VW-Edition Bible (2010)

1The Word of Jehovah came again unto me, saying: 2Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother. 3They committed harlotry in Egypt, they committed harlotry in their youth; their breasts were handled, their virgin nipples were fondled. 4Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister; they were Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah. 5Oholah committed adultery even though she was Mine; and she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians, 6who were clothed in purple, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7Thus she committed her adultery with them, all of them choice men of Assyria; and with all for whom she lusted, with all their idols, she defiled herself. 8She has never given up her harlotry brought from Egypt, for in her youth they had lain with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and poured out their immorality upon her. 9Therefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10They uncovered her nakedness, took away her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword; she became a byword among women, for they had executed judgment on her. 11Now although her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry, more than her sister's harlotry. 12She lusted for the neighboring Assyrians, captains and rulers, clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. 13Then I saw that she was defiled; both the same way. 14But she added to her harlotry; she looked at men portrayed on the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15girded with waistbands around their waists, flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, in the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16As soon as her eyes saw them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17And the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their immorality; so she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them. 18So she uncovered her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness. Then My soul was alienated from her, just as My soul was alienated from her sister. 19Yet she multiplied her harlotry in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, when she had committed adultery in the land of Egypt. 20For she lusted for her paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples because of your youthful breasts. 22Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23The Babylonians, all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, Koa, all the Assyrians with them, all of them desirable young men, governors and rulers, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24And they shall come against you with chariots, wagons, and wheels, with a company of people. They shall array against you buckler, shield, and helmet all around. I will entrust judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their judgments. 25I will set My jealousy against you, and they shall deal furiously with you; they shall remove your nose and your ears, and the rest of you shall fall by the sword; they shall take your sons and your daughters, and the rest of you shall be devoured by fire. 26They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry. 27Thus I will make you cease your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will not lift your eyes to them, nor remember Egypt anymore.  28For thus says the Lord Jehovah: Surely I will deliver you into the hand of those you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul is alienated. 29They will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your adultery shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. 30I will do these things to you because you have gone whoring after the nations, because you have become defiled by their idols. 31You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her cup into your hand. 32Thus says the Lord Jehovah: You shall drink of your sister's cup, deep and wide; you shall be laughed to scorn and held in derision; for it contains much. 33You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. 34You shall drink and drain it, you shall break its shards, and tear off your own breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord Jehovah. 35Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah: Because you have forgotten Me and cast Me behind your back, therefore you shall bear the penalty of your lewdness and your harlotry. 36Jehovah also said to me: Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons whom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. 38Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and profaned My Sabbaths. 39For after they had slain their children to their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, this they have done in the midst of My house. 40Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you washed yourself for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. 41You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil. 42And the sound of a multitude at ease was with her, and drunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 43Then I said concerning her who was worn out in adulteries, Will they commit adultery with her now, and she with them? 44Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman of harlotry; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. 45And righteous men will judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands. 46For thus says the Lord Jehovah: Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to terror and plunder. 47And the company shall stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords. They shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. 48Thus I will bring an end to lewdness from the land, that all women may be taught not to do according to your lewdness. 49And they shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall pay for your idolatrous sins. And you shall know that I am the Lord Jehovah.


Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary
 2   ISRAEL'S AND JUDAH'S SIN AND PUNISHMENT ARE PARABOLICALLY PORTRAYED UNDER THE NAMES AHOLAH AND AHOLIBAH. (Eze. 23:1-49)
two . . . of one mother--Israel and Judah, one nation by birth from the same ancestress, Sarah.

 3   Even so early in their history as their Egyptian sojourn, they committed idolatries (see on Ezek 20:6-Ezek 20:8; Josh 24:14).
in their youth--an aggravation of their sin. It was at the very time of their receiving extraordinary favors from God (Ezek 16:6, Ezek 16:22).
they bruised--namely, the Egyptians.

 4   Aholah--that is, "Her tent" (put for worship, as the first worship of God in Israel was in a tent or tabernacle), as contrasted with Aholibah, that is, "My tent in her." The Beth-el worship of Samaria was of her own devising, not of God's appointment; the temple-worship of Jerusalem was expressly appointed by Jehovah, who "dwelt" there, "setting up His tabernacle among the people as His" (Exod 25:8; Lev 26:11-Lev 26:12; Josh 22:19; Ps 76:2).
the elder--Samaria is called "the elder" because she preceded Judah in her apostasy and its punishment.
they were mine--Previous to apostasy under Jeroboam, Samaria (Israel, or the ten tribes), equally with Judah, worshipped the true God. God therefore never renounced the right over Israel, but sent prophets, as Elijah and Elisha, to declare His will to them.

 5   when . . . mine--literally, "under Me," that is, subject to Me as her lawful husband.
neighbours--On the northeast the kingdom of Israel bordered on that of Assyria; for the latter had occupied much of Syria. Their neighborhood in locality was emblematical of their being near in corruption of morals and worship. The alliances of Israel with Assyria, which are the chief subject of reprobation here, tended to this (2Kgs 15:19; 2Kgs 16:7, 2Kgs 16:9; 2Kgs 17:3; Hos 8:9).

 6   blue--rather, "purple" [FAIRBAIRN]. As a lustful woman's passions are fired by showy dress and youthful appearance in men, so Israel was seduced by the pomp and power of Assyria (compare Isa 10:8).
horsemen--cavaliers.

 7   all their idols--There was nothing that she refused to her lovers.

 8   whoredoms brought from Egypt--the calves set up in Dan and Beth-el by Jeroboam, answering to the Egyptian bull-formed idol Apis. Her alliances with Egypt politically are also meant (Isa 30:2-Isa 30:3; Isa 31:1). The ten tribes probably resumed the Egyptian rites, in order to enlist the Egyptians against Judah (2Chr 12:2-4).

 9   God, in righteous retribution, turned their objects of trust into the instruments of their punishment: Pul, Tiglath-pileser, Esar-haddon, and Shalmaneser (2Kgs 15:19, 2Kgs 15:29; 2Kgs 17:3, 2Kgs 17:6, 2Kgs 17:24; Ezra 4:2, Ezra 4:10). "It was their sin to have sought after such lovers, and it was to be their punishment that these lovers should become their destroyers" [FAIRBAIRN].

 10   became famous--literally, "she became a name," that is, as notorious by her punishment as she had been by her sins, so as to be quoted as a warning to others.
women--that is, neighboring peoples.

 11   Judah, the southern kingdom, though having the "warning" (see on Ezek 23:10) of the northern kingdom before her eyes, instead of profiting by it, went to even greater lengths in corruption than Israel. Her greater spiritual privileges made her guilt the greater (Ezek 16:47, Ezek 16:51; Jer 3:11).

 12   (Ezek 23:6, Ezek 23:23).
most gorgeously--literally, "to perfection." GROTIUS translates, "wearing a crown," or "chaplet," such as lovers wore in visiting their mistresses.

 13   one way--both alike forsaking God for heathen confidences.

 14   vermilion--the peculiar color of the Chaldeans, as purple was of the Assyrians. In striking agreement with this verse is the fact that the Assyrian sculptures lately discovered have painted and colored bas-reliefs in red, blue, and black. The Jews (for instance Jehoiakim, Jer 22:14) copied these (compare Ezek 8:10).

 15   exceeding in dyed attire--rather, "in ample dyed turbans"; literally, "redundant with dyed turbans." The Assyrians delighted in ample, flowing, and richly colored tunics, scarfs, girdles, and head-dresses or turbans, varying in ornaments according to the rank.
Chaldea, . . . land of their nativity--between the Black and Caspian Seas (see on Isa 23:13).
princes--literally, a first-rate military class that fought by threes in the chariots, one guiding the horses, the other two fighting.

 16   sent messengers . . . into Chaldea-- (Ezek 16:29). It was she that solicited the Chaldeans, not they her. Probably the occasion was when Judah sought to strengthen herself by a Chaldean alliance against a menaced attack by Egypt (compare 2Kgs 23:29-35; 2Kgs 24:1-7). God made the object of their sinful desire the instrument of their punishment. Jehoiakim, probably by a stipulation of tribute, enlisted Nebuchadnezzar against Pharaoh, whose tributary he previously had been; failing to keep his stipulation, he brought on himself Nebuchadnezzar's vengeance.

 17   alienated from them--namely, from the Chaldeans: turning again to the Egyptians (Ezek 23:19), trying by their help to throw off her solemn engagements to Babylon (compare Jer 37:5, Jer 37:7; 2Kgs 24:7).

 18   my mind was alienated from her--literally, "was broken off from her." Just retribution for "her mind being alienated (broken off) from the Chaldeans" (Ezek 23:17), to whom she had sworn fealty (Ezek 17:12-Ezek 17:19). "Discovered" implies the open shamelessness of her apostasy.

 19   Israel first "called" her lusts, practised when in Egypt, "to her (fond) remembrance," and then actually returned to them. Mark the danger of suffering the memory to dwell on the pleasure felt in past sins.

 20   their paramours--that is, her paramours among them (the Egyptians); she doted upon their persons as her paramours (Ezek 23:5, Ezek 23:12, Ezek 23:16).
flesh--the membrum virile (very large in the ass). Compare Lev 15:2, Margin; Ezek 16:26.
issue of horses--the seminal issue. The horse was made by the Egyptians the hieroglyphic for a lustful person.

 21   calledst to remembrance--"didst repeat" [MAURER].
in bruising--in suffering . . . to be bruised.

 22   lovers . . . alienated-- (Ezek 23:17). Illicit love, soon or late, ends in open hatred (2Sam 13:15). The Babylonians, the objects formerly of their God-forgetting love, but now, with characteristic fickleness, objects of their hatred, shall be made by God the instruments of their punishment.

 23   Pekod, &c.-- (Jer 50:21). Not a geographical name, but descriptive of Babylon. "Visitation," peculiarly the land of "judgment"; in a double sense: actively, the inflicter of judgment on Judah; passively, as about to be afterwards herself the object of judgment.
Shoa . . . Koa--"rich . . . noble"; descriptive of Babylon in her prosperity, having all the world's wealth and dignity at her disposal. MAURER suggests that, as descriptive appellatives are subjoined to the proper name, "all the Assyrians" in the second hemistich of the verse (as the verse ought to be divided at "Koa"), so Pekod, Shoa, and Koa must be appellatives descriptive of "The Babylonians and . . . Chaldeans" in the first hemistich; "Pekod" meaning "prefects"; Shoa . . . Koa, "rich . . . princely."
desirable young men--strong irony. Alluding to Ezek 23:12, these "desirable young men" whom thou didst so "dote upon" for their manly vigor of appearance, shall by that very vigor be the better able to chastise thee.

 24   with chariots--or, "with armaments"; so the Septuagint; "axes" [MAURER]; or, joining it with "wagons," translate, "with scythe-armed wagons," or "chariots" [GROTIUS].
weels--The unusual height of these increased their formidable appearance (Ezek 1:16-Ezek 1:20).
their judgments--which awarded barbarously severe punishments (Jer 52:9; Jer 29:22).

 25   take away thy nose . . . ears--Adulteresses were punished so among the Egyptians and Chaldeans. Oriental beauties wore ornaments in the ear and nose. How just the retribution, that the features most bejewelled should be mutilated! So, allegorically as to Judah, the spiritual adulteress.

 26   strip . . . of . . . clothes--whereby she attracted her paramours (Ezek 16:39).

 27   Thus . . . make . . . lewdness to cease--The captivity has made the Jews ever since abhor idolatry, not only on their return from Babylon, but for the last nineteen centuries of their dispersion, as foretold (Hos 3:4).

 28   (Ezek 23:17-Ezek 23:18; Ezek 16:37).

 29   take away . . . thy labour--that is, the fruits of thy labor.
leave thee naked--as captive females are treated.

 31   her cup--of punishment (Ps 11:6; Ps 75:8; Jer 25:15, &c.). Thy guilt and that of Israel being alike, your punishment shall be alike.

 34   break . . . sherds--So greedily shalt thou suck out every drop like one drinking to madness (the effect invariably ascribed to drinking God's cup of wrath, Jer 51:7; Hab 2:16) that thou shalt crunch the very shreds of it; that is, there shall be no evil left which thou shalt not taste.
pluck off thine own breasts--enraged against them as the ministers to thine adultery.

 35   forgotten me-- (Jer 2:32; Jer 13:25).
cast me behind thy back-- (1Kgs 14:9; Neh 9:26).
bear . . . thy lewdness--that is, its penal consequences (Pro 1:31).

 36   A summing up of the sins of the two sisters, especially those of Judah.
wilt thou judge--Wilt thou (not) judge (see on Ezek 20:4)?

 38   the same day--On the very day that they had burned their children to Molech in the valley of Gehenna, they shamelessly and hypocritically presented themselves as worshippers in Jehovah's temple (Jer 7:9-Jer 7:10).

 40   messenger was sent--namely, by Judah (Ezek 23:16; Isa 57:9).
paintedst . . . eyes-- (2Kgs 9:30, Margin; Jer 4:30). Black paint was spread on the eyelids of beauties to make the white of the eye more attractive by the contrast, so Judah left no seductive art untried.

 41   bed--divan. While men reclined at table, women sat, as it seemed indelicate for them to lie down (Amos 6:4) [GROTIUS].
table--that is, the idolatrous altar.
mine incense--which I had given thee, and which thou oughtest to have offered to Me (Ezek 16:18-Ezek 16:19; Hos 2:8; compare Pro 7:17).

 42   Sabeans--Not content with the princely, handsome Assyrians, the sisters brought to themselves the rude robber hordes of Sabeans (Job 1:15). The Keri, or Margin, reads "drunkards."
upon their hands--upon the hands of the sisters, that is, they allured Samaria and Judah to worship their gods.

 43   Will they, &c.--Is it possible that paramours will desire any longer to commit whoredoms with so worn-out an old adulteress?

 45   the righteous men--the Chaldeans; the executioners of God's righteous vengeance (Ezek 16:38), not that they were "righteous" in themselves (Hab 1:3, Hab 1:12-Hab 1:13).

 46   a company--properly, "a council of judges" passing sentence on a criminal [GROTIUS]. The "removal" and "spoiling" by the Chaldean army is the execution of the judicial sentence of God.

 47   stones--the legal penalty of the adulteress (Ezek 16:40-Ezek 16:41; John 8:5). Answering to the stones hurled by the Babylonians from engines in besieging Jerusalem.
houses . . . fire--fulfilled (2Chr 36:17, 2Chr 36:19).

 48   (Ezek 23:27).
that all . . . may be taught not to do, &c.-- (Deut 13:11).

 49   bear the sins of your idols--that is, the punishment of your idolatry.
know that I am the Lord God--that is, know it to your cost . . . by bitter suffering.