Ezekiel 23:21

This is how you assessed ¹  the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled ²  your nipples and squeezed ³  your young breasts.

So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.

"Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.

And so, Oholibah, you celebrated your former days as a young girl in Egypt, when you first allowed yourself to be fondled and caressed.

She longed for the sexual prowess of her youth back in Egypt, where her firm young breasts were caressed and fondled.

And she made the memory of the loose ways of her early years come back to mind, when her young breasts were crushed by the Egyptians.

Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your bosom and caressed your young breasts.

Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth, When the Egyptians pressed your bosom Because of your youthful breasts.

This is how you assessed ¹  the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled ²  your nipples and squeezed ³  your young breasts.

¹ tn Or “you took note of.” The Hebrew verb פָּקַד (paqad) in the Qal implies evaluating something and then acting in light of that judgment; here the prophet depicts Judah as approving of her youthful unfaithfulness and then magnifying it at the present time. Some translations assume the verb should be repointed as a Niphal, rendering “you missed” or by extension “you longed for,” but such an extension of the Niphal “to be missing” is otherwise unattested.

² tn Heb “when (they) did,” but the verb makes no sense here and is better emended to “when (they) fondled,” a verb used in vv. 3 and 8. See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.

³ tn Heb “for the sake of,” but the expression is awkward and is better emended to read “to squeeze.” See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 2:43.