Ezekiel 16:31
in Ezekiel 16But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
in that thou buildest thy vaulted place at the head of every way, and makest thy lofty place in every street, and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire.
KJV
In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
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This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
11 notes on this verseOr according to the Septuagint: You were not like a prostitute gathering wages, but you gave what you should have received, so that you would not be protected by the help of those with whom you fornicated and followed demons, but rather, oppressed by various captivities, you would feel your calamities.
This site's exposition
How weak-willed is your heart
on Ezekiel 16:30-34
The figure inverts harlotry: an ordinary harlot is paid, but Jerusalem pays her lovers. Gill calls this the strangest and most damning form of the charge, a nation buying its own subjugation and calling it foreign policy. Clarke reads the inversion as proof the sin was preference and not need.
This site's exposition
you scorned payment
Jerome renders the clause as a harlot who scorns an offered fee to get a larger one. Jerusalem went further and paid the fee herself. The Septuagint, which Jerome also reports, reads it the same way.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
(Verse 30, 31.) In what shall I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, when you do all these works of a promiscuous and shameless woman? For you have made your brothel at the head of every street, and your high place you have made in every square; and you have not acted like a prostitute, increasing your price.
These Gentile peoples through their desire of worldly eloquence, through the brothels of the schools, through senseless disputation at the meeting places of the philosophical sects, dissipated the property of God the Father. By their conjectures they exhausted everything there was in the line of …
Ecclesiastics who are leaders in the church build the house of God, the church, in their own way of life as well as those of their faithful, and their work is the building of God.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And it is a great aggravation of sin when men are their own tempters, and, instead of proposing to themselves any worldly advantage by their sin, are at great expense with it; such are transgressors without cause ( Ps. xxv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way,.... Or brothel house, as before; See Gill on Eze 16:24; which showed her to be a whore, and an imperious one: and makest thine high place in every street; See Gill on Eze 16:24; and hast not been as an harlot: a common one, or as a harlot usually is: in that thou scornest hire; which they do not; for it is for hire they prostitute themselves; and have their names, both in our language, and in the Latin tongue, from, thence.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Note, Those shame themselves that bring a reproach on their profession. And justly will that beauty, that excellency, at length be made the object of the loathing of others which men have made the matter of their own pride. What were the aggravations of this sin.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
JEROME translates, "Thou hast not been as a harlot in scorning (that is, who ordinarily scorns) a hire offered," in order to get a larger one: nay, thou hast offered hire thyself to thy lovers (Eze 16:33, 34).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Rather, didst build - didst make - wast not - scornest. In the marginal rendering, “thy daughters” must mean “thy smaller cities or villages.”
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בִּבְנוֹתַ֤יִךְ | bivnotayikh | when built you | H1129 → | 376 times |
| גַּבֵּךְ֙ | gabekh | mound your | H1354 → | 13 times |
| בְּרֹ֣אשׁ | berosh | at [the] head of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| דֶּ֔רֶךְ | derekh | road | H1870 → | 707 times |
| וְרָמָתֵ֥ךְ | veramatekh | and high place your | H7413 → | 5 times |
| עָשִׂ֖ית | asiti | you made | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| בְּכָל־ | bekhol | in every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| רְח֑וֹב | rechov | open place | H7339 → | |
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| הָיִ֥ית | hayit | you were | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| כַּזּוֹנָ֖ה | kazonah | like <the> prostitute | H2181 → | 94 times |
| לְקַלֵּ֥ס | lekales | to scorn | H7046 → | |
| אֶתְנָֽן׃ | ʾetnan | [the] hire of a prostitute | H868 → | 11 times |
בִּבְנוֹתַ֤יִךְwhen built you
bivnotayikhH1129 →376 times
גַּבֵּךְ֙mound your
gabekhH1354 →13 times
בְּרֹ֣אשׁat [the] head of
beroshH7218 →599 times
כָּל־every
kol-H3605 →5413 times
דֶּ֔רֶךְroad
derekhH1870 →707 times
וְרָמָתֵ֥ךְand high place your
veramatekhH7413 →5 times
עָשִׂ֖יתyou made
asitiH6213 →2628 times
בְּכָל־in every
bekholH3605 →5413 times
רְח֑וֹבopen place
rechovH7339 →
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
הָיִ֥יתyou were
hayitH1961 →3559 times
כַּזּוֹנָ֖הlike <the> prostitute
kazonahH2181 →94 times
לְקַלֵּ֥סto scorn
lekalesH7046 →
אֶתְנָֽן׃[the] hire of a prostitute
ʾetnanH868 →11 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 52:3For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and without money you will be redeemed.”
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:13
I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for payment or reward, says the LORD…
- 1 Peter 1:18
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Psalms 44:12
You sell Your people for nothing; no profit do You gain from their sale.
- Isaiah 45:13
Through
Ezekiel 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…
it leads to
- Hosea 2:3
Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her…
- Ezekiel 23:26
They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry.
- Hosea 2:3
Through
Hosea 12:11Is there iniquity in Gilead? They will surely come to nothing. Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Indeed, their altars will be heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.
it leads to
- Hosea 4:15
Though you prostitute yourself, O Israel, may Judah avoid such guilt! Do not journey to Gilgal, do not go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear on oath, ‘As surely as the LORD lives!’
- Hosea 6:8
Gilead is a city of evildoers, tracked with footprints of blood.
- Hosea 8:11
Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.
- Hosea 4:15
Where this verse is studied
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 5:16.30-31; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 8:2 and Peter Chrysologus, SERMON 5.