Ezekiel - 16:24



24 that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Ezekiel 16:24.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a brothel house in every street.
that thou didst also build unto thee a place of debauchery, and didst make thee a high place in every street:
that thou hast built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a lofty place in every street.
That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place.
That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place.
you built for yourself a brothel, and you made for yourself a place of prostitution in every street.
Et aedificasti tibi excelsum, et fecisti tibi excelsum in omni platea. [101]

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

That thou - Render it: after that thou didst build "unto thee an eminent place," and didst make "thee an high place in every street" - after that thou didst build "thy high place at the head of every way and" didst make"it came to pass, that thou" didst "also" commit "fornication" etc.
An eminent place - literally, "an arched building." Such places were used as brothels, and so the word is used metaphorically for a place of idol-worship.

Thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place - גב gab, a stew or brothel; Vulg. lupanar; Septuag. οικημα πορνικον. So my old MS. Bible, a bordel house. "Thou hast builded thy stewes and bordell houses in every place." - Coverdale's Bible, 1636. Bordel is an Italian word: how it got so early into our language I know not. Our modern word brothel is a corruption of it. Diodati translates, Tu hai edificato un bordello, "Thou hast built a brothel." Houses of this kind were of a very ancient date.

That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place,.... Or a "brothel" (k); and so the Septuagint version, "a whoring house"; not content to commit idolatry privately, they built a public place for idolatrous worship. The Targum renders it, "altar", The word has the signification of a pit or ditch; with which compare Proverbs 22:14;
and hast made thee an high place in every street; of Jerusalem, and other cities; it was usual to erect high places in streets, where altars were built, and idols set up to be worshipped: it denotes the public manner in which they committed idolatry, and the multitude of their idols; which shows their impudence and hardness of heart.
(k) , Sept. "lupanar", V. L. "prostibulum", so some in Starckius.

eminent place--rather, "a fornication-chamber," often connected with the impure rites of idolatry; spiritual fornication, on "an eminent place," answering to "fornication-chamber," is mainly meant, with an allusion also to the literal fornication associated with it (Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:2).

In every street - Idol temples were in every street; both in Jerusalem and her cities.

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