Bible Strands
Ezekiel 23:22
Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side—
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Lord GOD speaks through Ezekiel to Oholibah, the allegorical representation of Jerusalem, immediately after recalling her youthful indecency with Egypt. This declaration occurs within a prophetic judgment sequence detailing the consequences of her spiritual adultery.
The words — The Hebrew term מֵעִיר (me.'Ir) literally means "[am] about to rouse," and הִנְ/נִי (hi./Ni) translates to "here/ I," together emphasizing direct divine agency in the coming judgment.
The thread — This motif of turning former allies into instruments of judgment appears in Ezekiel 16:37, where God gathers the lovers against Jerusalem, and echoes Revelation 17:16, where the beast turns against the prostitute. Isaiah 10:5 similarly frames foreign nations as the rod of divine anger.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that divine judgment will utilize the very relationships and powers the prophet once prized. It requires the reader to accept that spiritual infidelity inevitably produces the instruments of its own destruction.
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
Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side;
Cross-references
- Ezekiel 16:37 therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.
- Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns and the beast that you saw will hate the prostitute. They will leave her desolate and naked, and they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
- Isaiah 10:5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.
- Isaiah 39:3 Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from Babylon.”
- Jeremiah 6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Behold, an army is coming from the land of the north; a great nation is stirred up from the ends of the earth.
- Jeremiah 12:9 Is not My inheritance to Me like a speckled bird of prey with other birds of prey circling against her? Go, gather all the beasts of the field; bring them to devour her.
- Ezekiel 23:9 Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.
- Ezekiel 23:28 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust.
- Habakkuk 1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans—that ruthless and impetuous nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.