Ezekiel 23:7

23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired ¹  – with all their idols.

Ezekiel 23:9

23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians ²  for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:12

23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:16

23:16 When she saw them, ³  she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ⁴ 

Ezekiel 23:20

23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, ⁵  and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions.

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¹ tn Heb “lusted after.”

² tn Heb “I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria.”

³ tn Heb “at the appearance of her eyes.”

⁴ 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).

⁵ tn Heb “She lusted after their concubines (?) whose flesh was the flesh of donkeys.” The phrase “their concubines” is extremely problematic here. The pronoun is masculine plural, suggesting that the Egyptian men are in view, but how concubines would fit into the picture envisioned here is not clear. Some suggest that Ezekiel uses the term in an idiomatic sense of “paramour,” but this still fails to explain how the pronoun relates to the noun. It is more likely that the term refers here to the Egyptians’ genitals. The relative pronoun that follows introduces a more specific description of their genitals.