Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:24
you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, pronouncing woe as she compounds her existing wickedness with public idolatry.
The words — The Hebrew גֵּב (gev) denotes a raised mound or platform, while רָמָה (ramah) refers to a high place or elevated shrine. These terms describe the physical structures erected for unauthorized worship.
The thread — This pattern of constructing high places appears in Psalms 78:58, Isaiah 57:7, and Jeremiah 2:20 as a recurring marker of covenant violation.
Why it lands — The text describes erecting mounds and shrines in every public square as a concrete addition to her wickedness. Interpreters infer that these visible altars manifest spiritual adultery, requiring readers to recognize how outward religious infrastructure can normalize covenant betrayal.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
Cross-references
- Psalms 78:58 They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols.
- Isaiah 57:7 On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
- Jeremiah 2:20 “For long ago you broke your yoke and tore off your chains, saying, ‘I will not serve!’ Indeed, on every high hill and under every green tree you lay down as a prostitute.
- Ezekiel 16:31 But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
- Ezekiel 16:39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
- Jeremiah 3:2 “Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.
- Ezekiel 20:28 When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.
- Leviticus 26:30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.
- 2 Kings 21:3 For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed, and he raised up altars for Baal. He made an Asherah pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, and he worshiped and served all the host of heaven.
- 2 Kings 23:5 Josiah also did away with the idolatrous priests ordained by the kings of Judah to burn incense on the high places of the cities of Judah and in the places all around Jerusalem—those who had burned incense to Baal, to the sun and moon, to the constellations, and to all the host of heaven.