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You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,
Ezekiel 23:41 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB and sat on a stately bed, with a table prepared before it, whereupon you set my incense and my oil.
  • KJV And satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
  • NKJV You sat on a stately couch, with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil.
  • NASB and you sat on a splendid couch with a table arranged in front of it on which you had set My incense and My oil.
  • NLT You sat with them on a beautifully embroidered couch and put my incense and my special oil on a table that was spread before you.

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 reclined on a luxurious bed with God's own incense and oil set out for her idolatrous guests. It shows the sacrilege of using holy things in the service of sin.

Overview

Judah is pictured enthroned on a 'stately bed' with a prepared table, having taken 'my incense and my oil', items meant for the worship of Yahweh, and offered them to her false lovers. The desecration of what was consecrated to God deepens the offense. Misappropriating God's gifts for self-indulgent idolatry remains a perennial temptation.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Esth 1:6Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.
  • Isa 65:11But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
  • Jer 44:17Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
  • Ezek 44:16They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge.
  • Amos 6:4You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
  • Isa 57:7On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
  • Amos 2:8They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.
  • Ezek 16:18–19You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.
  • Mal 1:7By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.
  • Hos 2:8–9For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.
  • Prov 7:16–17I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Ezekiel videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Ezekiel 23:41YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on EzekielMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 23:41 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.