Ezekiel 23:37
For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.
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Other translations
For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have also caused their sons, whom they bore to me, to pass through the fire to them to be devoured.
For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.
That they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass for them through the fire, to devour them.
For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery; and they have also caused their sons, whom they bare unto me, to pass through [the fire] unto them to be devoured.
For she has been false to me, and blood is on her hands, and with her images she has been untrue; and more than this, she made her sons, whom she had by me, go through the fire to them to be burned up.
For they have committed adultery, And blood is in their hands, With their idols they committed adultery, And also their sons whom they bore to Me, They caused to pass over to them for food.
For they have committed adultery, and blood is in their hands; and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also passed over unto them their children, whom they bore unto me, to be devoured.
Original Hebrew
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Study notes
Whole chapterOn Ezekiel 23:1–49
This chapter, like chapter 16, tells the history of the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel and Judah. It does this through an extended metaphor (a comparison that continues through many verses).
In this comparison, Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities, are described as two immoral women. The language is strong and direct.
This metaphor shows that their judgment was certain and deserved.
On Ezekiel 23:36–43
The prophet again took the role of a prosecuting attorney. A prosecuting attorney is a person who brings charges against someone in court. His task was to confront Jerusalem with her sins (detailed in Ezekiel 22).
Jerusalem and Samaria were supposed to be holy cities, set apart for God. Instead, they had become like worn-out prostitutes. This picture shows that they had been unfaithful to God. Their only attraction was their availability, meaning they were ready to give themselves to anyone.
The prophet used this strong image to show how serious their unfaithfulness was. They had turned away from the Lord and given their loyalty to other gods and foreign nations.
On this section Ezekiel 12:1–24:27
Ezekiel continued sharing God’s messages of judgement among the Jews in Babylon. His actions of prophecy included packing bags for a trip and trembling while eating. He groaned and beat his chest and also drew a map for the king of Babylon. He didn’t cry when his wife died even though he loved her.
Some messages he spoke clearly to the people. He gave a short account of the entire history of Israel. He spoke against men and women who were false prophets. He spoke against elders who asked God for advice even while they worshipped false gods. Some people accused God of being unfair. They said that God punished them for sins they hadn’t committed. Those sins had been committed by their parents and their people from long ago. Ezekiel explained that God always and only ever does what is fair. God holds each person responsible for their own choices.
Ezekiel sang a sad song about Israel’s princes. Then he spoke clearly about King Zedekiah as an unholy and evil prince. Some Jews said that the judgement Ezekiel announced wouldn’t come for a very long time. They didn’t believe that God would allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. They didn’t believe that they deserved to be judged in this way. They didn’t think that they had lived in evil ways that had to be stopped. And they trusted that other nations would save Jerusalem from the Babylonian armies. God said that the time had come for him to act. This made it clear that no one could stop his judgement from coming.
Ezekiel shared some of God’s messages as poems and others as stories. In these stories God compared his people to different things. He compared them to a useless vine that was burnt in a fire. He compared them to a vine that grew the wrong way. He compared them to the scum left behind when metals are burnt to make silver. They were like meat in a pot that would be cooked over a hot fire. These were ways to describe the sins of the southern kingdom.
God compared his people to a baby girl that God rescued from the desert. But she grew up to be an unfaithful wife to God. God described Jerusalem and Samaria as two sisters who belonged to God. But they acted like prostitutes. These stories don’t mean that God had sex with anyone. God used marriage as a way to talk about being faithful and committed.
God had committed himself to being the Israelites’ God for ever. He had done this in the Mount Sinai covenant. The Israelites had committed to faithfully following the Law of Moses. The most important part of that was to worship and serve God only. But the people of the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom hadn’t done that. They didn’t trust God to give them peace, rest and safety. Instead they trusted the governments of nations like Assyria, Egypt and Babylon to protect them.
They followed the practices of the nations around them. They worshipped the false gods of other nations. This led them to treat needy people badly. It led them to want more and more wealth. It led them to sacrifice children to false gods. All of these things went against God’s laws. These were ways that God’s people had been unfaithful to him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes (adapted by Mission Mutual) and Biblica Study Notes, CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.