You went to Molech with oil and multiplied your perfumes. You have sent your envoys a great distance; you have descended even to Sheol itself.
Parallel translations
- WEB You went to the king with oil, and increased your perfumes, and sent your ambassadors far off, and degraded yourself even to Sheol.
- KJV And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.
- NKJV You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol.
- NASB “You have journeyed to the king with oil And increased your perfumes; You have sent your messengers a great distance And made them go down to Sheol.
- NLT You have gone to Molech with olive oil and many perfumes, sending your agents far and wide, even to the world of the dead.
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
They sought foreign alliances and idols with oil and perfumes, sending envoys far and debasing themselves even to Sheol. It matters because it shows how far unfaithfulness will go in trusting anything but God.
Overview
Whether describing trust in foreign kings or pursuit of idolatrous worship, the people lavish gifts and travel great distances, degrading themselves to the point of death. Their relentless pursuit of false security leads only downward. The verse exposes the self-destructive nature of forsaking God, against which His coming offer of healing and peace (later in the chapter) stands as grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ezek 23:16At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
- Col 2:18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you with speculation about what he has seen. Such a person is puffed up without basis by his unspiritual mind.
- Isa 30:1–6“Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “to those who carry out a plan that is not Mine, who form an alliance, but against My will, heaping up sin upon sin.
- Isa 31:1–3Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in their abundance of chariots and in their multitude of horsemen. They do not look to the Holy One of Israel; they do not seek the LORD.
- Ezek 23:40Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.
- Hos 12:1Ephraim chases the wind and pursues the east wind all day long; he multiplies lies and violence; he makes a covenant with Assyria and sends olive oil to Egypt.
- Prov 7:17I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, with aloes, and with cinnamon.
- 2 Kgs 16:7–11So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hands of the kings of Aram and Israel, who are rising up against me.”
- Hos 7:11So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.
- Ezek 16:33Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
- Isa 2:9So mankind is brought low, and man is humbled—do not forgive them!
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 57:9 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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