15 And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by—to him it is. 16 And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in—nor shall it be! 17 And thou dost take thy beauteous vessels Of My gold and My silver that I gave to thee, And dost make to thee images of a male, And dost go a-whoring with them, 18 And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them. 19 And My bread, that I gave to thee, Fine flour, and oil, and honey, that I caused thee to eat. Thou hast even set it before them, For a sweet fragrance—thus it is, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. 20 And thou dost take thy sons and thy daughters Whom thou hast born to Me, And dost sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of thy whoredoms, 21 That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them? 22 And with all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, When thou wast naked and bare, Trodden down in thy blood thou wast! 23 And it cometh to pass, after all thy wickedness, (Wo, wo, to thee—an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah), 24 That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place. 25 At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms, 26 And dost go a-whoring unto sons of Egypt, Thy neighbours—great of appetite! And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger. 27 And lo, I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I diminish thy portion, And give thee to the desire of those hating thee, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of thy wicked way. 28 And thou goest a-whoring unto sons of Asshur, Without thy being satisfied, And thou dost go a-whoring with them, And also—thou hast not been satisfied. 29 And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan—toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 16:15-29
Commentary on Ezekiel 16:1-58
(Read Ezekiel 16:1-58)
In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose.