Ezekiel 23:20
in Ezekiel 23and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
KJV
For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
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This verse in Ezekiel 23
Commentary
3 notes on this verseShe doted upon their paramours - פלגשיהם pillagsheyhem, their harlots or concubines. Anciently harlot meant in our language either the male or female prostitute. Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses - See on Eze 16:25 (note).
This site's exposition
she multiplied her whoredoms
on Ezekiel 23:19-21
Jerusalem's infidelity turns backward as well as outward, calling to remembrance the days of her youth in Egypt, the very bondage the exodus delivered her from now recalled as a kind of nostalgia. Henry reads the regression as the chapter's diagnosis of an appetite rather than mere political miscalculation, one that cannot be satisfied by any single ally and keeps reaching further back for a stronger memory. Clarke notes the coarse figure of verse 20 is deliberately unflattering rather than merely graphic, stripping any romance from alliances the text has been describing in political terms all along.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
(3.) Of seeking to creatures for help; we go from one to another, but are disappointed in them all, and can never rest till we have made the God of Israel our help. The faithful God justly gives a bill of divorce to this now faithless city, that has become a harlot.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַֽתַּעְגְּבָ֔ה | vata'gevah | and she lusted ! | H5689 → | 7 times |
| עַ֖ל | ʾal | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּֽלַגְשֵׁיהֶ֑ם | pilagsheihem | paramours their | H6370 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֤ר | ʾasher | whom | H834 → | 5497 times |
| בְּשַׂר־ | besar- | [was the] flesh of | H1320 → | 270 times |
| חֲמוֹרִים֙ | chamorim | donkeys | H2543 → | |
| בְּשָׂרָ֔ם | besaram | flesh their | H1320 → | 270 times |
| וְזִרְמַ֥ת | vezirmat | and [was the] ejaculation of | H2231 → | |
| סוּסִ֖ים | susim | horses | H5483 → | 140 times |
| זִרְמָתָֽם׃ | zirmatam | ejaculation their | H2231 → |
וַֽתַּעְגְּבָ֔הand she lusted !
vata'gevahH5689 →7 times
עַ֖לon
ʾalH5921 →5755 times
פִּֽלַגְשֵׁיהֶ֑םparamours their
pilagsheihemH6370 →
אֲשֶׁ֤רwhom
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
בְּשַׂר־[was the] flesh of
besar-H1320 →270 times
חֲמוֹרִים֙donkeys
chamorimH2543 →
בְּשָׂרָ֔םflesh their
besaramH1320 →270 times
וְזִרְמַ֥תand [was the] ejaculation of
vezirmatH2231 →
סוּסִ֖יםhorses
susimH5483 →140 times
זִרְמָתָֽם׃ejaculation their
zirmatamH2231 →
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
Ezekiel 16:20You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
it leads to
- Ezekiel 23:37
For 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…
- Jeremiah 7:31
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Hinnom so they could burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I never commanded, nor did it even enter My mind.
- Psalms 106:37–38
They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
- Ezekiel 20:26
And I pronounced them unclean through their gifts—the sacrifice of every firstborn in the fire—so that I might devastate them, in order that they would know that I am the LORD.
- Ezekiel 23:37
Through
Ezekiel 17:15But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 36:13
He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. But Zedekiah stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Jeremiah 38:18
But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself…
- Deuteronomy 17:16
But the king must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire more horses, for the LORD has said, ‘You are never to go back that way…
- 2 Chronicles 36:13
Through
Ezekiel 16:26You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 23:19–21
Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt
- Ezekiel 23:19–21
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.