“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:
Parallel translations
- 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;
- BSB 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—
- 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 see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those who you have loved, with all those who you have hated; I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
- Rev 17:16The ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute, and will make her desolate, and will make her naked, and will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.
- Ezek 23:9“Therefore I delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.
- Isa 39:3–4Then Isaiah the prophet came to king Hezekiah, and asked him, “What did these men say? Where did they come from to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come from a country far from me, even from Babylon.”
- Ezek 23:28“For thus says the Lord Yahweh: ‘Behold, I will deliver you into the hand of them whom you hate, into the hand of them from whom your soul is alienated.
- Isa 10:5–6Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
- Jer 6:22–23Yahweh says, “Behold, a people comes from the north country. A great nation shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth.
- Jer 12:9–12Is my heritage to me as a speckled bird of prey? Are the birds of prey against her all around? Go, assemble all the animals of the field, bring them to devour.
- Hab 1:6–10For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
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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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