and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.
Parallel translations
- WEB She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of donkeys, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
- KJV For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
- NKJV For she lusted for her paramours, Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys, And whose issue is like the issue of horses.
- NASB She lusted after their lovers, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose discharge is like the discharge of horses.
- NLT She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.
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
Using deliberately crude imagery, the verse depicts Judah's lust for foreign powers and their gods as grossly excessive. It conveys how degrading and dehumanizing idolatry truly is.
Overview
Ezekiel uses shocking, coarse language to strip away any glamour from Judah's pursuit of Egypt and other nations. The vulgarity is intentional, exposing spiritual adultery as the ugly, debasing thing it is in God's sight, not the attractive alliance it seemed politically. Scripture does not sanitize sin; it names it plainly so that the reader feels its shame and turns from it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ezek 17:15But this king rebelled against Babylon by sending his envoys to Egypt to ask for horses and a large army. Will he flourish? Will the one who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and yet escape?’
- Ezek 16:26You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
- Ezek 16:20You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
- Jer 5:8They are well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing after his neighbor’s wife.
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 23:20 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.