Atlas Biblica

    Ezekiel · 49 verses

    Ezekiel 23

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    What happens here

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    A painted wall of Chaldean officers is enough to send Oholibah’s messengers galloping after the originals in Chaldea—a remarkably energetic response to interior decoration.

    Two sisters, and the same old appetitevv. 1–21

    The LORD presents two sisters, Oholah and Oholibah, daughters of one mother, raised in Egypt and later made His own. Oholah is Samaria; Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah pursues the Assyrians, is handed over to them, and is destroyed. Oholibah sees the result and proceeds to do worse, first after the Assyrians and then after painted Chaldeans on a wall. The painting leads to messengers, the messengers to Babylonian visitors, and the visitors—after the customary cycle of lust and disgust—back to memories of Egypt. The comparison made there is not shy of detail.

    The cup comes roundvv. 22–35

    Oholibah’s discarded lovers are summoned against her: Babylonians, Chaldeans, men of Pekod, Shoa, Koa, and Assyrians besides, arriving with the full luggage of war. Their punishment is described in the language of a cup, and it is no dainty little draught: deep, wide, full of scorn, drunkenness, grief, devastation, and desolation. Oholibah is to drink it down and dash it to pieces, while the old Egyptian beginning of the affair is finally to be forgotten.

    The same dayvv. 36–49

    The accusation broadens. The sisters have blood on their hands, have sacrificed their children to idols, and—on that very day—have entered the sanctuary to profane it, inside the house itself. There is also a couch, a laid table, incense, oil, bracelets, crowns, drunkards, and men from the rabble: a lavish reception with an ominous guest list. Righteous men then sentence the sisters, a mob is brought against them, and their houses are burned. The final word is not a tidy explanation but a declaration that their indecency and idolatry will be repaid.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Ezek 23:1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,

    2. Ezek 23:2“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother,

    3. Ezek 23:3and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.

    4. Ezek 23:4The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

    5. Ezek 23:5Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

    6. Ezek 23:6clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds.

    7. Ezek 23:7She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

    8. Ezek 23:8She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her.

    9. Ezek 23:9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

    10. Ezek 23:10They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

    11. Ezek 23:11Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.

    12. Ezek 23:12She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men.

    13. Ezek 23:13And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

    14. Ezek 23:14But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,

    15. Ezek 23:15wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.

    16. Ezek 23:16At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

    17. Ezek 23:17Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

    18. Ezek 23:18When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.

    19. Ezek 23:19Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt

    20. Ezek 23:20and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

    21. Ezek 23:21So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.

    22. Ezek 23:22Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—

    23. Ezek 23:23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.

    24. Ezek 23:24They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards.

    25. Ezek 23:25And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

    26. Ezek 23:26They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.

    27. Ezek 23:27So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

    28. Ezek 23:28For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.

    29. Ezek 23:29They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity

    30. Ezek 23:30have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.

    31. Ezek 23:31Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

    32. Ezek 23:32This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.

    33. Ezek 23:33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

    34. Ezek 23:34You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD.

    35. Ezek 23:35Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

    36. Ezek 23:36Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations.

    37. Ezek 23:37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

    38. Ezek 23:38They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths.

    39. Ezek 23:39On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

    40. Ezek 23:40Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.

    41. Ezek 23:41You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,

    42. Ezek 23:42accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head.

    43. Ezek 23:43Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

    44. Ezek 23:44And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women.

    45. Ezek 23:45But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.

    46. Ezek 23:46This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder.

    47. Ezek 23:47The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.

    48. Ezek 23:48So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior.

    49. Ezek 23:49They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 435 passages were voted onto 47 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 351 Kings 14:9You have done more evil than all who came before you. You have proceeded to make for yourself other gods and molten images to provoke Me, and you have flung Me behind your back.
    • 14Ezekiel 8:10So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.
    • 23Jeremiah 50:21Go up against the land of Merathaim, and against the residents of Pekod. Kill them and devote them to destruction. Do all that I have commanded you,” declares the LORD.
    • 25Ezekiel 23:47The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
    • 26Ezekiel 16:39Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
    • 27Ezekiel 16:41Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
    • 30Ezekiel 6:9Then in the nations to which they have been carried captive, your survivors will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts that turned away from Me, and by their eyes that lusted after idols. So they will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their abominations.
    • 34Psalms 75:8For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.
    • 36Ezekiel 22:2“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations
    • 37Ezekiel 16:36This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
    • 38Ezekiel 20:13Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.
    • 402 Kings 9:30Now when Jehu arrived in Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. So she painted her eyes, adorned her head, and looked down from a window.
    • 40Jeremiah 4:30And you, O devastated one, what will you do, though you dress yourself in scarlet, though you adorn yourself with gold jewelry, though you enlarge your eyes with paint? You adorn yourself in vain; your lovers despise you; they want to take your life.
    • 41Esther 1:6Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.
    • 42Ezekiel 16:11–12I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
    • 3Leviticus 17:7They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons to which they have prostituted themselves. This will be a permanent statute for them for the generations to come.’

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