Ezekiel 23:13
in Ezekiel 23And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I saw that she was defiled; they both took one way.
KJV
Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way,
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This verse in Ezekiel 23
Commentary
5 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she
on Ezekiel 23:11-13
Jerusalem watches her sister's fall and draws the opposite lesson, growing more corrupt rather than less. Gill reads the verse as the chapter's hardest charge, a warning seen firsthand and disregarded. Keil notes the phrase they took both one way closes the comparison plainly, two sisters walking the identical road.
This site's exposition
both of them had taken the same path
God's verdict sets the two kingdoms on one road. Gill observed at verse 11 that Judah watched the fall of the ten tribes and drew no lesson from it. The same path leads to the same end, as the cup of verse 31 shows.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 11 seqq.) When her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more wicked than her, and her desire for sexual immorality surpassed that of her sister. Shamelessly, she displayed her prostitution to the sons of Assyria, to their captains and leaders who came to her. She was dressed in various (or costly) garments, riding on horses with riders, all of them handsome young men. And I saw that both of them had defiled the same path, and they multiplied their sexual immorality.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): I saw that she was defiled, that she was debauched, and saw which way her inclination was, that the two sisters both took one way, and that Jerusalem grew worse than Samaria.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Then I saw that she was defiled,.... With idols, and the worship of them, Eze 23:7, that they took both one way; the same way of idolatry; worshipped the same idols, lived the same course of life, were guilty of the same sin, both Israel and Judah.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
For the sons of Assyria she lusted This is Ahaz, who sent to the king of Assyria for aid (II Kings:7).
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
And she increased her harlotries to lust for images that she had not seen [in actuality], only their likeness,
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֵ֖רֶא | vaere' | and I saw | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| נִטְמָ֑אָה | nitmaah | she had made herself unclean | H2930 → | 162 times |
| דֶּ֥רֶךְ | derekh | way | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֶחָ֖ד | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
| לִשְׁתֵּיהֶֽן׃ | lishteihen | [belonged] to both of them | H8147 → | 768 times |
וָאֵ֖רֶאand I saw
vaere'H7200 →1300 times
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
נִטְמָ֑אָהshe had made herself unclean
nitmaahH2930 →162 times
דֶּ֥רֶךְway
derekhH1870 →707 times
אֶחָ֖דone
ʾechadH259 →971 times
לִשְׁתֵּיהֶֽן׃[belonged] to both of them
lishteihenH8147 →768 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 23:31Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’
it leads to
- 2 Kings 21:13
I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line used against Samaria and the plumb line used against the house of Ahab, and I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a bowl—wiping…
- Jeremiah 7:14–15
therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers.
- Ezekiel 16:47–51
And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
- Daniel 9:12
You have carried out the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us a great disaster. For under all of heaven, nothing has ever been done like what has been…
- Jeremiah 3:8–11
She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well.
- 2 Kings 21:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.