Ezekiel 16:16
 Ezekiel 16:16 
New International Version (©2011)
You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.

New Living Translation (©2007)
You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

English Standard Version (©2001)
You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
"You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened!

International Standard Version (©2012)
You took some of your clothes and made gaily-colored high places and prostituted yourself all around them—something which had never happened before nor will ever happen again.

NET Bible (©2006)
You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
You took some of your clothes and made your worship sites colorful. This is where you acted like a prostitute. Such things shouldn't happen. They shouldn't occur.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And of your garments you did take, and adorned your high places with various colors, and played the harlot on them: the like things have never been, neither shall be.

American King James Version
And of your garments you did take, and decked your high places with divers colors, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

American Standard Version
And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places decked with divers colors, and playedst the harlot upon them: the like things'shall not come, neither shall it be'so .

Douay-Rheims Bible
And taking of thy garments thou hast made thee high places sewed together on each side: and hast played the harlot upon them, as hath not been done before, nor shall be hereafter.

Darby Bible Translation
And of thy garments thou didst take, and madest for thyself high places decked with divers colours, and didst play the harlot thereupon: the like hath not come to pass, and shall be no more.

English Revised Version
And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest for thee high places decked with divers colours, and playedst the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

Webster's Bible Translation
And of thy garments thou didst take, and deck thy high places with divers colors, and play the harlot upon them: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

World English Bible
You took of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them: [the like things] shall not come, neither shall it be [so].

Young's Literal Translation
And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in -- nor shall it be!

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

16:1-58 In this chapter God's dealings with the Jewish nation, and their conduct towards him, are described, and their punishment through the surrounding nations, even those they most trusted in. This is done under the parable of an exposed infant rescued from death, educated, espoused, and richly provided for, but afterwards guilty of the most abandoned conduct, and punished for it; yet at last received into favour, and ashamed of her base conduct. We are not to judge of these expressions by modern ideas, but by those of the times and places in which they were used, where many of them would not sound as they do to us. The design was to raise hatred to idolatry, and such a parable was well suited for that purpose.


Pulpit Commentary

Verse 16. - (For high places, see note on Ezekiel 6:6.) The words imply that the shrines upon them were decked with hangings of many coloured tapestry, presenting an appearance like that of a Persian carpet, as in 2 Kings 23:7, of the image of the Asherah. Those hangings were, as in Proverbs 7:16, the ornaments of the adulterous bed. The "high places" are named first, as the earliest form of idolatry. The like things shall not come. The words are obscure, and the text probably corrupt. As they stand, they seem to say that the world would never again witness so shameful an apostasy. The Vulgate, Sicut non est factum neque futurum est; extends the comparison to the past. Possibly, though it is a strain upon the grammar, the words may be rendered, "such things should not come, should not be."


Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And of thy garments thou didst take,.... Which were made of fine linen, silk, and broidered work; which God had given them, and they were richly clad with:

and deckedst thy high places with divers colours; that is, with garments of divers colours; either they erected tents on their high places, made with these; or they covered their altars with them, which were on their high places for the ornament of them, as harlots deck their beds to allure their lovers; see Proverbs 7:16; or "thou hast made for thyself high places spotted" (d); so the word is rendered in Genesis 30:32; alluding to garments spotted with the flesh by adulterers. The Targum is, "thou hast made for thyself high places covered with idols": and so the Septuagint version renders it, "idols sewed together". The word, in the Talmudic language (e), has the signification of sewing. These idols were decked as children's babies are; and so the Syriac version, "thou hast made for thyself babies"; images like babies, richly dressed with their garments above described, such as the papists now have;

and playedst the harlot thereon; committed idolatry on the high places; or "with them" (f); that is, with the images and idols decked with their garments, which were set on those high places:

the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so; the like idolatries shall set be committed any more; and after the Babylonish captivity worshipping of idols was not practised by the Jews; nor is it to this day: or such "things have not come yet", and there "shall not be" the like (g); the sense is, there never were such idolatries committed by this people before; and there hover shall be, or will be, the like afterwards. Kimchi's note is,

"the high places shall not come as these; as if it was said these shall not be in futurity; and there shall not be a man or a people that shall make like these for multitudes;''

so Ben Melech; and "high places", does agree with "come". The Targum joins this with the preceding clause,

""and playedst the harlot" with them, as is not right and fit''

(d) "et fecisti tibi excelsa maculosa", Montanus; "excelsa conspera maculis", Calvin; "latis maculis interstincta", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Polanus. (e) T. Bab. Gittin. fol. 45. 2. Misn. Celim, c. 27. sect. 6. (f) "iisque", Ar. Interp. (g) "non eventurae sunt tales scortationes, nec erit qui sic scortetur", Piscator.


Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. deckedst … with divers colours—or, "didst make … of divers colors" [Fairbairn]; the metaphor and the literal are here mixed. The high places whereon they sacrificed to Astarte are here compared to tents of divers colors, which an impudent harlot would spread to show her house was open to all [Calvin]. Compare as to "woven hangings for Astarte" (the right translation for "grove") 2Ki 23:7.

the like … shall not come, neither shall … be—rather, "have not come, nor shall be." These thy doings are unparalleled in the past, and shall be so in the future.


Ezekiel 16:16 Parallel Commentaries

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Jerusalem's Unfaithfulness
15But you did trust in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 16And of your garments you did take, and decked your high places with divers colors, and played the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit prostitution with them, …

2 Kings 23:7 He also tore down the quarters of the male shrine prostitutes that were in the temple of the LORD, the quarters where women did weaving for Asherah.
Isaiah 57:7 You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
Ezekiel 16:15 "'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
Ezekiel 16:17 You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.