Ezekiel 23:34-44

34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck it out, and thou shalt break the shards thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts. For I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.

35 "Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD: Because thou hast forgotten Me and cast Me behind thy back, therefore bear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms."

36 The LORD said moreover unto me: "Son of man, wilt thou judge Oholah and Oholibah? Yea, declare unto them their abominations

37 that they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery and have also caused their sons, whom they bore unto Me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.

38 Moreover this they have done unto Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have profaned My Sabbaths

39 For when they had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day into My sanctuary to profane it; and lo, thus have they done in the midst of Mine house.

40 And furthermore, ye have sent for men to come from far, unto whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came, for whom thou didst wash thyself, painted thy eyes, and decked thyself with ornaments,

41 and sattest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set Mine incense and Mine oil.

42 And a voice of a multitude being at ease was with her; and with the men of the common sort were brought Sabeans from the wilderness, who put bracelets upon their hands and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

43 "Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries: `Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?'

44 Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot; so went they in unto Oholah and unto Oholibah, the lewd women.

Ezekiel 23:34-44 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:

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