Ezekiel 16:24
New International Version
you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.

New Living Translation
you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.

English Standard Version
you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square.

Berean Standard Bible
you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.

King James Bible
That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

New King James Version
that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.

New American Standard Bible
that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every public square.

NASB 1995
that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.

NASB 1977
that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.

Legacy Standard Bible
that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.

Amplified Bible
that you built yourself an altar for prostitution and made yourself a high place [for ritual prostitution] in every square [of Jerusalem].

Christian Standard Bible
you built yourself a mound and made yourself an elevated place in every square.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
you built yourself a mound and made yourself an elevated place in every square.

American Standard Version
that thou hast built unto thee a vaulted place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street.

Contemporary English Version
but you also built places on every street corner

English Revised Version
that thou hast built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
you built yourself platforms and illegal worship sites in every city square.

Good News Translation
by the side of every road you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution.

International Standard Version
"You built raised mounds and high places for yourself on every plaza.

Majority Standard Bible
you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.

NET Bible
you built yourself a chamber and put up a pavilion in every public square.

New Heart English Bible
that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

Webster's Bible Translation
That thou hast also built to thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street.

World English Bible
“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
That you build an arch for yourself, "" And make a high place for yourself in every broad place.

Young's Literal Translation
That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place.

Smith's Literal Translation
Thou wilt build to thee a brothel, and thou wilt make to thee a height in every street.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a brothel house in every street.

Catholic Public Domain Version
you built for yourself a brothel, and you made for yourself a place of prostitution in every street.

New American Bible
you built yourself a platform and raised up a dais in every public place.

New Revised Standard Version
you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square;
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
You have built yourself a house of idols, and made yourself altars in every street.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
You have built yourself a brothel and you have made yourself high places in every street
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
that thou hast built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
that thou didst build thyself a house of fornication, and didst make thyself a public place in every street;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness
23Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness, 24you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square. 25At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 3:2
“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.

Hosea 2:5
For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’

Isaiah 57:7-8
On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices. / Behind the door and doorpost you have set up your memorial. Forsaking Me, you uncovered your bed; you climbed up and opened it wide. And you have made a pact with those whose bed you have loved; you have gazed upon their nakedness.

2 Kings 21:3
For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.

1 Kings 14:23
They also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree.

Jeremiah 2:20
“For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.

Hosea 4:13
They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. And so your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.

2 Chronicles 28:24
Then Ahaz gathered up the articles of the house of God, cut them into pieces, shut the doors of the house of the LORD, and set up altars of his own on every street corner in Jerusalem.

2 Kings 23:7
He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the house of the LORD, where the women had woven tapestries for Asherah.

Isaiah 1:21
See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness resided within her, but now only murderers!

Revelation 17:1-5
Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. / The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.” / And the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, where I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ...

1 Corinthians 6:15-20
Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! / Or don’t you know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” / But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with Him in spirit. ...

James 4:4
You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.

Revelation 2:20-22
But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads My servants to be sexually immoral and to eat food sacrificed to idols. / Even though I have given her time to repent of her immorality, she is unwilling. / Behold, I will cast her onto a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her will suffer great tribulation unless they repent of her deeds.

Romans 1:24-25
Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another. / They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise! Amen.


Treasury of Scripture

That you have also built to you an eminent place, and have made you an high place in every street.

thou hast

Ezekiel 16:31,39
In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; …

Ezekiel 20:28,29
For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings…

2 Kings 21:3-7
For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them…

eminent place.

Leviticus 26:30
And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you.

Psalm 78:58
For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.

Isaiah 57:5,7
Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? …

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Arch Arched Broad Build Built Chamber Debauchery Eminent High Lofty Mound Open Public Room Shrine Square Street Vaulted
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Arch Arched Broad Build Built Chamber Debauchery Eminent High Lofty Mound Open Public Room Shrine Square Street Vaulted
Ezekiel 16
1. Under the parable of a wretched infant is shown the natural state of Jerusalem
6. God's extraordinary love toward her,
15. Her grievous judgment
35. Her sin, equal to her mother,
46. and exceeding her sisters, Sodom and Samaria,
59. calls for judgments
60. Mercy is promised her in the end














you built yourself a mound
The phrase "you built yourself a mound" refers to the construction of high places, which were often used for idolatrous worship in ancient Israel. The Hebrew word for "mound" is "גָּב" (gab), which can mean a back or a high place. In the context of Ezekiel, it symbolizes the pride and self-exaltation of Jerusalem, as they turned away from God to worship idols. Historically, these mounds were elevated platforms where altars were erected, signifying a deliberate act of rebellion against God's command to worship Him alone. This act of building a mound represents the spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness of the people, as they sought to elevate themselves and their desires above God's will.

and made yourself a lofty shrine
The term "lofty shrine" in Hebrew is "רָמָה" (ramah), which means a high place or an elevated site. These shrines were often associated with pagan worship and were strategically placed on hills or elevated areas to be closer to the heavens, symbolizing a misguided attempt to reach or appease the divine through human effort. In the conservative Christian perspective, this highlights the futility and sinfulness of trying to replace God's ordained worship with man-made rituals. The "lofty shrine" is a metaphor for the arrogance and spiritual infidelity of the people, as they sought to create their own paths to spirituality, ignoring the true worship of Yahweh.

in every public square
The phrase "in every public square" indicates the widespread nature of the idolatry and unfaithfulness of the people. The Hebrew word for "public square" is "רְחוֹב" (rechov), which refers to a broad place or an open area in a city where people gather. This suggests that the idolatrous practices were not hidden or isolated but were openly displayed and accepted in society. From a historical and archaeological perspective, public squares were central to community life, serving as places for trade, social interaction, and civic activities. The presence of idolatrous shrines in these areas underscores the pervasive corruption and moral decline of the society, as the people collectively turned away from God. In a spiritual sense, this serves as a warning against allowing cultural norms and societal pressures to lead believers away from true worship and obedience to God.

(24) Built unto thee an eminent place.--The word means literally, arches. Such arched rooms were used in connection with the worship of idols for licentious purposes, and hence the translation of the margin indicates the real object of the structure, whether the word be taken in its literal sense, or spiritually, of unfaithfulness to God. In the following verse the indiscriminateness of Israel's idolatry is expressed in the strongest terms, and then in the following verses the adoption of the idolatries of several nations in particular is specified.

Verse 24. - An eminent place; lofty (Revised Version); but the word strictly points to the form of a vault, with the added meaning, as in the LXX., οἵκημα πορνικόν, and the Vulgate, lupanar, of its being used for prostitution. It is, at hast, a curious fact that the Latin fornicari and its derivatives, take their start from the fornices, the vaults or cells which were the haunts of the harlots of Rome. Looking to the fact that all the worst forms of sensual evil came to Rome from the East, and specially from Syria -

"Jampridem in Tiberim Syrus defluxit Orontes"

(Juv., 'Sat.', 3:62) - it seems probable that the practice was a survival of the custom to which Ezekiel refers. As in the Mylitta worship at Babylon (Herod., 1:262; Bar., 6:43), and that of Aphrodite at Corinth, prostitution assumed a quasi-religious character, and t

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
you built
וַתִּבְנִי־ (wat·tiḇ·nî-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

yourself
לָ֖ךְ (lāḵ)
Preposition | second person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew

a mound
גֶּ֑ב‪‬ (geḇ)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 1354: The back, the top, rim, a boss, a vault, arch of eye, bulwarks

and made
וַתַּעֲשִׂי־ (wat·ta·‘ă·śî-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - second person feminine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

yourself
לָ֥ךְ (lāḵ)
Preposition | second person feminine singular
Strong's Hebrew

a lofty shrine
רָמָ֖ה (rā·māh)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7413: Height, high place

in every
בְּכָל־ (bə·ḵāl)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605: The whole, all, any, every

public square.
רְחֽוֹב׃ (rə·ḥō·wḇ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7339: A broad open place, plaza


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 16:24 That you have built to you (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 16:23
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