When she saw figures of Babylonians carved in relief on the walls and painted red
15 fancy belts around their waists, elaborate turbans on their heads, all of them looking important - famous Babylonians! -
16 she went wild with lust and sent invitations to them in Babylon.
17 The Babylonians came on the run, fornicated with her, made her dirty inside and out. When they had thoroughly debased her, she lost interest in them.
18 Then she went public with her fornication. She exhibited her sex to the world.
19 But that didn't slow her down. She went at her whoring harder than ever. She remembered when she was young, just starting out as a whore in Egypt
20 That whetted her appetite for more virile, vulgar, and violent lovers - stallions obsessive in their lust.
21 She longed for the sexual prowess of her youth back in Egypt, where her firm young breasts were caressed and fondled

Ezekiel 23:11-21 Meaning and Commentary

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:

28967-950611-1613-Eze23.2

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.