Ezekiel 23:16-17

23:16 When she saw them, ¹  she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ²  23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. ³  They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she ⁴  became disgusted with them.

Ezekiel 23:40-44

23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ⁵  For them you bathed, ⁶  painted your eyes, and decorated yourself with jewelry. 23:41 You sat on a magnificent couch, with a table arranged in front of it where you placed my incense and my olive oil. 23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd accompanied her, ⁷  including all kinds of men; ⁸  even Sabeans ⁹  were brought from the desert. The sisters ¹⁰  put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. 23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will commit immoral acts with her.’ 23:44 They had sex with her ¹¹  as one does with a prostitute. In this way they had sex with Oholah and Oholibah, promiscuous women.

[23:16]  ¹ tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”

[23:16]  ² sn The Chaldeans were prominent tribal groups of Babylonia. The imagery is reminiscent of events in the reigns of Hezekiah (2 Kgs 20:12-15) and Jehoiakim (2 Kgs 23:34-24:1).

[23:17]  ³ tn Heb “The sons of Babel came to her on a bed of love.”

[23:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “her soul.”

[23:40]  ⁵ tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.

[23:40]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb form is feminine singular, indicating that Oholibah (Judah) is specifically addressed here. This address continues through verse 42a (note “her”), but then both sisters are described in verse 42b, where the feminine pronouns are again plural.

[23:42]  ⁷ tn Heb “(was) in her.”

[23:42]  ⁸ tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”

[23:42]  ⁹ tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.

[23:42]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.

[23:44]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and they came to her.”