Ezekiel 16:17

Translations

Modern

You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.

Traditional

Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,

Literal

And you have taken the articles of your beauty from My gold and from My silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself images of a male and prostituted yourself with them!

Latin

Et tulisti vasa decoris tui de auro meo atque argento meo, quæ dedi tibi, et fecisti tibi imagines masculinas, et fornicata es in eis.

Original

Hebrew

English

You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.

Notes

Ezekiel 16:15–19

Jerusalem did not appreciate the good things God gave her. She used her fame and beauty for false gods. She offered clothes, jewels, food, and oil to idols instead of honoring God.

Ezekiel 16:1–63

In Ezekiel 16, Jerusalem is described as an unfaithful wife and a prostitute. This language is very strong. Even in English, the chapter can be difficult to read. In its ancient setting, it would have sounded even more shocking.

Ezekiel used graphic language to show how serious Judah’s sin was. He did not try to make his message softer or more polite. He spoke in a direct and forceful way.

This strong language is the main point of the chapter. Ezekiel wanted the people to feel how terrible their sin was in God’s sight. The shocking description helped them understand that God’s judgment was not unfair.

If Ezekiel had used softer words, the people might not have understood the full seriousness of their sin. The strong picture was necessary to show why God’s judgment was justified (that is, right and fair).

Ezekiel 15:1–24:14

This section includes eight metaphors, each showing from a different angle the certainty of Jerusalem's upcoming judgment. The images are of:

a worthless vine (Ezekiel 15);
a faithless wife (Ezekiel 16);
a vine and two eagles (Ezekiel 17);
Sour grapes (Ezekiel 18);
a lion and her cubs (Ezekiel 19);
a sword (Ezekiel 21);
two corrupt sisters (Ezekiel 23); and
a cooking pot (Ezekiel 24).

Theme notes and profiles

Apostasy and Renewal Biblical Marriage God’s Covenants The Broken Covenant

Events

Prophecies of Ezekielc. 593 BC

Related verses

Ezekiel 23:14–21
But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,
Exodus 32:1–4
Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
Isaiah 57:7–8
On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
Hosea 10:1
Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.
Isaiah 44:19–20
And no one considers in his heart, no one has the knowledge or insight to say, “I burned half of it in the fire, and I baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and I ate. Shall I make something detestable with the rest of it? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
Hosea 2:13
I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD.
Ezekiel 7:19–20
They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will seem unclean. Their silver and gold cannot save them in the day of the wrath of the LORD. They cannot satisfy their appetites or fill their stomachs with wealth, for it became the stumbling block that brought their iniquity.
Ezekiel 16:11
I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
Jeremiah 2:27–28
…say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
Jeremiah 3:9
Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.

Glossary

Adultery Bride of Christ Ezekiel, Book of Food and Food Preparation Hittites Sexual Immorality

Topics

Gold used in the Arts: Into Ornaments Idolatry: Wicked Practices of Licentiousness of Ingratitude of Man to God Lasciviousness: Figurative

Ezekiel 16:17

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