Ezekiel 23:34

34 And thou shalt drink it, and thou shalt drink of (it) till to the dregs, (or unto the lees,) and thou shalt devour the remnants thereof (and thou shalt devour its remnants), and thou shalt rend thy breasts, for I the Lord spake, saith the Lord God.

Ezekiel 23:34 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 23:34

Thou shalt even drink it, and suck it out
The very dregs of it, that which lies at the bottom, which is the most nauseous and the most pernicious; not through love to it, but through force, shall be obliged to it; see ( Psalms 75:8 ) : and thou shall break the sherds thereof;
and suck them, so that not a drop of the liquor shall be lost; even what has penetrated into the earthen vessel, which this cup is supposed to be; and therefore it shall be broken to pieces, and these pieces sucked, that all may be got out; suggesting that there will be no abatement of the punishment, it shall be endured to the utmost: or it may be an allusion to drunkards, who, having drunk up their liquor, and become drunk, break their glasses, pots, and cups, and to which the next clause agrees: and pluck off thine own breasts;
as men in their drunken fits, being like mad men, tear their own flesh; and so the Targum paraphrases it,

``thou shall tear thy flesh;''
so the Jews, under punishment for sin, and pressed with the guilt of it, through indignation at themselves should tear their flesh, and particularly pluck off their breasts: the allusion is to fornication, to which idolatry is compared, in which those parts are particularly affected; see ( Ezekiel 23:21 ) , the Syriac version renders this and the former clause thus, "thou shall shave thine hair and cut off thy breasts"; Kimchi thinks by the "breasts" are meant the oral and written laws, which ceased in the time of the captivity; but without any foundation: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord;
and therefore it shall be done.

Ezekiel 23:34 In-Context

32 The Lord God saith these things, Thou shalt drink the cup of thy sister, the depth, and the broadness; thou that art most able to take, shalt be into scorning, and into mocking (thou shalt be into scorning, and into mocking, more than the cup can hold).
33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of mourning and of heaviness, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.
34 And thou shalt drink it, and thou shalt drink of (it) till to the dregs, (or unto the lees,) and thou shalt devour the remnants thereof (and thou shalt devour its remnants), and thou shalt rend thy breasts, for I the Lord spake, saith the Lord God.
35 Therefore the Lord God saith these things, For thou hast forgotten me, and hast cast forth me behind thy body (and hast thrown me away behind thy back), bear thou also thy great trespass and thy fornications.
36 And the Lord God said to me, and spake, Son of man, whether thou deemest Oholibah and Oholah, and tellest to them the great trespasses of them? (And the Lord God spoke to me, and said, Son of man, judgest thou Oholibah and Oholah, and tellest them their great trespasses?
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.