Discovery BoxEzekiel 5:6 
Context5:6 Then she defied my regulations and my statutes, becoming more wicked than the nations 1 and the countries around her. 2 Indeed, they 3 have rejected my regulations, and they do not follow my statutes.
Ezekiel 16:15
Context16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty 4 became his.
1 sn The nations are subject to a natural law according to Gen 9; see also Amos 1:3-2:3; Jonah 1:2.
2 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.”
3 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.
4 tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
