Bible Strands
Ezekiel 16:30
How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to Jerusalem, condemning her spiritual adultery immediately after detailing her expansion of illicit alliances to Chaldea.
The words — אֲמֻלָה ('amulah) literally translates to "hot" or "burning," characterizing the heart's intense, uncontrolled drive, while מָה (mah) serves as a sharp exclamation marking the shock of its moral weakness.
The thread — This pattern of unrepentant covenant violation and spiritual blindness reappears in Isaiah 1:3 and Jeremiah 3:3, where God contrasts natural instinct with His people's refusal to recognize His authority.
Why it lands — The text first declares that outward idolatrous acts flow from a corrupted inner disposition, then demands the reader confront that internal reality as the root cause before any appeal to cessation.
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
How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
Cross-references
- Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
- Jeremiah 3:3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
- Proverbs 9:13 The woman named Folly is loud; she is naive and knows nothing.
- Isaiah 3:9 The expression on their faces testifies against them, and like Sodom they flaunt their sin; they do not conceal it. Woe to them, for they have brought disaster upon themselves.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For My people are fools; they have not known Me. They are foolish children, without understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but they know not how to do good.”
- Judges 16:15 “How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”
- Proverbs 7:11 She is loud and defiant; her feet do not remain at home.
- Proverbs 7:21 With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him.
- Jeremiah 2:12 Be stunned by this, O heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled,” declares the LORD.
- Revelation 17:1 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.