She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
Parallel Translations
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She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
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For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
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And she doted upon concubinage with them, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 23:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ezekiel 16:26 You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.
- Ezekiel 17:15 But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?
- Jeremiah 5:8 They were as fed horses roaming at large. Everyone neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
- Ezekiel 16:20 “ ‘ “Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 23:20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose…
Eze 23:20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh [is as] the flesh of asses, and whose issue [is like] the issue of horses.
Ver. 20. Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses.] Qui sunt bene mentulati (honos sit nutibus) et qui semine abundant. Commodus the emperor, who had never a good property in him, was for this called the Ass, as Jerome noteth.
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And whose issue is as the issue of horses.] Fluxus equorum est fluxus eorum - that is, they are extremely libidinous and superstitious, so that there is no ho with them. Circumfluunt et exundant omni scelere et impietate copiosissime.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Doted: see Eze 23:5.
Doted: see Eze 23:5.
Upon their paramours; Egyptians, and the nations that were confederate with the Egyptians; looking on them as able to defend by their power, enrich by their trade, and make prosperous by their friendship.
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Whose flesh, & c.: in these terms the prophet expresseth the vehement desire of the Jews to Egyptian idolatry, compared to whoredom, and may, for aught I know, tax the lustful impudence of some of the Jewish women in their corporal uncleannesses with the Egyptians, who were it seems (by report of authors) naturally disposed for that vice, and fittest for unsatiable, lustful women: see Eze 16:26.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For she doted upon their paramours,.... Or "concubines" (z);…
For she doted upon their paramours,.... Or "concubines" (z); the neighbouring nations and allies of the Egyptians, whose friendship the Jews courted, and whose idols they served: the Septuagint and Arabic versions wrongly read the Chaldeans:
whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses; by "flesh" is meant the "membrum virile", which in asses is very large, and therefore dedicated to Priapus by the Heathens; and vast is the profusion of seed in coitus by horses, to which the flesh and issue of the Egyptian paramours are compared; who were very libidinous, and therefore desirable to insatiable women; all which serves to express the eagerness of the people of the Jews after idolatry.
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(z) "equecubinas eorum", Vatablus, so Junius & Tremellius, Polanus; "concubitores", Munster, Tigurine version; "cinaedos", Castalio; and, as Ben Melech observes, these were men, and not women.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Paramours - The nations, that were confederate with the…
Paramours - The nations, that were confederate with the Egyptians.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. She doted upon their paramours] פלגשיהם pillagsheyhem,…
Verse 20. She doted upon their paramours] פלגשיהם pillagsheyhem, their harlots or concubines. Anciently harlot meant in our language either the male or female prostitute.
Whose flesh is as the flesh of asses] See on Eze 16:25.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Asses. He means the Egyptians, (chap. xvi. 26.) in…
Asses. He means the Egyptians, (chap. xvi. 26.) in whom the kings of Juda trusted. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain their paramours--that is, her paramours among them (the Egyptians);…
their paramours--that is, her paramours among them (the Egyptians); she doted upon their persons as her paramours (Eze 23:5, Eze 23:12, Eze 23:16).
flesh--the membrum virile (very large in the ass). Compare Lev 15:2, Margin; Eze 16:26.
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issue of horses--the seminal issue. The horse was made by the Egyptians the hieroglyphic for a lustful person.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 20. Compare notes Eze_16:26, and see Jer_5:8. The coarsest…
20. Compare notes Eze_16:26, and see Jer_5:8. The coarsest and most fleshly abominations just suited her taste.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) Their paramours.—The word is masculine, as indicating the…
(20) Their paramours.—The word is masculine, as indicating the abominable sins copied by the Israelites from the heathen, and asses and horses are introduced to show the intensity of lust. (Comp. Jer_5:8.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain She doted on her paramours. Commonly the word is…
She doted on her paramours. Commonly the word is used of a concubine. (Gen_22:24; Jud_1:8:31) Here it is used in scorn of the Egyptian princes whose favor Judah courted, reminding us of Homer"s jAcaiidev oujket jAcaioi, as indicating their political weakness. All that need be said of the comparison that follows is that here also Ezekiel follows in the footsteps of Jeremiah. (Jer_5:8) What isindicated is that Judah threw herself into the idolatrous ritual of Egypt with an almost orgiastic passion. The harlot nation returned, as it were, to her first love, and renewed the whoredoms of her youth.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues his metaphor in which he speaks of the cities of Jerusalem and Samaria as if they were two prostitutes. This metaphor continues through Ezekiel 23:34. (See: Metaphor)
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whose private parts were like those of donkeys
This compares the size of the mens' private parts to those of a donkey to show how wicked Oholibah's desires were. This is an exaggeration as they could not be as large as those of a donkey. AT: "whose private parts were very long, like those of a donkey" (See: Simile and Hyperbole and Generalization)
whose reproductive emissions were like those of horses
This compares the volume of the mens' emissions to those of a horse to show how wicked Oholibah's desires were. This is an exaggeration as they could not be like those of a horse. AT: "whose reproductive emissions were huge, like those of a horse" (See: Simile and Hyperbole and Generalization)
translationWords
donkey
shame
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.