Ezekiel 16:17 kjv
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Ezekiel 16:17 nkjv
You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
Ezekiel 16:17 niv
You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
Ezekiel 16:17 esv
You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
Ezekiel 16:17 nlt
You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!
Ezekiel 16 17 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exod 20:4-5 | "You shall not make for yourself an idol... you shall not bow down to them or serve them..." | Fundamental command against making and worshipping idols. |
| Deut 4:15-16 | "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully... lest you act corruptly by making an idol..." | Emphasizes the dangers of idolatry after witnessing God's glory. |
| Deut 32:15-18 | "But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked... You abandoned the God who made you..." | Israel's ungrateful misuse of prosperity leading to forsaking God. |
| Jdg 2:17 | "But they soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked... playing the harlot after other gods." | Israel's repeated pattern of spiritual harlotry with false gods. |
| Hos 1:2 | "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry... for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord." | Idolatry depicted as spiritual prostitution, a core theme. |
| Hos 2:8 | "She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain... and the silver and gold which they used for Baal." | God's specific complaint that His gifts were used to honor Baal. |
| Jer 2:8 | "...the shepherds also transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal..." | Leaders also involved in spiritual idolatry with Baal worship. |
| Jer 3:6 | "...She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot." | Widespread and open nature of Israel's spiritual harlotry. |
| Jer 3:14 | "Return, O faithless children... for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city..." | God's compassionate call for His unfaithful bride to return. |
| Eze 6:4-6 | "Your altars will become desolate... I will make your hills desolate... your idols will be smashed..." | Judgment promised upon idolatrous sites and objects. |
| Eze 8:10-11 | "So I went in and looked, and there, engraved on the wall all around, were every form of creeping thing... and all the idols of the house of Israel." | Idolatrous images found even within the Temple complex in Jerusalem. |
| Eze 16:11-12 | "I adorned you with ornaments... and I put a ring on your nose... earrings in your ears..." | God's earlier act of adorning Jerusalem with the very type of beauty mentioned in v. 17. |
| Eze 16:32 | "An adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!" | Another forceful comparison of Jerusalem to an adulterous wife. |
| Eze 23:37 | "For they have committed adultery... and with their idols they have committed adultery..." | A similar indictment against both Samaria and Jerusalem for idol-related adultery. |
| Isa 1:21 | "How the faithful city has become a harlot! She who was full of justice..." | Jerusalem's fall from purity to unfaithfulness lamented. |
| Isa 54:5 | "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name..." | Reinforces the theological metaphor of God as Israel's husband. |
| Pss 106:36-39 | "...They served their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters..." | Describes the detestable acts, including child sacrifice, linked to idolatry. |
| Rom 1:21-23 | "For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God... and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images..." | Gentile turning away from God through idolatry, echoing Israel's error. |
| 1 Cor 10:14 | "Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." | New Testament command to believers to actively avoid idol worship. |
| Col 3:5 | "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality... covetousness, which is idolatry." | Broadens the definition of idolatry to include earthly desires that displace God. |
| Jas 4:4 | "You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?" | Christian "adultery" described as loyalty to the world over God. |
| Rev 17:1-5 | "...I will show you the judgment of the great harlot... with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality..." | Future spiritual harlotry depicted as "Babylon the Great," opposing God. |
Ezekiel 16 verses
Ezekiel 16 17 Meaning
Ezekiel 16:17 starkly illustrates Jerusalem's spiritual betrayal, portraying her as a wife who profoundly misused the precious gifts from her divine husband, the Lord. The verse describes her taking the beautiful gold and silver ornaments, generously provided by God, and perverseley crafting them into male idols. With these self-made abominations, she then engaged in spiritual harlotry, transforming divine blessings into tools of defilement and rebellion against her sacred covenant relationship.
Ezekiel 16 17 Context
Ezekiel chapter 16 unfolds as a powerful, graphic, and extended parable in which God uses the allegory of a foundling, raised and lavishly blessed by Him, to depict the history of Jerusalem (representing Judah and Israel). God discovers her abandoned and left to die (vv. 1-5), then graciously cleanses, clothes, adorns, and makes a covenant with her, metaphorically marrying her (vv. 6-14). He bestows upon her beauty and honor, symbolized by magnificent ornaments, rich clothes, and precious metals. Verse 17 occurs within the subsequent section (vv. 15-34), which vividly details Jerusalem's ultimate betrayal and spiritual prostitution. Despite God's incredible benevolence and their marital covenant, Jerusalem, consumed by her own beauty and fame, turned to every passerby (foreign nations and their gods). She used the very wealth and gifts provided by God for idolatrous purposes, even sacrificing her own children to false deities. Verse 17 highlights a specific, grotesque act within this harlotry: manufacturing idols, described as "male images," from God's own gifts. This context underscores the unparalleled ingratitude and profound covenant infidelity that led to God's severe judgment and the exile, the historical reality confronting Ezekiel's original audience.
Ezekiel 16 17 Word analysis
- You also took: (וַתִּקְחִי גַּם - va-tik’ḥi gam) – Emphasizes Jerusalem's active choice and deliberate action. The Hebrew gam ("also") highlights this specific sin as one among many acts of rebellion. It underscores her agency in choosing to disobey despite being lavished with God's goodness.
- your beautiful jewels: (כְּלֵי תִפְאַרְתֵּךְ - k'lei tif'artekh) – Literally, "implements/vessels of your splendor/glory." These are the very ornaments of beauty and dignity God had bestowed upon her to enhance her glory and status as His chosen bride (Eze 16:11-12). Their misuse represents a direct corruption of God's blessings.
- of My gold and of My silver: (מִזְּהָבִי וּמִכַּסְפִּי - mi-z'havi u-mi-khaspi) – Crucially states divine ownership. These precious metals were not acquired by Jerusalem's own power or labor, but were direct, unearned gifts from God, part of His covenantal provision and love. This reinforces the heinous nature of her ingratitude.
- which I had given you: (אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָךְ - asher natati lakh) – Reiteration of God's generous gift-giving. This phrase accentuates the Giver's love and the recipient's profound ungratefulness, turning the very tokens of love into instruments of betrayal.
- and made for yourself: (וַתַּעֲשִׂי לָךְ - va-ta'asi lakh) – Reiterates her deliberate initiative. She proactively manufactured these objects, emphasizing her responsibility in the creation of idolatry for her own self-gratification or spiritual lusts.
- male images: (צַלְמֵי זָכָר - tzalmei zakhar) – This unique and vivid phrase literally means "images of masculinity" or "male figures." Scholars suggest these likely refer to phallic symbols central to Canaanite fertility cults, or specific male deities such as Baal, commonly worshipped with Asherah. Its distinct terminology highlights the specific and particularly abhorrent nature of this idolatry. It's a grotesque distortion of divine imagery.
- and with them played the harlot: (וַתִּזְנִי בָהֶם - va-tizni ba-hem) – The Hebrew verb zanah (זָנָה) fundamentally describes literal sexual harlotry, but in prophetic literature, it consistently allegorizes spiritual unfaithfulness, idolatry, and covenant violation. The phrase "with them" directly links the idols to the act of spiritual prostitution, presenting them as her illicit lovers in a flagrant act of covenant adultery against God, her divine husband.
Ezekiel 16 17 Bonus section
- Idolatry's Resourcefulness: This verse reveals the insidious nature of idolatry, where believers' very resources, meant for divine glory, are reallocated and creatively twisted to serve rival deities or self-interest, underscoring human capacity for spiritual corruption even with divine gifts.
- Symbolic Nudity and Exposure: This entire chapter, particularly verses like 16:17, highlights Jerusalem's spiritual nudity, not in physical terms, but in the exposed nature of her shame and guilt before God and the nations (cf. Eze 16:36-39), revealing the true nature of her disloyalty.
- A Unique Abomination: The specificity of "male images" (צַלְמֵי זָכָר, tzalmei zakhar) sets this verse apart, suggesting a peculiar and particularly offensive type of idolatry within the diverse catalogue of Israel's sins, possibly emphasizing a focus on cults of reproduction and sensual power that fundamentally reject the spiritual holiness of Yahweh.
Ezekiel 16 17 Commentary
Ezekiel 16:17 delivers a scathing indictment of Jerusalem's spiritual adultery. God's act of adorning Jerusalem with beautiful jewels of gold and silver signified His benevolent provision and their unique, covenantal status as His bride. However, Jerusalem's pride and spiritual promiscuity led her to misappropriate these divine blessings. Instead of valuing the Giver, she melted down these sacred gifts, twisting them into grotesque "male images." These tzalmei zakhar refer to foreign cult objects, possibly phallic symbols or representations of male fertility gods like Baal. This act constituted direct blasphemy: God's love was directly subverted into the instruments of His rivals. "Playing the harlot" with these images goes beyond mere idol worship; it paints a picture of a profound and intimate betrayal, a conscious choosing of illicit lovers over her faithful husband, Yahweh. This graphic metaphor underlines the deep personal offense against God's loving commitment and the complete perversion of His generous provision, marking Jerusalem's sin as deeply egregious and unforgivable at that moment of judgment.