Ezekiel 16:30-50

30 “ ‘I am filled with fury against you,^[a] declares the Sovereign LORD, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!

31 When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.

32 “ ‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!

33 All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.

34 So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.

35 “ ‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!

36 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood,

37 therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked.

38 I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.

39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked.

40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.

41 They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.

42 Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.

43 “ ‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?

44 “ ‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”

45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.

47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.

48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

49 “ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.

50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

Ezekiel 16:30-50 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 16

In this chapter the Jewish nation is represented under the simile of a female infant, whose birth, breeding, marriage, grandeur, and conduct, are described, in order to show the wickedness and ingratitude of, his people; who, on account thereof, are threatened with judgments; though mercy is promised to a remnant that should repent. The prophet is directed to make known to Jerusalem her abominable sins, Eze 16:1,2; and, in order to this, is bid to take up the following parable of a female infant; whose descent, birth, and wretched condition, at the time of it, are pointed at, Eze 16:3-5; which are expressive of the low and forlorn estate of the Jews originally; and then follow the benefits and blessings of God bestowed upon them, both in their infant and adult state; the preserving them alive in Egypt, and their multiplication there; and afterwards the covenant made with them, when brought out from thence; and the Lord's espousal of them to himself, as his own people, having a strong affection for them, Eze 16:6-8; the large provision of good things he made for them, both in the wilderness, and especially in the land of Canaan; the riches he bestowed upon them, and the flourishing and prosperous kingdom he raised them to, which made them famous among all the nations round about them, Eze 16:9-14; and yet, after all this, such was the ingratitude of this people, as to commit spiritual whoredom, that is, idolatry, to a very great degree, Eze 16:15; which is aggravated by their converting and applying the good things which the Lord gave them to idolatrous uses, Eze 16:16-19; by sacrificing their sons and daughters to idols, which were the Lord's, Eze 16:20,21; by not calling to mind the former wretched estate out of which they were brought, Eze 16:22; by building high places in every street and way, and there committing idolatries, Eze 16:23-25; by the various nations, whose examples they followed, and with whom they joined, as the Egyptians, Assyrians, and Chaldeans, Eze 16:26-29; and by the great difference between them and all other harlots, whom they exceeded, Eze 16:30-34; wherefore, on account of all this, they are threatened to be dealt with as an adulterous woman; made a spectacle of; condemned to die, to be stripped, stoned, and burned, Eze 16:35-43; and, that the Lord might appear to be just in executing such judgments on them, they are declared to be as bad as the Hittites and Amorites their parents; and worse than their sisters Samaria and Sodom; and therefore could expect to fare no better than they; and should become proverb and a byword, and bear their sins, shame, and punishment, in the sight of their neighbours, and be despised by them, Eze 16:44-59; nevertheless, the covenant of grace made with his chosen people among them should stand firm; which being manifested to them, would be a means of bringing them to a sense of sin, shame for it, and an acknowledgment of the Lord's grace and goodness to them Eze 16:60-63.

Cross References

• 1. S Jeremiah 3:3
• 2. S ver 24
• 3. S Genesis 30:15
• 4. Isaiah 30:6; Isaiah 57:9
• 5. Hosea 8:9-10
• 6. S Jeremiah 19:5; Ezekiel 23:10
• 7. Hosea 2:3
• 8. S Isaiah 47:3; S Jeremiah 13:22; Ezekiel 23:22; Hosea 2:10; Hosea 8:10; Revelation 17:16
• 9. S Genesis 38:24; Ezekiel 23:45
• 10. S Leviticus 20:10; Psalms 79:3,5; Ezekiel 23:25; Zephaniah 1:17
• 11. S 2 Kings 18:11
• 12. Ezekiel 21:31; Ezekiel 23:26; Hosea 2:3
• 13. John 8:5,7
• 14. S Deuteronomy 13:16; S Jeremiah 19:13
• 15. Ezekiel 23:10
• 16. Ezekiel 22:15; Ezekiel 23:27,48
• 17. 2 Samuel 24:25; Isaiah 40:1-2; Isaiah 54:9; S Ezekiel 5:13; Ezekiel 39:29
• 18. S Exodus 15:24; Psalms 78:42
• 19. Ezekiel 22:31
• 20. ver 22; Ezekiel 11:21
• 21. S Psalms 49:4
• 22. S Ezekiel 14:5
• 23. Jeremiah 44:19
• 24. ver 3; Ezekiel 23:2
• 25. S Jeremiah 3:7
• 26. Genesis 13:10-13; S Genesis 18:20; Jeremiah 3:8-11; Ezekiel 23:4; Revelation 11:8
• 27. 2 Kings 21:9; S Ezekiel 5:7
• 28. S Genesis 15:2
• 29. S Genesis 19:25
• 30. Matthew 10:15; Matthew 11:23-24
• 31. Genesis 13:13; S Isaiah 1:10
• 32. Psalms 138:6; Ezekiel 28:2
• 33. Isaiah 22:13
• 34. S Genesis 13:13; Genesis 19:9; S Jeremiah 5:28; Eze 18:7,12,16; Amos 6:4-6; Luke 12:16-20; Luke 16:19; James 5:5
• 35. Psalms 18:27
• 36. Genesis 18:20-21; S Genesis 19:5

Footnotes

• [a] Or "How feverish is your heart,"