Bible Strands
Ezekiel 23:14
But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezekiel delivers this oracle to the exiled house of Israel, narrating the moment Oholibah’s spiritual adultery intensifies after her sister’s defilement. The vision functions as a judicial indictment against Jerusalem’s deliberate pursuit of foreign alliances.
The words — תַּזְנוּתֶ֑י/הָ (taz.nu.Tei./ha) literally means “her prostitution,” denoting the escalation of idolatrous covenant-breaking, while מְחֻקֶּ֣ה (me.chu.Keh) translates to “a carved thing,” identifying the specific visual form of the foreign deities.
The thread — The motif of wall engravings appears in Ezekiel 8:10, where crawling creatures are carved around the temple wall, and in Jeremiah 22:14, where architectural panels signal prideful self-exaltation. Isaiah 46:1 similarly treats carved images as heavy, burdensome idols.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that covenant unfaithfulness progresses from internal compromise to external, observed idolatry. It requires the reader to see how visual culture and deliberate imitation of foreign powers constitute active rebellion against divine authority.
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
And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion,
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 8:10 So I went in and looked, and engraved all around the wall was every kind of crawling creature and detestable beast, along with all the idols of the house of Israel.
- Jeremiah 22:14 who says, ‘I will build myself a great palace, with spacious upper rooms.’ So he cuts windows in it, panels it with cedar, and paints it with vermilion.
- Isaiah 46:1 Bel crouches; Nebo cowers. Their idols weigh down beasts and cattle. The images you carry are burdensome, a load to the weary animal.
- Jeremiah 50:2 “Announce and declare to the nations; lift up a banner and proclaim it; hold nothing back when you say, ‘Babylon is captured; Bel is put to shame; Marduk is shattered, her images are disgraced, her idols are broken in pieces.’
- Ezekiel 16:29 So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!