Ezekiel 16:46

46 And thine elder sister [is] Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.

Ezekiel 16:46 Meaning and Commentary

Ezekiel 16:46

And thine elder sister [is] Samaria
The metropolis of the ten tribes; "sister" to the Jews, because of the same descent, having one and the same father; the "elder" or "greater" F24, because more in number and power; the kingdom of Israel consisted of ten tribes, and the kingdom of Judah but of two; and the ten tribes also were the first in the apostasy from the true worship of God: she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand;
as Samaria the sister was the metropolis of the ten tribes, her daughters are the other cities and towns belonging thereunto; and so the Targum renders it, she and her villages; these were situated to the north of the land of Israel, as Judah was to the south, which with the Jews were left and right; as a man standing with his face to the east has the north on his left and the south on his right side: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, [is] Sodom and
her daughters;
where Lot the kinsman of Abraham lived, and from whom sprung the Ammonites and Moabites. Sodom was a lesser kingdom than that of Judah, and which lay to the south; that is, to the right of it; even that and the other cities, which perished with it, called her daughters, as Admah, Zeboim


FOOTNOTES:

F24 (hlwdgh) "major", V. L. Pagninus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Ezekiel 16:46 In-Context

44 Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother -- her daughter!
45 Thy mother's daughter thou [art], Loathing her husband and her sons, And thy sisters' sister thou [art], Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother [is] a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
46 And thine elder sister [is] Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.
47 And -- in their ways thou hast not walked, And according to their abominations done, As a little thing it hath been loathed, And thou dost more corruptly than they in all thy ways.
48 I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done -- she and her daughters -- As thou hast done -- thou and thy daughters.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.