Amplified Bible
Ezekiel 16:24
24that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem].
Ezekiel 16:24 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
- New International Version (NIV)you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
- English Standard Version (ESV)you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square.
- New King James Version (NKJV)that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.
Context of Ezekiel 16:24
22And in all your repulsive acts and prostitutions (idolatrous immoralities) you did not [pause to] remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, squirming in your [newborn] blood. 23“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God), that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem]. 25At the beginning of every street you built your high place and made your beauty repulsive; and you offered your body to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene immorality. 26You also prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors [by embracing their pagan rituals], and you multiplied your obscene immorality to provoke Me to anger.
Read all of Ezekiel 16Ezekiel 16:24 word by word
וַתִּבְנִי־לָ֖ךְ גֶּ֑ב וַתַּעֲשִׂי־לָ֥ךְ רָמָ֖ה בְּכָל־רְחֽוֹב׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ezekiel 16:24
- Ezekiel 16:31When you built your shrine altar for prostitution at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, you were not like a prostitute because you refused payment.
- Ezekiel 20:28For when I had brought them into the land which I swore to give to them, they saw every high hill and every dark and leafy tree [as a place for idol worship], and there they offered their sacrifices and there they presented their offering that provoked My anger; there also they made their sweet-smelling aroma and there poured out their drink offerings.
- 2 Kings 21:3For he rebuilt the high places [for the worship of pagan gods] which his father Hezekiah had destroyed; and he set up altars for Baal and made an [image of] Asherah, just as Ahab king of Israel had done, and he worshiped all the [starry] host of heaven and served them.
- 2 Kings 23:5He got rid of the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to burn incense [to pagan gods] in the high places in Judah’s cities and all around Jerusalem—also those who burned incense to Baal, to the sun, to the moon, to the constellations [of the zodiac], and to all the [starry] host of heaven.
- 2 Chronicles 33:3For he rebuilt the [idolatrous] high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down; and he set up altars for the Baals and made the Asherim, and worshiped all the host of heaven [the sun, the moon, stars and planets] and served them.
- Leviticus 26:30I will destroy your high places [devoted to idolatrous worship], and cut down your incense altars, and heap your dead bodies upon the [crushed] bodies of your idols, and My soul will detest you [with deep and unutterable loathing].
- Psalms 78:58For they provoked Him to [righteous] anger with their high places [devoted to idol worship] And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images [by denying Him the love, worship, and obedience that is rightfully and uniquely His].
- Isaiah 57:5Who inflame yourselves [with lust in pagan rites] among the oaks (terebinth trees), Under every green and leafy tree, Who slaughter the children [in sacrifice] in the ravines Under the clefts of the rocks?
- Jeremiah 2:20“For long ago you broke your yoke [in deliberate disobedience] And tore off your bonds [of the law that I gave you]; You said, ‘I will not serve and obey You!’ For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down [in idolatrous worship] like a [compliant] prostitute.
- Jeremiah 3:2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see; Where have you not been violated? You sat by the road waiting [eagerly] for them [those man-made gods] Like an Arab [tribesman who waits to attack] in the desert, And you have desecrated the land With your [vile] prostitution and your wickedness (disobedience to God).
- Jeremiah 17:3O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the countryside, I will give [to the Babylonians, as the cost of your sin] your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, And throughout your territory, your high places of sin.
Commentaries on Ezekiel 16:24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24Thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place - גב gab, a stew or brothel; Vulg. lupanar; Septuag. . So my old MS. Bible, a bordel house. "Thou hast builded thy stewes and bordell houses in every place." - Coverdale's Bible, 1636. Bordel is an Italian word: how it got so early into our language I know not. Our modern word brothel is a corruption of it. Diodati translates, Tu hai edificato un bordello, "Thou hast built a brothel." Houses of this kind…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24That thou - Render it: after that thou didst build “unto thee an eminent place,” and didst make “thee an high place in every street” - after that thou didst build “thy high place at the head of every way and” didst make ”it came to pass, that thou” didst “also” commit “fornication” etc. An eminent place - literally, “an arched building.” Such places were used as brothels, and so the word is used metaphorically for a place of idol-worship.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23-25The prophets often described idolatry (worshiping false gods) as adultery (being unfaithful in marriage). For example, Hosea uses this picture to explain Israel’s sin (see Hosea 2). This comparison helped people understand that turning away from the Lord was like breaking a marriage promise. Ezekiel, however, gives much more detail than the other prophets. He does not describe Jerusalem as only confused or mistaken. He describes her as deeply corrupt. Her…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. eminent place--rather, "a fornication-chamber," often connected with the impure rites of idolatry; spiritual fornication, on "an eminent place," answering to "fornication-chamber," is mainly meant, with an allusion also to the literal fornication associated with it (Jr 2:20; 3:2).Read the comment
Topics related to Ezekiel 16:24
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Ezekiel 16
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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