Ezekiel 23:27

So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Yahweh addresses the allegorical figures of Samaria and Jerusalem in Ezekiel 23, speaking immediately after their stripping and before their delivery to their enemies.

The words — The Hebrew verb וְ/הִשְׁבַּתּ֤י (ve./hish.ba.Ti) means "and I will cause to cease," directly governing זִמָּתֵ/ךְ֙ (zi.ma.te/Kh) "licentiousness/your" and זְנוּתֵ֖/ךְ (ze.nu.Te/kh) "prostitution/your." These terms explicitly terminate the sexual immorality that originated in Egypt.

The thread — This termination of former pagan alliances and the severing of Egypt from memory appears in Ezekiel 16:41 and Ezekiel 23:3, 23:19 as a recurring motif of divine judgment against spiritual adultery.

Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that divine judgment actively ends reliance on past idolatrous systems and forcibly removes their commemoration.

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

וְהִשְׁבַּתִּ֤יve./hish.ba.Tiand/ I will cause to cease זִמָּתֵךְ֙zi.ma.te/Khlicentiousness/ your מִמֵּ֔ךְmi.Me/khfrom/ you וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>זְנוּתֵ֖ךְze.nu.Te/khprostitution/ your מֵאֶ֣רֶץme./'E.retzfrom/ [the] land of מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yimEgypt וְלֹֽא־ve./lo'-and/ not תִשְׂאִ֤יtis.'Iyou will lift up עֵינַ֙יִךְ֙'ei.Na.yi/kheyes/ your אֲלֵיהֶ֔ם'a.lei./Hemto/ them וּמִצְרַ֖יִםu./mitz.Ra.yimand/ Egypt לֹ֥אlo'not תִזְכְּרִי־tiz.ke.ri-you will remember עֽוֹד׃ סodagain

King James Version

Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more.

Cross-references

Ezekiel 16:41 Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
Ezekiel 23:3 and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed.
Ezekiel 23:19 Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt
Isaiah 27:9 Therefore Jacob’s guilt will be atoned for, and the full fruit of the removal of his sin will be this: When he makes all the altar stones like crushed bits of chalk, no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
Ezekiel 22:15 I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness.
Micah 5:10 “In that day,” declares the LORD, “I will remove your horses from among you and wreck your chariots.
Zechariah 13:2 And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.