Ezekiel - 23:43



43 Then I said of her who was old in adulteries, Now will they play the prostitute with her, and she (with them).

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Ezekiel 23:43.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them?
Then said I of her that was old in adulteries, Now will they play the harlot with her, and she with them .
And I said to her that was worn out in her adulteries: Now will this woman still continue in her fornication.
And I said of her that was old in adulteries, Will she now commit her fornications, even she.
Then said I to her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit lewd deeds with her, and she with them?
And I say of the worn-out one in adulteries, Now they commit her whoredoms, she also!
Then said I to her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit prostitutions with her, and she with them?
Then said I of her that was worn out by adulteries: Still they commit harlotries with her, even her.
And I said about her, as she was being worn away by her adulteries, 'Even now, she continues in her fornication!'

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Will they now commit - Rather, Now shall there be committed her whoredom, even this; i. e., when Israel and Judah had courted these alliances God said in wrath, "This sin too shall be committed, and so (not "yet) they went in;" the alliances were made according to their desires, and then followed the consequent punishment.

Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries,.... That had been an old adulterer or idolater; meaning either Aholah the ten tribes, who from Jeroboam's time had been guilty of idolatry; or Aholibah the two tribes, who had remained longer in their own country, and had been long given to idolatry; or both of them, as some think, the whole body of the people of Israel, who had been addicted to idolatry ever since they came out of Egypt, and so was like an old harlot indeed: now the Lord said "unto her", or "concerning her" (l); in his own mind, after the manner of men. So the Targum,
"I said concerning the congregation of Israel, whose people are old in sins:''
will they now commit whoredoms with her, and she with them? will they commit adultery with such an old harlot? are they not weary of her? and will they not rather loath and despise her? as it is common when such prostitutes grow old; and what pleasure can she take, thus advanced in years, in such impurities? suggesting that alliances and confederacies between the Jews and the nations of the world could not be agreeable on either side, especially to the former; but so it was, and so were their idolatries likewise. The Targum is,
"now she will leave her idols, and return to thy worship; but she returned not.''
(l) "de inveterata illa", Vatablus.

Will they, &c.--Is it possible that paramours will desire any longer to commit whoredoms with so worn-out an old adulteress?

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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