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. 30 How weak 'is' thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman. 31 In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And—hast not been as a whore deriding a gift. 32 The wife who committeth adultery—Under her husband—doth receive strangers. 33 To all whores they give a gift, And—thou hast given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And dost bribe them to come in unto thee, From round about—in thy whoredoms. 34 And the contrary is in thee from women in thy whoredoms, That after thee none doth go a-whoring; And in thy giving a gift, And a gift hath not been given to thee; And thou art become contrary.
35 Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah,
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Ezekiel 16:28-35
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.