You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
- BSB You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.
- NKJV You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
- NASB You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them.
- NLT You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
She melted God's gold and silver into male idols and committed harlotry with them. She prostituted His own gifts into objects of worship.
Overview
The precious metals God gave were forged into idols, here vividly called partners in her adultery. The imagery exposes the absurd self-degradation of idolatry: worshiping things made from the Giver's own gifts. It dramatizes how sin twists every good provision of God into a rival to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 23:14–21“She increased her prostitution; for she saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
- Isa 44:19–20No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?”
- Hos 2:13I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says Yahweh.
- Hos 10:1Israel is a luxuriant vine that produces his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.
- Jer 3:9Because she took her prostitution lightly, the land was polluted, and she committed adultery with stones and with wood.
- Ezek 16:11I decked you with ornaments. put bracelets on your hands, and a chain on your neck.
- Isa 57:7–8On a high and lofty mountain you have set your bed. You also went up there to offer sacrifice.
- Jer 2:27–28who tell wood, ‘You are my father;’ and a stone, ‘You have given birth to me:’ for they have turned their back to me, and not their face; but in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise, and save us.’
- Ezek 7:19–20They will cast their silver in the streets, and their gold will be as an unclean thing. Their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath. They won’t satisfy their souls, neither fill their bellies; because it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.
- Exod 32:1–4When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron, and said to him, “Come, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 16:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.