Ezekiel 16:32 kjv
But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
Ezekiel 16:32 nkjv
You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.
Ezekiel 16:32 niv
"?'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!
Ezekiel 16:32 esv
Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!
Ezekiel 16:32 nlt
Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.
Ezekiel 16 32 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Israel/Judah as Unfaithful Wife (Direct Analogy) | ||
| Hos 1:2 | "Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry; for the land has committed flagrant harlotry, departing from the Lord." | Israel's spiritual unfaithfulness. |
| Jer 3:6 | "Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every luxuriant tree, and there she played the harlot." | Israel's widespread idolatry as harlotry. |
| Jer 3:8 | "And I saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce..." | God divorces Israel due to adultery. |
| Jer 3:9 | "And it came about because of the lightness of her harlotry, that she profaned the land..." | Land defiled by Israel's harlotry. |
| Eze 23:37 | "For they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols they committed adultery..." | Samaria and Jerusalem's adultery with idols. |
| Isa 54:5 | "For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is His name..." | God as Israel's faithful husband. |
| Idolatry as Spiritual Adultery/Prostitution (Broader Context of Sin) | ||
| Ex 34:15 | "...lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they prostitute themselves with their gods..." | Warning against idolatry. |
| Lev 20:5 | "...I will set My face against that person and against his family... prostituted themselves with Molech..." | Divine wrath against Molech worship. |
| Ps 106:39 | "Thus they became unclean by their works, and prostituted themselves in their practices." | Israel defiled by own actions. |
| Isa 1:21 | "How the faithful city has become a harlot! She who was full of justice..." | Jerusalem's moral corruption. |
| Hos 4:12 | "My people consult their wooden idols... for a spirit of harlotry has led them astray." | Idols misleading Israel into harlotry. |
| 2 Chr 21:13 | "...like the harlotry of the house of Ahab and the harlotry of your fathers." | Jehoshaphat condemned for following bad examples. |
| Eze 6:9 | "...how I have been broken over their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and over their eyes which prostitute themselves after their idols." | God's heartbreak over Israel's idolatry. |
| Rev 17:1-2 | "...judgment on the great harlot... with whom the kings of the earth committed adultery..." | Judgment on Babylon (spiritual harlotry). |
| Col 3:5 | "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry." | Idolatry linked to fleshly desires. |
| Covenant as Marriage Bond / God's Rightful Claim | ||
| Jer 2:2 | "I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals..." | God remembers Israel's early faithfulness. |
| Hos 2:16 | "...that day... you will call Me Ishi [My Husband], and will no longer call Me Baali [My Master/Baal-like]." | Future restoration and renewed covenant. |
| Hos 2:19-20 | "I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness... and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness." | God's enduring covenant love. |
| Eph 5:25-27 | "Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her..." | Christ's sacrificial love for His church (bride). |
| Consequences / Call to Purity (Warning against spiritual unfaithfulness) | ||
| Deut 31:16 | "This people will arise and play the harlot with the foreign gods of the land..." | Prophecy of future idolatry. |
| Judges 2:17 | "Yet they would not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot with other gods and worshipped them..." | Israel's cycle of idolatry in Judges. |
| 1 Kings 11:5 | "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." | King Solomon's idolatry. |
| Jas 4:4 | "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?" | Warning against worldly allegiances. |
| Rev 2:4-5 | "But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen..." | Call to repentance for Ephesus church. |
| Matt 6:24 | "No one can serve two masters..." | Cannot serve both God and other allegiances. |
Ezekiel 16 verses
Ezekiel 16 32 Meaning
Ezekiel 16:32 vividly condemns Jerusalem for profound spiritual infidelity, portraying her as a wife who willfully and eagerly betrays her covenant husband, God. She is accused of receiving "strangers"—figuratively, foreign idols, pagan worship practices, and illicit political alliances—in place of her rightful and devoted divine spouse. The verse highlights her active and deliberate choice of unfaithfulness, emphasizing the deep betrayal and repudiation of her unique relationship with God.
Ezekiel 16 32 Context
Ezekiel 16 is an extended, passionate, and vivid allegory portraying God's relationship with Jerusalem and Judah. The chapter details how God found Jerusalem as an abandoned infant, nurtured her, dressed her in finery, and entered into a covenant with her, likened to a marriage. Despite His lavish care and blessing, Jerusalem, as God's wife, flagrantly committed spiritual adultery by engaging in widespread idolatry, forming illicit political alliances with pagan nations, and even offering her children as sacrifices. Verse 32 occurs amidst graphic descriptions of this unfaithfulness, emphasizing the depth of her betrayal. Historically, this reflects the persistent pattern of Judah turning away from God, especially in the period leading up to the Babylonian exile, when they frequently relied on alliances with nations like Egypt or Assyria and adopted their gods, forsaking the Lord.
Ezekiel 16 32 Word analysis
- You adulterous (אֵ֤שֶׁת מְנָאֶ֙פֶת֙, ish·et mə·na·'e·fet): This feminine singular term carries a profound accusation. The Hebrew məna’e fet is a feminine participle, signifying a continuous and active state of adultery. It fundamentally points to the deep betrayal of the sacred covenant marriage relationship God had with Israel, representing active, ongoing idolatry and unfaithfulness.
- wife (אֵ֤שֶׁת, ish·et): While literally meaning "woman," in this allegorical context, it squarely identifies Jerusalem as God's covenantal partner. Its use emphasizes the existing, intimate relationship God established with her and consequently the severity of her breach of that bond.
- who receives: This phrase indicates active invitation and willing acceptance, suggesting a deliberate and enthusiastic pursuit of forbidden relationships. It conveys a choice to welcome illicit partners.
- strangers: In this spiritual allegory, "strangers" represents foreign gods, pagan cult practices, and political alliances with ungodly nations. These were external entities and influences that Israel embraced in preference to her God.
- instead of (תַּ֣חַת, ta·ḥat): This preposition powerfully conveys substitution and replacement. It highlights that Jerusalem consciously chose to put others in place of her true, covenanted partner, God, signifying a direct and intentional rejection.
- her husband (בַּעְלָֽהּ, ba'·lāh): This refers to God (Yahweh), the legitimate "owner," "master," and "husband" of Israel by covenant. The use of ba'al is especially poignant, as it is also the name of a prominent Canaanite deity whose worship represented the very core of Israel's spiritual idolatry and betrayal.
- "You adulterous wife": This collective phrase firmly establishes the core identity and gravest offense of Jerusalem. It sets the tone of divine indignation for her consistent covenant infidelity.
- "who receives strangers": This segment highlights the proactive and eager nature of her unfaithfulness, illustrating a willing embrace of forbidden allegiances and deities.
- "instead of her husband": This pivotal contrast vividly illustrates the direct and deliberate nature of her betrayal, exchanging unwavering loyalty to God for illicit spiritual and political liaisons.
Ezekiel 16 32 Bonus section
The intensely personal and graphic marital metaphor throughout Ezekiel 16 (and further in chapter 23, applying similar terms to Samaria and Jerusalem) profoundly emphasizes God's pain and perspective on covenant unfaithfulness. It reveals that to God, idolatry and apostasy are not merely legal infringements but deeply personal betrayals, akin to the most offensive and shaming domestic sin in ancient Near Eastern society. The intended shock value of the language aimed to provoke repentance in the exiled Israelites. The clever double-meaning of "Ba'al" as "husband" also powerfully condemns the actual worship of the pagan god Baal, underscoring the irony and egregious nature of choosing a false god over the true God, their rightful "husband." This portrayal powerfully stresses that while divine freedom and grace abound, ultimate loyalty within the covenant relationship with God is absolutely paramount.
Ezekiel 16 32 Commentary
Ezekiel 16:32 masterfully encapsulates Jerusalem's egregious spiritual treachery. God, as the loyal and loving husband, finds His "wife" (Israel/Jerusalem) not just astray, but actively welcoming "strangers"—foreign deities, pagan practices, and political alliances—into the sanctity of their covenant. This potent imagery of adultery forcefully conveys that Israel's idolatry and political apostasy were a deliberate and shameful preference for illicit relationships, an utter repudiation of God's covenant love and faithfulness. The divine judgment pronounced underscores God's righteous character and the profound seriousness of breaking such a sacred, divinely instituted bond.