Skip to content
mannafest.faith
Read

Ezekiel 23:17

in Ezekiel 23

Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

KJV

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

⋯

This verse in Ezekiel 23

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
After Josiah’s death and the usurpation of dominion by the Egyptians, the Babylonians were no doubt welcomed as friends 2Ki 24:1. But the Jews were soon tired of their alliance and disgusted with their friends, and this led to the rebellion of Jehoiakim and the first captivity.

This site's exposition

she increased her whoredoms

on Ezekiel 23:14-18

Jerusalem's course moves past living armies to painted ones, wall images of Chaldean officers in vermilion drawing her eyes. Fairbairn reads the detail as the chapter's sharpest satire, an infatuation with mere portraits. Barnes notes the outcome the moment the affair is finished, my mind was alienated from her.

This site's exposition

she turned away in disgust

Barnes read the disgust as Jerusalem's revolt against the Babylonians. Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar three years and then rebelled, as 2 Kings 24:1 records. The lovers she had sent for became the enemy she turned away from.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(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 Awakening1 voice

And the Babylonians came to her in the bed of love,.... Entered into alliance with the Jews, and worshipped together in the same idols' temple.

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

proposed

alienated from them--namely, from the Chaldeans: turning again to the Egyptians (Eze 23:19), trying by their help to throw off her solemn engagements to Babylon (compare Jer 37:5, 7;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase+unbalanced-parens

The words behind it

14 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.

  • וַיָּבֹ֨אוּand they came

    vaiyavouH935 →2568 times

  • אֵלֶ֤יהָto her

    ʾeleihaH413 →5510 times

  • בְנֵֽי־[the] sons of

    venei-H1121 →4930 times

  • בָבֶל֙Babylon

    vavelH894 →262 times

  • לְמִשְׁכַּ֣בto a bed of

    lemishkavH4904 →

  • דֹּדִ֔יםlove<s>

    dodimH1730 →

  • וַיְטַמְּא֥וּand they defiled

    vaytameuH2930 →162 times

  • אוֹתָ֖הּ<obj.> her

    ʾotahH853 →10935 times

  • בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑םby prostitution their

    betaznutamH8457 →20 times

  • וַתִּ֨טְמָא־and she became unclean

    vatitma'-H2930 →162 times

  • בָ֔םby them

    vam

  • וַתֵּ֥קַעand it was alienated

    vateka'H3363 →

  • נַפְשָׁ֖הּself her

    nafshahH5315 →754 times

  • מֵהֶֽם׃from them

    mehem

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

Related verses

7 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.

Ezekiel 23:28For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.4 worksEzekiel 23:22Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—3 works2 Samuel 13:15Then Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that his hatred was greater than the love he previously had. “Get up!” he said to her. “Be gone!”3 worksGenesis 11:9That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.2 worksGenesis 10:10His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.2 worksEzekiel 16:37therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.2 works
The other 1 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 57:7On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.1 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

    Genesis 11:9

    That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 10:10

      His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    • Genesis 10:5

      From these, the maritime peoples separated into their territories, according to their languages, by clans within their nations.

    • Genesis 10:20

      These are the sons of Ham according to their clans, languages, lands, and nations.

    • Acts 17:26

      From one man He made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and He determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands.

    • 1 Corinthians 14:23

      So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who are uninstructed or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your minds?

  • Through

    Ezekiel 23:28

    For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.

    it leads to

    • Ezekiel 16:37

      therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Genesis 10:10

    His kingdom began in Babylon, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

    it leads to

    • Genesis 11:9

      That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

    • Genesis 11:2

      And as people journeyed eastward, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.

Where this verse is studied

On this page

Studies1

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 23 →

This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.

Read on in Ezekiel 23 →