Ezekiel 16:33
in Ezekiel 16Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They give gifts to all harlots; but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredoms.
KJV
They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
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This verse in Ezekiel 16
Commentary
7 notes on this verse(Verse 32 and following) But like an adulterous woman, who brings in strangers over her husband. All prostitutes receive payment: but you have given payment to all your lovers, and you would give them anything to come in to you from every direction to fornicate with you. And it happened in you contrary to the custom of women in your fornications, and there will be no fornication after you. For in that you have given payment, and have not received payment: it has become contrary to you.
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
gave gifts to all your lovers
Barnes compares 2 Kings 16:8, where Ahaz took silver and gold from the LORD's house and sent it to the king of Assyria. The wife paid for her own dishonor with her husband's goods. Treasure given for worship bought foreign protection.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The husband of the soul is the word of God, a spouse truly loving, who has given her chastity, justice and all the other gifts.
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
They give gifts to all whores,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The picture is heightened by the contrast between one who as a prostitute receives hire for her shame, and one who as a wife is so utterly abandoned as to bestow her husband’s goods to purchase her own dishonor. Compare 2Ki 16:8.
The words behind it
16 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| זֹנ֖וֹת | zonot | prostitutes | H2181 → | 94 times |
| יִתְּנוּ־ | yitenu- | men give | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| נֵ֑דֶה | nedeh | a gift | H5078 → | |
| וְאַ֨תְּ | veat | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| נָתַ֤תְּ | natat | you have given | H5414 → | 2011 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נְדָנַ֙יִךְ֙ | nedanayikh | gift your | H5083 → | |
| לְכָל־ | lekhol | to all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מְאַֽהֲבַ֔יִךְ | meahavayikh | lovers your | H157 → | 211 times |
| וַתִּשְׁחֳדִ֣י | vatishchodi | and you have bribed | H7809 → | |
| אוֹתָ֗ם | ʾotam | <obj.> them | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לָב֥וֹא | lavo' | to come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| אֵלַ֛יִךְ | ʾelayikh | to you | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מִסָּבִ֖יב | misaviv | from round about | H5439 → | 336 times |
| בְּתַזְנוּתָֽיִךְ׃ | betaznutayikh | by prostitution<s> your | H8457 → | 20 times |
לְכָל־to all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
זֹנ֖וֹתprostitutes
zonotH2181 →94 times
יִתְּנוּ־men give
yitenu-H5414 →2011 times
נֵ֑דֶהa gift
nedehH5078 →
וְאַ֨תְּand you
veatH859 →1094 times
נָתַ֤תְּyou have given
natatH5414 →2011 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נְדָנַ֙יִךְ֙gift your
nedanayikhH5083 →
לְכָל־to all
lekholH3605 →5413 times
מְאַֽהֲבַ֔יִךְlovers your
meahavayikhH157 →211 times
וַתִּשְׁחֳדִ֣יand you have bribed
vatishchodiH7809 →
אוֹתָ֗ם<obj.> them
ʾotamH853 →10935 times
לָב֥וֹאto come
lavo'H935 →2568 times
אֵלַ֛יִךְto you
ʾelayikhH413 →5510 times
מִסָּבִ֖יבfrom round about
misavivH5439 →336 times
בְּתַזְנוּתָֽיִךְ׃by prostitution<s> your
betaznutayikhH8457 →20 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
Micah 1:7All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 23:18
You must not bring the wages of a prostitute, whether female or male, into the house of the LORD your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the LORD your God.
- Hosea 2:12
I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour…
- Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance…
- Deuteronomy 23:18
Through
Luke 15:30But when this son of yours returns from squandering your wealth with prostitutes, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
it leads to
- Luke 15:12–13
The younger son said to him, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
- Proverbs 29:3
A man who loves wisdom brings joy to his father, but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.
- Luke 15:12–13
Through
Isaiah 57:9You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 23:16
At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
- Isaiah 31:1–3
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy…
- Ezekiel 23:40
Furthermore, 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.
- Ezekiel 23:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies2
On this verse
On this chapter
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 8:3.