Bible Strands
Ezekiel 23:41
You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Ezekiel, speaking as Yahweh’s prophet, addresses the allegorical sisters Oholah and Oholibah during a prophetic indictment of their political and spiritual alliances. The vision captures the moment they have prepared themselves for foreign envoys and invited them to a banquet.
The words — The text specifies יָשַׁבְתְּ (ya.shavT, “you sat”) on a כְבוּדָּה (khe.vu.Dah, “glorious” or “luxurious”) מִטָּה (mi.Tah, “couch”) and a שֻׁלְחָן (shul.Chan, “table”) that is עָרוּךְ ('a.Rukh, “arranged”). Before this arrangement, the prophet notes the woman has placed קְטוֹרְתִּי (ke.ta.re.Ti, “My incense”) and oil upon it.
The thread — This imagery of a prepared table and incense appears in descriptions of royal banquets (Esther 1:6) and is echoed in accusations against those who set tables for foreign deities (Isaiah 65:11) or burn incense to the Queen of Heaven (Jeremiah 44:17).
Why it lands — The passage demands recognition that sacred provisions and rituals were redirected toward idolatrous alliances. It requires the reader to confront how consecrated objects become instruments of compromise when placed outside their intended purpose.
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 satest upon a stately bed, and a table prepared before it, whereupon thou hast set mine incense and mine oil.
Cross-references
- Esther 1:6 Hangings of white and blue linen were fastened with cords of fine white and purple material to silver rings on the marble pillars. Gold and silver couches were arranged on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stones.
- Isaiah 65:11 But you who forsake the LORD, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny,
- Jeremiah 44:17 Instead, we will do everything we vowed to do: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and offer drink offerings to her, just as we, our fathers, our kings, and our officials did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and good things, and we saw no disaster.
- Ezekiel 44:16 They alone shall enter My sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister before Me. They will keep My charge.
- Amos 6:4 You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
- Isaiah 57:7 On a high and lofty hill you have made your bed, and there you went up to offer sacrifices.
- Proverbs 7:16 I have decked my bed with coverings, with colored linen from Egypt.
- Ezekiel 16:18 You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.
- Hosea 2:8 For she does not acknowledge that it was I who gave her grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.
- Amos 2:8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge. And in the house of their God, they drink wine obtained through fines.