Jeremiah 2:33

2:33 “My, how good you have become

at chasing after your lovers! ¹ 

Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two! ² 

Ezekiel 5:6-7

5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations ³  and the countries around her. ⁴  Indeed, they ⁵  have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.

5:7 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Because you are more arrogant ⁶  than the nations around you, ⁷  you have not followed my statutes and have not carried out my regulations. You have not even ⁸  carried out the regulations of the nations around you!

Ezekiel 16:47-52

16:47 Have you not copied their behavior ⁹  and practiced their abominable deeds? In a short time ¹⁰  you became even more depraved in all your conduct than they were! 16:48 As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never behaved as wickedly as you and your daughters have behaved.

16:49 “‘See here – this was the iniquity ¹¹  of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had majesty, abundance of food, and enjoyed carefree ease, but they did not help ¹²  the poor and needy. 16:50 They were haughty and practiced abominable deeds before me. Therefore when I saw it I removed them. 16:51 Samaria has not committed half the sins you have; you have done more abominable deeds than they did. ¹³  You have made your sisters appear righteous with all the abominable things you have done. 16:52 So now, bear your disgrace, because you have given your sisters reason to justify their behavior. ¹⁴  Because the sins you have committed were more abominable than those of your sisters; they have become more righteous than you. So now, be ashamed and bear the disgrace of making your sisters appear righteous.

Ezekiel 16:1

God’s Unfaithful Bride

16:1 The word of the Lord came to me:

Colossians 1:1

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ¹⁵  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

¹ tn Heb “How good you have made your ways to seek love.”

² tn Heb “so that even the wicked women you teach your ways.”

³ sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.

⁴ tn Heb “she defied my laws, becoming wicked more than the nations, and [she defied] my statutes [becoming wicked] more than the countries around her.”

⁵ sn One might conclude that the subject of the plural verbs is the nations/countries, but the context (vv. 5-6a) indicates that the people of Jerusalem are in view. The text shifts from using the feminine singular (referring to personified Jerusalem) to the plural (referring to Jerusalem’s residents). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:73.

⁶ tn Traditionally this difficult form has been derived from a hypothetical root הָמוֹן (hamon), supposedly meaning “be in tumult/uproar,” but such a verb occurs nowhere else. It is more likely that it is to be derived from a root מָנוֹן (manon), meaning “disdain” (see L. C. Allen, Ezekiel [WBC], 1:52). A derivative from this root is used in Prov 29:21 of a rebellious servant. See HALOT 600 s.v. מָנוֹן.

⁷ sn You are more arrogant than the nations around you. Israel is accused of being worse than the nations in Ezek 16:27; 2 Kgs 21:11; Jer 2:11.

⁸ tc Some Hebrew mss and the Syriac omit the words “not even.” In this case they are being accused of following the practices of the surrounding nations. See Ezek 11:12.

⁹ tn Heb “walked in their ways.”

¹⁰ tn The Hebrew expression has a temporal meaning as illustrated by the use of the phrase in 2 Chr 12:7.

¹¹ tn Or “guilt.”

¹² tn Heb “strengthen the hand of.”

¹³ tn Or “you have multiplied your abominable deeds beyond them.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “because you have interceded for your sisters with your sins.”

¹⁵ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.