Ezekiel 16:15

But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking.

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

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KJV

But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

ASV

But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by; his it was.

YLT

And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by--to him it is.

DBT

But thou didst confide in thy beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on every one that passed by: his it was.

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Commentary voices

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Voices4

On this verse

(Verse 15) And having confidence in your beauty: you have fornicated in your name, and you have exposed your fornication to everyone passing by, so that they might become like you. A great danger, not to trust in the mercy of God, but in one's own beauty. And the higher one is, the more they should fear lest they fall and fornicate in their own name. Indeed, the adversaries despise ordinary food and desire foreign nourishment. Thus it is said of the devil: His food is choice (Habakkuk I, 16). He does not want to deceive anyone.

Jerome· Commentary on Ezekiel, 420patristic

Related commentary

The prophet now describes the idolatries of the time of the Kings. The earlier offences in the time of the Judges are not noticed, that being an unsettled time. The conduct of the people after they had “prospered into a kingdom” is to be described. Because of thy renown - The marriages of Solomon with pagan wives, and his consequent idolatries, are a clear instance of such, misuse of glory.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

English Version is better, "because of thy renown," that is, relying on it; answering to "thou didst trust in thine own beauty." his it was--Thy beauty was yielded up to every passer-by.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1871reformed

Thy renown - Her renown abroad drew to her idolatrous strangers, who brought their idols with them. Pouredst out - Didst readily prostitute thyself to them; every stranger, who passed thro' thee, might find room for his idol, and idolatry. He it was - Thy person was at the command of every adulterer.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

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Rabbinic commentary

How the Hebraic tradition has read this verse: and Marcus Brown’s own reading of it.

Cross-references

50 linked verses

The verses this one reaches12

Proverbs 31:30
Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Deuteronomy 31:16
And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.
Jeremiah 2:20
“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
Ezekiel 16:25
At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by.
Isaiah 57:8
Behind the door and doorpost you have set up your memorial. Forsaking Me, you uncovered your bed; you climbed up and opened it wide. And you have made a pact with those whose bed you have loved; you have gazed upon their nakedness.
Ezekiel 23:3
and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.
Jeremiah 7:4
Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
Ezekiel 23:8
She 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.
Hosea 1:2
When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”
Isaiah 1:21
See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!
Ezekiel 16:45
You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
Matthew 19:9
Now I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman, commits adultery.”

38 more linked verses are grouped by book below ↓

Cross-references

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The quotation web

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Original language

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Around this verse

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

The Prophet Ezekiel — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Ezekiel: The exile prophet, priest taken to Babylon in 597 BC, writing to a community still convinced the exile is temporary. Wheels within wheels, the glory departing, dry bones coming to life, and the city whose new name is YHWH Shammah, ‘the LORD is there.’

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Ezekiel, son of Buzi the priest (1:3)
Date: Dated oracles 593 BC (1:1, fifth year of Jehoiachin's exile) to 571 BC (29:17)

More cross-references38 further linked verses, grouped by book▾ open

Every other verse the study tradition links to this one, in the Bible’s own order. The first links in each book carry a line of their text; every reference opens its full verse page.

Genesis1

Genesis 38:24About three months later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and…

Exodus1

Exodus 32:6So the next day they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented peace offerings. And…

Numbers1

Numbers 25:1While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality…

Deuteronomy1

Deuteronomy 32:15But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the…

Judges3

Judges 10:6

1 Kings2

2 Kings3

2 Kings 21:15

2 Chronicles1

2 Chronicles 21:11Jehoram had also built high places on the hills of Judah; he had caused…

Nehemiah1

Nehemiah 9:26But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their…

Psalms4

Proverbs1

Proverbs 11:22Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman who lacks…

Isaiah1

Isaiah 48:1“Listen to this, O house of Jacob, you who are called by the name…

Jeremiah5

Ezekiel6

Hosea2

Micah1

Micah 3:11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her…

Zephaniah1

Zephaniah 3:11On that day you will not be put to shame for any of the…

Matthew1

Matthew 3:9And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’…

Revelation2

Cross-references are drawn from classic Bible study tools and open, shareable Bible data.

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Jeremiah 2:20
“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
leads to
- Deuteronomy 12:2
  Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.
- Leviticus 26:13
  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and…
- Jeremiah 17:2
  Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles by the green trees and on the high hills.
Through
Jeremiah 7:4
Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’
leads to
- Micah 3:11
  Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster…
- Zephaniah 3:11
  On that day you will not be put to shame for any of the deeds by which you have transgressed against Me. For then I will remove from among you those who rejoice in…
- Matthew 3:9–10
  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
- Jeremiah 29:31
  “Send a message telling all the exiles what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite. Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you—though I did not send him—and has made you trust in a lie,
Through
Ezekiel 23:3
and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.
leads to
- Leviticus 17:7
  They 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.’

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

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