And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the LORD GOD;)
Parallel translations
- WEB “‘“It has happened after all your wickedness. Woe, woe to you!” says the Lord Yahweh,
- BSB Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness,
- NKJV “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God—
- NASB “Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God),
- NLT “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness,
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
After all her wickedness God pronounces a doubled 'Woe.' Her sin has reached a point demanding lament and judgment.
Overview
The repeated 'Woe, woe' signals the gravity of what follows and the certainty of coming judgment. It marks a transition from cataloging her idolatry to exposing her political harlotry with the nations. The lament tone shows that judgment grieves even as it is just.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ezek 13:18And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the women that sew pillows to all armholes, and make kerchiefs upon the head of every stature to hunt souls! Will ye hunt the souls of my people, and will ye save the souls alive that come unto you?
- Zeph 3:1Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city!
- Ezek 2:10And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
- Jer 13:27I have seen thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the lewdness of thy whoredom, and thine abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem! wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?
- Ezek 24:6Wherefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
- Ezek 13:3Thus saith the Lord GOD; Woe unto the foolish prophets, that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!
- Matt 23:13–29But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
- Matt 11:21Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
- Rev 12:12Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
- Rev 8:13And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
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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 16:23 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.