Ezekiel 23:17
New International Version
Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

New Living Translation
So they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love. After being defiled, however, she rejected them in disgust.

English Standard Version
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust.

Berean Standard Bible
Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

King James Bible
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

New King James Version
“Then the Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love, And they defiled her with their immorality; So she was defiled by them, and alienated herself from them.

New American Standard Bible
And the Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their obscene practice. And when she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

NASB 1995
“The Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

NASB 1977
“And the Babylonians came to her to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

Legacy Standard Bible
So the Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. Then she became defiled by them, and her soul became disgusted with them.

Amplified Bible
The Babylonians came to her to the bed of love and they defiled her with their evil desire; and when she had been defiled by them, she (Jerusalem) broke the relationship and pushed them away from her in disgust.

Christian Standard Bible
Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. But after she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. But after she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

American Standard Version
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Contemporary English Version
Men from Babylonia came and had sex with her so many times that she got disgusted with them.

English Revised Version
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love; and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
So these men came from Babylon, went to bed with her, and dishonored her with their lust. After they had dishonored her, she turned away from them in disgust.

Good News Translation
The Babylonians came to have sex with her. They used her and defiled her so much that finally she became disgusted with them.

International Standard Version
The Babylonians came to her love nest and defiled her with their sexual immorality. As a result, she was defiled by them. Even so, she turned away from them in disgust.

Majority Standard Bible
Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

NET Bible
The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

New Heart English Bible
The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Webster's Bible Translation
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lewdness, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

World English Bible
The Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution. She was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
And sons of Babylon come in to her, "" To the bed of loves, "" And they defile her with their whoredoms, "" And she is defiled with them, "" And her soul is alienated from them.

Young's Literal Translation
And come in unto her do sons of Babylon, To the bed of loves, And they defile her with their whoredoms, And she is defiled with them, And her soul is alienated from them.

Smith's Literal Translation
And the sons of Babel will come to her to the bed of loves, and defile her with their fornications, and she will be defiled with them, and her soul will be rent away from them.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when the sons of Babylon were come to her to the bed of love, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was glutted with them.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And when the sons of Babylon had gone to her, to the bed of breasts, they defiled her with their fornications, and she was polluted by them, and her soul was gorged by them.

New American Bible
The Babylonians came to her, to her love couch; they defiled her with their impurities. But as soon as they had defiled her, she recoiled from them.

New Revised Standard Version
And 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.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted by them; then her soul abhorred them.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And sons of Babel came to her to lie with her, and they defiled her in their fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was disgusted by them
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their lust; and she was polluted with them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Adultery of Oholah and Oholibah
16At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust. 18When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.…

Cross References
Jeremiah 3:6-10
Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. / I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. / She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. ...

Hosea 2:5-13
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.’ / Therefore, behold, I will hedge up her path with thorns; I will enclose her with a wall, so she cannot find her way. / She will pursue her lovers but not catch them; she will seek them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will return to my first husband, for then I was better off than now.’ ...

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. ...

Jeremiah 2:20-25
“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. / I had planted you like a choice vine from the very best seed. How could you turn yourself before Me into a rotten, wild vine? / Although you wash with lye and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before Me,” declares the Lord GOD. ...

Hosea 9:1
Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation like the nations, for you have played the harlot against your God; you have made love for hire on every threshing floor.

Revelation 18:3
All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality. The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown wealthy from the extravagance of her luxury.”

Isaiah 57:3-9
“But come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes! / Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not children of transgression, offspring of deceit, / who burn with lust among the oaks, under every luxuriant tree, who slaughter your children in the valleys, under the clefts of the rocks? ...

Jeremiah 13:27
Your adulteries and lustful neighings, your shameless prostitution on the hills and in the fields—I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! How long will you remain unclean?”

Hosea 4:12-14
My people consult their wooden idols, and their divining rods inform them. For a spirit of prostitution leads them astray and they have played the harlot against their God. / 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. / I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery. For the men themselves go off with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with shrine prostitutes. So a people without understanding will come to ruin.

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.

Jeremiah 5:7-8
“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes. / They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.

Hosea 5:3-4
I know all about Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me. For now, O Ephraim, you have turned to prostitution; Israel is defiled. / Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God, for a spirit of prostitution is within them, and they do not know the LORD.

Revelation 14:8
Then a second angel followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who has made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

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!

Jeremiah 31:22
How long will you wander, O faithless daughter? For the LORD has created a new thing in the land—a woman will shelter a man.”


Treasury of Scripture

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

Babylonians.

Genesis 10:10
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 11:9
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

and her

Ezekiel 23:22,28
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; …

Ezekiel 16:37
Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

2 Samuel 13:15
Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone.

alienated [heb] loosed or disjointed

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Alienated Babylonians Bed Children Defile Defiled Desire Disgust Disgusted Fornication Harlotry Loose Love Mind Polluted Prostitution Soul Turned Unclean Whoredom Whoredoms
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Alienated Babylonians Bed Children Defile Defiled Desire Disgust Disgusted Fornication Harlotry Loose Love Mind Polluted Prostitution Soul Turned Unclean Whoredom Whoredoms
Ezekiel 23
1. The unfaithfulness of Aholah and Aholibah
23. Aholibah is to be plagued by her lovers
36. The prophet reproves the adulteries of them both
45. and shows their judgments














Then the Babylonians came to her
The phrase "Then the Babylonians came to her" signifies a pivotal moment of interaction between the Israelites and the Babylonians. Historically, the Babylonians were a dominant empire known for their military prowess and cultural influence. In the Hebrew context, the Babylonians represent a foreign power that Israel turned to for alliances, forsaking their covenant with God. This phrase highlights the spiritual adultery of Israel, as they sought security and identity in worldly powers rather than in God.

to the bed of love
The "bed of love" is a metaphorical expression that illustrates the intimate and covenantal relationship that Israel was supposed to have with God. In this context, it is used ironically to depict Israel's unfaithfulness. The Hebrew word for "bed" (מִשְׁכָּב, mishkav) often connotes a place of rest and intimacy, but here it is defiled by idolatrous practices. This phrase serves as a stark reminder of how sacred spaces can be corrupted when God's people turn away from Him.

and in their lust they defiled her
The word "lust" (זִמָּה, zimmah) in Hebrew conveys a sense of lewdness and moral corruption. The Babylonians' lustful actions symbolize the spiritual and moral degradation that occurs when God's people engage in idolatry and immorality. The defilement is not just physical but spiritual, indicating a deep-seated corruption that affects the entire community. This phrase underscores the consequences of abandoning God's commandments and the resulting impurity that taints the relationship between God and His people.

After she had been defiled by them
This phrase marks the aftermath of Israel's unfaithfulness. The defilement is complete, and the consequences are evident. The Hebrew concept of defilement (טָמֵא, tame) implies a state of impurity that separates one from the holy. In the biblical narrative, defilement often requires purification and repentance. This phrase serves as a call to recognize the gravity of sin and the need for restoration through returning to God.

she turned away from them in disgust
The turning away "in disgust" (נָקַע, naqa) indicates a moment of realization and rejection of the sinful alliance. This phrase suggests a turning point where Israel recognizes the futility and shame of their actions. The Hebrew root conveys a sense of loathing and rejection, highlighting the emotional and spiritual revulsion that comes with recognizing one's sin. This turning away is a crucial step towards repentance and restoration, emphasizing the hope that remains when God's people choose to return to Him.

(17) Her mind was alienated.--The original implies the disgust of satiety. Josiah had been the devoted friend of Babylon, and perished in his zeal on its behalf. Judah was then made a dependency of Egypt, and turned for aid to Babylon. Then receiving in turn the yoke of Babylon, she became impatient, and sought the aid of Egypt. This vacillating policy is described in Ezekiel 23:17-19, and at either, turn was so entirely wanting in sole reliance upon God as to produce the effect of Ezekiel 23:18 : "My mind was alienated from her."

Verse 17. - The words paint the intimate alliance, the political prostitution, as it were, involved in the alliance with Babylon. Her mind was alienated from them. Interpreted by the history, the words point to the fact that Judah soon found out how hollow was the help gained by the alliance with Babylon, and turned, after Josiah's death, to Egypt as a counterpoise. As in the history of Amnon (2 Samuel 13:15), lust, when it had wrought its will, passed into loathing and disgust. Jehoiakim and Zedekiah were examples of what we may well call this distracted policy. But, as it was, this alienation did but increase her guilt. As things were, it would have been better, as Jeremiah all along counseled, to accept the rule of the Chaldeans. The mind of Jehovah was alienated from Jerusalem as hers had been from the Chaldeans.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Then the Babylonians
בְנֵֽי־ (ḇə·nê-)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 1121: A son

came
וַיָּבֹ֨אוּ (way·yā·ḇō·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 935: To come in, come, go in, go

to her,
אֵלֶ֤יהָ (’ê·le·hā)
Preposition | third person feminine singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

to the bed
לְמִשְׁכַּ֣ב (lə·miš·kaḇ)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 4904: Place of lying, a couch, act of lying

of love,
דֹּדִ֔ים (dō·ḏîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 1730: To love, a love-token, lover, friend, an uncle

and in their lust
בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑ם (bə·ṯaz·nū·ṯām)
Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine plural
Strong's 8457: Harlotry, idolatry

they defiled
וַיְטַמְּא֥וּ (way·ṭam·mə·’ū)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Piel - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine plural
Strong's 2930: To be or become unclean

her.
אוֹתָ֖הּ (’ō·w·ṯāh)
Direct object marker | third person feminine singular
Strong's 853: Untranslatable mark of the accusative case

But after she had been defiled by them,
וַתִּ֨טְמָא־ (wat·tiṭ·mā-)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 2930: To be or become unclean

she
נַפְשָׁ֖הּ (nap̄·šāh)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person feminine singular
Strong's 5315: A soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion

turned away
מֵהֶֽם׃ (mê·hem)
Preposition-m | Pronoun - third person masculine plural
Strong's 1992: They

in disgust.
וַתֵּ֥קַע (wat·tê·qa‘)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 3363: To sever oneself, to be dislocated, to abandon, to impale


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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 23:17 The Babylonians came to her into (Ezek. Eze Ezk)
Ezekiel 23:16
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