HarperCollins Study Bible

by Harold W. Attridge

  5Oholah played the whore while she was mine; she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians, warriorsa 6clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, mounted horsemen. 7She bestowed her favors upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone for whom she lusted. 8She did not give up her whorings that she had practiced since Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and fondled her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her. 9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, for whom she lusted. 10These uncovered her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and they killed her with the sword. Judgment was executed upon her, and she became a byword among women.

  11Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was more corrupt than she in her lusting and in her whorings, which were worse than those of her sister. 12She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriorsb clothed in full armor, mounted horsemen, all of them handsome young men. 13And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14But she carried her whorings further; she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15with belts around their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers—a picture of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16When she saw them she lusted after them, and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and after she defiled herself with them, she turned from them in disgust. 18When she carried on her whorings so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned from her sister. 19Yet she increased her whorings, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20and lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptiansc fondled your bosom and caressedd your young breasts.

  22Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will rouse against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, governors and commanders all of them, officers and warriors,e all of them riding on horses. 24They shall come against you from the northf with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples; they shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet, and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall judge you according to their ordinances. 25I will direct my indignation against you, in order that they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your fine jewels. 27So I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring brought from the land of Egypt; you shall not long for them, or remember Egypt any more. 28For thus says the Lord GOD: I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust; 29and they shall deal with you in hatred, and take away all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare, and the nakedness of your whorings shall be exposed. Your lewdness and your whorings 30have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations, and polluted yourself with their idols. 31You have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand. 32Thus says the Lord GOD:

  You shall drink your sister’s cup,

  deep and wide;

  you shall be scorned and derided,

  it holds so much.

  33You shall be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.

  A cup of horror and desolation

  is the cup of your sister Samaria;

  34you shall drink it and drain it out,

  and gnaw its sherds,

  and tear out your breasts;

  for I have spoken, says the Lord GOD. 35Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, therefore bear the consequences of your lewdness and whorings.

  36The LORD said to me: Mortal, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; with their idols they have committed adultery; and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38Moreover this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my sabbaths. 39For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. This is what they did in my house.

  40They even sent for men to come from far away, to whom a messenger was sent, and they came. For them you bathed yourself, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments; 41you sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil. 42The sound of a raucous multitude was around her, with many of the rabble brought in drunken from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the armsg of the women, and beautiful crowns upon their heads.

  43Then I said, Ah, she is worn out with adulteries, but they carry on their sexual acts with her. 44For they have gone in to her, as one goes in to a whore. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, wanton women. 45But righteous judges shall declare them guilty of adultery and of bloodshed; because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

  46For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and make them an object of terror and of plunder. 47The assembly shall stone them and with their swords they shall cut them down; they shall kill their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. 48Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, so that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry; and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

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  a Meaning of Heb uncertain

  b Meaning of Heb uncertain

  c Two Mss: MT from Egypt

  d Cn: Heb for the sake of

  e Compare verses 6 and 12: Heb officers and called ones

  f Gk: Meaning of Heb uncertain

  g Heb hands

  23.1–49 Oholah and Oholibah, symbols for Samaria and Jerusalem. Cf. ch. 16 for a similar indictment of Jerusalem.

  23.2 Daughters of one mother. Who is the mother? Perhaps all of Israel in Egypt, where Israel’s whoredom begins; see 20.8.

  23.4 Oholah, lit. “her tent.” Oholibah, lit. “my tent is in her.” If “tent” refers to a tent shrine (cf. the tent of meeting, Ex 33.7–11), then the names allude to the royal shrines at the national capitals: Samaria and Jerusalem. God identifies the latter as having “my tent,” which makes Oholibah’s whoring worse than that of her sister.

  23.5–9 Indictment and sentence of Oholah. Governors, commanders, and horsemen presume the presence of Neo-Assyrian provincial political and military officials in Syro-Palestine. Her licentious behavior with Assyrians may symbolize treaties with the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Such alliances required oaths of fealty and payment of tribute as early as the late ninth century BCE.

  23.9–10 The death of Oholah and her children reflects the destruction of Samaria by the Neo-Assyrians in 721 BCE. Delivered…lovers. Cf. 16.37–39.

  23.11–27 Indictment and sentence of Oholibah.

  23.11–21 The indictment. Like her sister, Oholibah lusts after Neo-Assyrian officials. However, she was more corrupt, which Ezekiel argues in vv. 14–15. Male figures carved on the wall (v. 14), probably Neo-Assyrian wall reliefs, which were sometimes tinted red. Ezekiel may have known a tradition according to which Judahites sent emissaries to Neo-Assyrian (or Neo-Babylonian, Chaldean) cities. The greater sin would result from the Judahites’ sexual misbehavior in Mesopotamia. After God rejects Oholibah, she continues her whorings, as she had done
earlier with her sexually vigorous partners (vv. 19–20).

  23.22–27 The sentence. As with Oholah, the woman will be turned over to her lovers, who now include both Assyrians and Babylonians. Note the prominence of the o vowel in the tribal names (v. 23), which creates assonance with the names Oholah and Oholibah.

  23.23–24 Horsemen, chariots and wagons, and buckler, shield, and helmet attest to the power of the Neo-Babylonian army.

  23.25–27 As prisoners of war, Oholibah and her children are subject to physical mutilation and death. Egypt. Ezekiel continues to emphasize that the whoring dates far back in Israel’s existence.

  23.28–49 Diverse judgments and reflections based on the Oholah and Oholibah discourse.

  23.28–30 A general oracle of judgment, probably directed to Oholibah (Jerusalem); you (v. 28) is feminine singular.

  23.30 Use of idols becomes part of the indictment.

  23.31–35 Address to Oholibah and description of her punishment using the imagery of her sister’s cup; cf. Isa 51.17, 22; Jer 25.15–28; 51.7; Hab 2.16.

  23.36–49 Final reflections, which point in a new direction.

  23.36–39 More indictments, which recall chs. 16, 20, 38–39. My sanctuary focuses on ritual infractions.

  23.40–44 One woman, probably Oholibah, undertakes self-adornment, but with some materials belonging to religious ritual (my incense, v. 41).

  23.40–42 Men and rabble are imported for Oholibah; cf. 23.17.

  23.45–49 The scene shifts to human judgment (righteous judges) and Israelite laws regarding adultery (Lev 20.10).

  23.48 That all women may take warning. The conclusion has an admonitory tone, characteristic of wisdom literature, rather than one of annihilation.

  EZEKIEL 24

  The Boiling Pot

  1In the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, write down the name of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. 3And utter an allegory to the rebellious house and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD:

  Set on the pot, set it on,

  pour in water also;

  4put in it the pieces,

  all the good pieces, the thigh and the shoulder;

  fill it with choice bones.

  5Take the choicest one of the flock,

  pile the logsa under it;

  boil its pieces,b

  seethec also its bones in it.

  6Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

  Woe to the bloody city,

  the pot whose rust is in it,

  whose rust has not gone out of it!

  Empty it piece by piece,

  making no choice at all.d

  7For the blood she shed is inside it;

  she placed it on a bare rock;

  she did not pour it out on the ground,

  to cover it with earth.

  8To rouse my wrath, to take vengeance,

  I have placed the blood she shed

  on a bare rock,

  so that it may not be covered.

  9Therefore thus says the Lord GOD:

  Woe to the bloody city!

  I will even make the pile great.

  10Heap up the logs, kindle the fire;

  boil the meat well, mix in the spices,

  let the bones be burned.

  11Stand it empty upon the coals,

  so that it may become hot, its copper glow,

  its filth melt in it, its rust be consumed.

  12In vain I have wearied myself;e

  its thick rust does not depart.

  To the fire with its rust!f

  13Yet, when I cleansed you in your filthy lewdness,

  you did not become clean from your filth;

  you shall not again be cleansed

  until I have satisfied my fury upon you.

  14I the LORD have spoken; the time is coming, I will act. I will not refrain, I will not spare, I will not relent. According to your ways and your doings I will judge you, says the Lord GOD.

  Ezekiel’s Bereavement

  15The word of the LORD came to me: 16Mortal, with one blow I am about to take away from you the delight of your eyes; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. 17Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your sandals on your feet; do not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners.g 18So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded.

  19Then the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting this way?” 20Then I said to them: The word of the LORD came to me: 21Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and your heart’s desire; and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword. 22And you shall do as I have done; you shall not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of mourners.h 23Your turbans shall be on your heads and your sandals on your feet; you shall not mourn or weep, but you shall pine away in your iniquities and groan to one another. 24Thus Ezekiel shall be a sign to you; you shall do just as he has done. When this comes, then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.

  25And you, mortal, on the day when I take from them their stronghold, their joy and glory, the delight of their eyes and their heart’s affection, and alsoi their sons and their daughters, 26on that day, one who has escaped will come to you to report to you the news. 27On that day your mouth shall be opened to the one who has escaped, and you shall speak and no longer be silent. So you shall be a sign to them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

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  a Compare verse 10: Heb the bones

  b Two Mss: Heb its boilings

  c Cn: Heb its bones seethe

  d Heb piece, no lot has fallen on it

  e Cn: Meaning of Heb uncertain

  f Meaning of Heb uncertain

  g Vg Tg: Heb of men

  h Vg Tg: Heb of men

  i Heb lacks and also

  24.1–14 The boiling pot.

  24.1–2 Ninth year…month, January 15, 588 BCE (see note on 1.2), a date that the prophet is to inscribe, since Nebuchadnezzar began his siege of Jerusalem on that day.

  24.3 Another allegory. Cf. 17.2.

  24.3–5 One individual is directed to cook an animal in boiling water. Cf. Mic 3.3 for the motif of flesh and bones (though there human) in one pot. Also cf. Ezek 11.3.

  24.6–8 The imagery becomes complicated, with attention now devoted to corrosion in the pot.

  24.7–8 Then blood contaminates what is inside the pot. On Jerusalem and blood, see ch. 22. On blood manipulation, see 33.25; Gen 9.4; Lev 7.10–14; Deut 12.16. God will not allow the blood that Jerusalem has shed to be covered; cf. Gen 4.10–11; Job 16.18.

  24.9–14 Though this oracle of woe commences with reference to blood, the imagery of the pot returns. The fire will be hotter, the rust will contaminate the pot, the pot will be emptied (so also v. 6b), and nothing will be clean. This flurry of prophetic rhetoric—which is consonant with my fury—provides images rather than a definitive picture of destruction by fire.

  24.15–27 Ezekiel’s bereavement.

  24.15–18 God commands the prophet to undertake another symbolic act (cf. 4.1–5.17; 12.1–16), which involves the absence of standard mourning rituals for his wife, who is about to die. Cf. Jer 16.5 for another prohibition of mourning.

  24.17 Certain of these lamentation practices, i.e., not wearing the normal headdress, not wearing sandals, covering part of the face (upper lip), would create a different appearance for the mourner and in so doing protect the individual from the netherworld. Bread of mourners (Hebrew, “bread of humans”) may refer to the feasting that was part of the funeral rites.

  24.19–24 The act explained. God interprets the destruction of the temple to be like the death of Ezekiel’s wife. Both shall occur without the expected
and appropriate lamentation. Just as Ezekiel’s wife was the delight of his eyes (v. 16), so the temple was the delight of the people’s eyes (v. 21).

  24.24 Ezekiel, the person, and not simply what he says, becomes a sign.

  24.25–27 On the day or on that day, a formula prominent in late prophetic texts; cf. Zech 14. The sequel to these verses, 33.21–22, reports that Ezekiel will be able to speak again as a prophet and be, again, a sign to the people.

  EZEKIEL 25

  Proclamation against Ammon

  1The word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them. 3Say to the Ammonites, Hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus says the Lord GOD, Because you said, “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was profaned, and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when it went into exile; 4therefore I am handing you over to the people of the east for a possession. They shall set their encampments among you and pitch their tents in your midst; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. 5I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 6For thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within you against the land of Israel, 7therefore I have stretched out my hand against you, and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.

  Proclamation against Moab

  8Thus says the Lord GOD: Because Moaba said, The house of Judah is like all the other nations, 9therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab from the townsb on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baalmeon, and Kiriathaim. 10I will give it along with Ammon to the people of the east as a possession. Thus Ammon shall be remembered no more among the nations, 11and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.