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Ezekiel 16:26

in Ezekiel 16

You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy whoredom, to provoke me to anger.

KJV

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

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This verse in Ezekiel 16

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

(Verse 23 and following) And it came to pass after all your wickedness: woe, woe to you, says the Lord God. And you built yourself a brothel, and made for yourself a prostitute in all the streets. At every head of the road you built a sign of your prostitution, and you made your abominable beauty, and you spread your feet to everyone passing by, and multiplied your fornications. And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors with great flesh, and you multiplied your fornication to provoke me.

This site's exposition

in addition to all your other wickedness

on Ezekiel 16:23-29

The chapter lists Jerusalem’s foreign alliances as adultery, with “the Egyptians,” “the Assyrians,” and “Chaldea, the land of merchants.” Each is a paid affair that leaves her reaching for the next, and the refrain is “you were not satisfied.” The political history of the late kings runs through the figure.

This site's exposition

your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians

Judah's kings looked to Egypt for help against Assyria and Babylon, and Isaiah 30:1-2 and 31:1 condemn that trust. Seeking another protector counted as betrayal of her husband. It provoked the LORD to anger.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers2 voices

A commentator

Origen of Alexandria

HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 7:8 · Written before 253.

proposed

You see that she is handed over to the souls of strangers, she who is unworthy to practice the law and the words of God.

A commentator

Pachomius the Great

INSTRUCTIONS 1:39 · Written before 348.

proposed

If we have promised God purity, may we never be found in fornication, of which there are several forms. It is said that they prostituted themselves in a number of ways. My brothers, may no one ever catch us in deeds of this kind. May …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians,....

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

Great of flesh - The most extensive idolaters. Bene vasatis-longa mensura incognita nervy - Juv. Sat. 9:34. This is the allusion.
Egyptian idolatry, a worship of the powers of nature, was eminently sensual. The idolatry here spoken of is not so much that which Israel brought with them from Egypt, as the idolatry introduced in the time of Solomon and Rehoboam.

The words behind it

11 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • וַתִּזְנִ֧יand you acted as a prostitute

    vatizniH2181 →94 times

  • אֶל־to

    ʾel-H413 →5510 times

  • בְּנֵֽי־[the] people of

    benei-H1121 →4930 times

  • מִצְרַ֛יִםEgypt

    mitzrayimH4714 →641 times

  • שְׁכֵנַ֖יִךְneighbors your

    shekhenayikhH7934 →

  • גִּדְלֵ֣יbecoming great of

    gidleiH1432 →

  • בָשָׂ֑רflesh

    vasarH1320 →270 times

  • וַתַּרְבִּ֥יand you increased

    vatarbiH7235 →227 times

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • תַּזְנֻתֵ֖ךְprostitution your

    taznutekhH8457 →20 times

  • לְהַכְעִיסֵֽנִי׃to provoke to anger me

    lehakhiseniH3707 →54 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

16 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Jeremiah 3:1“If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?” declares the LORD.5 worksEzekiel 23:19–21Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt4 worksEzekiel 20:7–8And I said to them: ‘Each of you must throw away the abominations before his eyes, and you must not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’3 worksEzekiel 23:20and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.3 worksIsaiah 30:21And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”2 worksJoshua 24:14Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.2 works
The other 10 cross-references, with their words ▾
Ezekiel 8:14Then He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the LORD, and I saw women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.2 worksDeuteronomy 29:16–17For you yourselves know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the nations on the way here.2 worksEzekiel 8:10So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.2 worksEzekiel 8:17“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!2 worksJeremiah 7:18–19The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven; they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke Me to anger.2 worksEzekiel 23:8She 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.2 worksExodus 32:4He took the gold from their hands, and with an engraving tool he fashioned it into a molten calf. And they said, “These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”2 worksEzekiel 23:3and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.2 worksIsaiah 23:17And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth.2 worksLeviticus 15:3This uncleanness is from his discharge, whether his body allows the discharge to flow or blocks it. So his discharge will bring about uncleanness.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 30:21

    And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind you: “This is the way. Walk in it.”

    it leads to

    • Psalms 32:8

      I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will give you counsel and watch over you.

    • Proverbs 3:5–6

      Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;

    • Isaiah 58:11

      The LORD will always guide you; He will satisfy you in a sun-scorched land and strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

    • Isaiah 42:16

      I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; I will guide them on unfamiliar paths. I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground. These…

    • Deuteronomy 5:32

      So be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you; you are not to turn aside to the right or to the left.

  • Through

    Joshua 24:14

    Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; cast aside the gods your fathers served beyond the Euphrates and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.

    it leads to

    • 1 Samuel 12:24

      Above all, fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things He has done for you.

    • Deuteronomy 10:12

      And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God by walking in all His ways, to love Him, to serve the LORD your…

    • Genesis 35:2

      So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.

Where this verse is studied

About Ezekiel

Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel’s Vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Ezekiel: the study guide →Read Ezekiel 16 →

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 and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL 7:8 and Pachomius the Great, INSTRUCTIONS 1:39.

Read on in Ezekiel 16 →