Ezekiel 23:3
◄  Ezekiel 23:3  ►
New International Version (©2011)
They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.

New Living Translation (©2007)
They became prostitutes in Egypt. Even as young girls, they allowed men to fondle their breasts.

English Standard Version (©2001)
They played the whore in Egypt; they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
and they played the harlot in Egypt. They played the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
who acted like prostitutes in Egypt, behaving promiscuously in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin nipples caressed.

International Standard Version (©2012)
They committed sexual immorality in Egypt. They did this in their youth. There, their breasts were caressed. Their virgin breasts were fondled.

NET Bible (©2006)
They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
They became prostitutes in Egypt when they were young. There men fondled and caressed their breasts.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And they committed harlotries in Egypt; they committed harlotries in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they handled the breasts of their virginity.

American King James Version
And they committed prostitutions in Egypt; they committed prostitutions in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

American Standard Version
and they played the harlot in Egypt; they played the harlot in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And they committed fornication in Egypt, in their youth they committed fornication: there were their breasts pressed down, and the teats of their virginity were bruised.

Darby Bible Translation
And they committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there were handled the teats of their virginity.

English Revised Version
and they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity.

Webster's Bible Translation
And they committed lewd deeds in Egypt; they committed lewd deeds in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they were first corrupted.

World English Bible
and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.

Young's Literal Translation
And they go a-whoring in Egypt, In their youth they have gone a-whoring, There they have bruised their breasts, And there they have dealt with the loves of their virginity.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:1-49 A history of the apostacy of God's people from him, and the aggravation thereof. - In this parable, Samaria and Israel bear the name Aholah, her own tabernacle; because the places of worship those kingdoms had, were of their own devising. Jerusalem and Judah bear the name of Aholibah, my tabernacle is in her, because their temple was the place which God himself had chosen, to put his name there. The language and figures are according to those times. Will not such humbling representations of nature keep open perpetual repentance and sorrow in the soul, hiding pride from our eyes, and taking us from self-righteousness? Will it not also prompt the soul to look to God continually for grace, that by his Holy Spirit we may mortify the deeds of the body, and live in holy conversation and godliness?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And they committed whoredoms in Egypt,.... When they were but one body, one nation; and while they sojourned as strangers in that land they learned and practised the idolatries of it, Joshua 24:14, and so the Targum,

"and they erred in Egypt, after the worship of their idols they erred, and there they corrupted their works:''

they committed whoredoms in their youth; as soon as they were come out of Egypt, and were formed into a political and ecclesiastical state, had the law of God given them, and promised obedience to him, and were espoused by him, which times are called the days of their youth and espousal, Jeremiah 2:2, and then were they guilty of whoredom, or spiritual adultery, which idolatry, in making and worshipping the golden calf, after the manner of Egypt; and in joining themselves to Baalpeor, the god of the Moabites, Exodus 32:1;

there were their breasts pressed, there they bruised the teats of their virginity; that is, the Egyptians, who drew them into idolatry, and with whom they committed it; which is expressed by the actions of adulterous persons, suggesting that, before this, they were as chaste and pure virgins to God, adhered to his worship, and served him only, and were not defiled with the superstition and idolatry of the Heathens: or, "they made (l) the teats or paps of their virginity"; that is, made them swell and increase, being impregnated by them, and their idolatry completed; or to move and heave being pressed.

(l) "fecerant mammas", Starckius; "fecerent ut earam mammae agrerent", Gussetius; "sese commovendo scilicet, in contentione libidinis aestuantes, et pectoris anheli reciprocationem sequentes", ib. p. 652. "ibi subagitarunt ubera virginum", Coeccius.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. Even so early in their history as their Egyptian sojourn, they committed idolatries (see on [1060]Eze 20:6-8; [1061]Joshua 24. 14).

in their youth—an aggravation of their sin. It was at the very time of their receiving extraordinary favors from God (Eze 16:6, 22).

they bruised—namely, the Egyptians.

Ezekiel 23:3 Parallel Commentaries

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The Adultery of Oholah and Aholibah
1The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, 2Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: 3And they committed prostitutions in Egypt; they committed prostitutions in their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there they bruised the teats of their virginity. …

Revelation 11:8 Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city--which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt--where also their Lord was crucified.
Leviticus 17:7 They must no longer offer any of their sacrifices to the goat idols to whom they prostitute themselves. This is to be a lasting ordinance for them and for the generations to come.'
Jeremiah 3:9 Because Israel's immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
Ezekiel 23:4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
Ezekiel 23:8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust on her.
Ezekiel 23:21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.
Ezekiel 23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, 'Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.'
Hosea 1:2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, "Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD."