Ezekiel 16:14

12 And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. ^aYou ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly ^bbeautiful, and succeeded to royalty.

14 ^aYour fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s Harlotry

15 ^a“But you trusted in your own beauty, ^bplayed the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.

16 ^aYou took some of your garments and adorned multicolored¹ high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.

17 You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.

18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.

19 Also ^aMy food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as¹ sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.

20 ^a“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,

21 that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the ^afire?

22 And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your ^ayouth, ^bwhen you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

23 “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God—

24 that ^ayou also built for yourself a shrine, and ^bmade a high place for yourself in every street.

25 You built your high places ^aat the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry.

26 You also committed harlotry with ^athe Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to ^bprovoke Me to anger.

27 “Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your¹ allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, ^athe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.

28 You also played the harlot with the ^aAssyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.

29 Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, ^aChaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.

30 “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.

Jerusalem’s Adultery

31 ^a“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your¹ high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned ^bpayment.

32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.

33 Men make payment to all harlots, but ^ayou made your payments to all your lovers, and¹ hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.

34 You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”

Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her

35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!

36 Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of ^athe blood of your children which you gave to them,

Commentaries:

Forerunner Commentary
What is the Forerunner Commentary?

<< Ezekiel 16:13

Ezekiel 16:15 >>

What Does Ezekiel 16:14 Mean?

Ezekiel 16:13-14

Notice that, though described as a woman, she is in reality a nation that other nations admire. Israel's marriage to God bound her to keep His laws (Exodus 19:8), but she was not faithful. Harlotry entered the relationship. From this point on in the relationship, her harlotry—the fornication and adultery of the woman—is either implied or directly stated in virtually every remaining verse in Ezekiel 16.

The liberal Interpreter's Bible Commentary says that Israel is portrayed as a wife who became a pagan temple-prostitute. That is a possibility, but the conservative commentaries seem to be more correct. She is portrayed as an unfaithful wife whose faithlessness is displayed in a far wider range of activities than just worship. Israel, the nation and wife, is unfaithful in every area and activity of life in which a faithful wife/nation would normally be involved.

Her sins are described in sexual terms because sexual sins are the most common way infidelity in marriage is shown to the public. Everybody can relate to it. Despite the commands of her Husband, Israel simply did whatever she wanted to do, when she wanted to do it, and how she wanted to do it. Amidst the business of daily life, she simply ignored or completely forgot the vows of faithfulness given in former years to God.

The harlotry implied is clearly the breaking of the terms of the marriage covenant. Her harlotry is unfaithfulness, disloyalty, and is primarily spiritual in nature. The most ruinous spiritual sin behind these sexual terms is gross idolatry, but all other sins are included. Israel was unfaithful in managing God's green earth and in conducting business both domestically and internationally. She revealed her infidelity in the wreckage of millions of her citizen's marriages and child-training practices. She showed herself faithless when her people lied to, stole from, lusted after, and murdered each other. She proved herself to be disloyal and ungrateful by forgetting from whom came her great blessings and worshipping things made rather than the Creator who made them.

John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beast and Babylon (Part Five): The Great Harlot

<< Ezekiel 16:13

Ezekiel 16:15 >>

Join 137,074+ readers

A Verse and a Thought,
Every Morning

Consistent Bible study is hard to start.

The Berean gives you the starting point: one scripture and a focused commentary in your inbox each morning — read it in minutes, or go as deep as you like.

Free, daily, and spam-free. We never share your address. Unsubscribe anytime.