Ezekiel 23:40-42

23:40 “They even sent for men from far away; when the messenger arrived, those men set out. ¹  For them you bathed, ²  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, ³  including all kinds of men; ⁴  even Sabeans ⁵  were brought from the desert. The sisters ⁶  put bracelets on their wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.

[23:40]  ¹ tn Heb “to whom a messenger was sent, and look, they came.” Foreign alliances are in view here.

[23:40]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “(was) in her.”

[23:42]  ⁴ tn Heb “and men from the multitude of mankind.”

[23:42]  ⁵ tn An alternate reading is “drunkards.” Sheba is located in the area of modern day Yemen.

[23:42]  ⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referents (the sisters) have been specified in the translation for the sake of clarity.