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Ezekiel 23:22

in Ezekiel 23

Therefore, 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—

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

Therefore, O Oholibah, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy soul is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side:

KJV

Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;

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This verse in Ezekiel 23

Commentary

4 notes on this verse
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God,.... Or, ye two tribes of Benjamin and Judah, hear what the Lord says unto you: behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee; the Chaldeans, whom they had formerly loved, and in whose alliance they were, and whose idols they worshipped: from whom thy mind is alienated; having broke covenant with them, and cast off their yoke, and rebelled against them: and I will bring them against thee on every side; to besiege and encompass Jerusalem on every side with their army, as they did, so that there was no escaping.

This site's exposition

I will raise up thy lovers against thee

on Ezekiel 23:22-27

The Lord raises up Jerusalem's own former lovers, the Babylonians and their allies. Keil reads the mutilation named at verse 25 against known penalties for adultery in the surrounding cultures. Fairbairn notes the stripping of clothes and jewels at verse 26 answers the ornaments the Lord gave in chapter 16.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Jerome

Commentary on Ezekiel · Written before 420.

proposed

(v. 22ff.) Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and with a host of peoples.

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

): " I will raise up thy lovers against thee, the Chaldeans, whom formerly thou didst so much admire and covet an acquaintance with, but from whom thy mind is since alienated and with whom thou hast perfidiously broken covenant." They are called thy lovers (

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation

The words behind it

19 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.

  • לָכֵ֣ן<to> therefore

    lakhenH3651 →771 times

  • אָהֳלִיבָ֗הO Oholibah

    ʾoholivahH172 →6 times

  • כֹּֽה־thus

    koh-H3541 →577 times

  • אָמַר֮he says

    ʾamarH559 →5305 times

  • אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord

    ʾadonaiH136 →440 times

  • יְהוִה֒Yahweh

    yahwehH3069 →306 times

  • הִנְנִ֨יhere I

    hiniH2005 →316 times

  • מֵעִ֤יר[am] about to rouse

    meirH5782 →

  • אֶת־<obj.>

    ʾet-H853 →10935 times

  • מְאַהֲבַ֙יִךְ֙lovers your

    meahavayikhH157 →211 times

  • עָלַ֔יִךְon you

    ʾalayikhH5921 →5755 times

  • אֵ֛ת<obj.>

    ʾetH853 →10935 times

  • אֲשֶׁר־[those] whom

    ʾasher-H834 →5497 times

  • נָקְעָ֥הit was alienated

    nakeahH5361 →3 times

  • נַפְשֵׁ֖ךְself your

    nafshekhH5315 →754 times

  • מֵהֶ֑םfrom them

    mehem

  • וַהֲבֵאתִ֥יםand I will bring them

    vahavetimH935 →2568 times

  • עָלַ֖יִךְon you

    ʾalayikhH5921 →5755 times

  • מִסָּבִֽיב׃from round about

    misavivH5439 →336 times

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

Related verses

14 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 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.4 worksEzekiel 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 worksRevelation 17:16And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.3 worksEzekiel 23:17Then 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.3 worksHosea 2:7She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’3 worksJeremiah 22:20Go up to Lebanon and cry out; raise your voice in Bashan; cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been crushed.3 works
The other 8 cross-references, with their words ▾
Isaiah 39:3–4Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”2 worksJeremiah 12:9–12Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her.2 worksIsaiah 10:5–6Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.2 worksHabakkuk 1:6–10For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.2 worksEzekiel 23:9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.2 worksJeremiah 6:22–23This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.2 worksEzekiel 16:27Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct.2 worksJeremiah 30:14All your lovers have forgotten you; they no longer seek you, for I have struck you as an enemy would, with the discipline of someone cruel, because of your great iniquity and your numerous sins.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

    Revelation 17:16

    And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.

    it leads to

    • Revelation 18:8

      Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

    • Ezekiel 16:37–44

      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…

    • Leviticus 21:9

      If a priest’s daughter defiles herself by prostituting herself, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.

    • Jeremiah 50:41–42

      Behold, an army is coming from the north; a great nation and many kings are stirred up from the ends of the earth.

  • Through

    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…

    it leads to

    • Hosea 2:10

      And then I will expose her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of My hands.

    • Jeremiah 13:22

      And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

  • 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 23:17

      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.

    • Jeremiah 34:20

      I will deliver into the hands of their enemies who seek their lives. Their corpses will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth.

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 Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Ezekiel; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Patrick Fairbairn, An Exposition of Ezekiel.

Read on in Ezekiel 23 →