Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Behold, I will raise up your lovers against you, from whom your soul is alienated, and I will bring them against you on every side:
- KJV 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;
- NKJV “Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you, From whom you have alienated yourself, And I will bring them against you from every side:
- NASB “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold I am going to incite your lovers against you, from whom you turned away in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side:
- NLT “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will send your lovers against you from every direction—those very nations from which you turned away in disgust.
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
God announces He will turn Judah's former lovers, the nations she trusted, into her attackers. It teaches that the world we put before God will not save but will turn against us.
Overview
Speaking directly to Oholibah (Judah), the Lord Yahweh declares He will raise up the very allies she courted to come against her on every side. The irony of judgment is that the objects of misplaced trust become instruments of wrath. This reversal exposes the folly of seeking security apart from God, who alone is a faithful refuge.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ezek 16:37therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.
- Rev 17:16And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
- Ezek 23:9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.
- Isa 39:3–4Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”
- Ezek 23:28For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.
- Isa 10:5–6Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Jer 6:22–23This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jer 12:9–12Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her.
- Hab 1:6–10For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
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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 23:22 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
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