Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 3

Though I’m eager to dive into the word study, I’m compelled to spend some time keeping my promise to reveal my own position and velocity.  It will make this essay considerably, but necessarily, longer than I like.

The Greek words translated sexual immorality in the NET were translated fornication in the KJV.  I thought fornication meant premarital sex.  I didn’t know anything about the ritual sex of pagan worship until about thirty-five years ago (though I felt the sensual pull of Egyptian art since childhood).  But I didn’t immediately question the meaning of sexual immorality or fornication.  I remember wondering if the prostitutes in Jerusalem that Solomon feared so for his sons had been imported along with his wives’ religions (1 Kings 11:1-8).

Now I’m thinking that “the sin of premarital sex” is a way we have nullified the word of God by our traditions.  Upwardly-mobile young men can “repent” of their “sins of premarital sex” and head off to college or a new career unencumbered by any of their responsibilities as husbands.  “If a man is shacking up with a woman,” Denny wrote in his blog post THE PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION HERESY, “simply saying, ‘I’m sorry God,’ just won’t do.  It requires that you get out of that sinful situation.”

He might have meant “give the woman a ring and social status as a legal wife,” hearkening back to an older time when church folk believed, What therefore God hath joined together [Deuteronomy 22:28, 29; Exodus 22:16, 17][1], let not man [except for the young woman’s father] put asunder.[2]  It would demonstrate a humility reminiscent of the proverb of the wisest king of Israel (or perhaps, the wisest man ever): There are three things that are too wonderful for me, Solomon wrote, four that I do not understand: the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man with a woman[3] (Septuagint: “and the ways of a man in his youth”).

But I imagine Denny as a contemporary co-religionist, hailing from a prouder more macho tradition where “holiness” is measured by how harshly it savages human emotions.  The two “shacking up” together, no matter how desperately they love one another (the more the better), must part, separate, send away, divorce, put asunder because they have committed the “unpardonable sin” of enjoying sex before a church official pronounced them lawful to do so.  To paraphrase Friedrich Nietzsche’s Antichrist: What is good?  All that heightens the feeling of church power.

Any man of Israel who refused to attend Ezra’s assembly and divorce his foreign wife would forfeit all his property.  The list of men who had taken foreign wives at the end of the book (Ezra 10:18-44) persuades me that Ezra believed the proceedings to send foreign wives and their children away had transpired according to the Lord’s will.  And so did I, until I heard yehôvâh’s response through the prophet Malachi (2:13-16 NET):

You also do this: You cover the altar of the Lord with tears as you weep and groan, because he no longer pays any attention to the offering nor accepts it favorably from you [Table]. Yet you ask, “Why?”  The Lord is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law [Table].  No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this.  What did our ancestor do when seeking a child from God [e.g., Genesis 15:6]?  Be attentive, then, to your own spirit, for one should not be disloyal to the wife he took in his youth [Table].  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord who rules over all.  “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” [Table].

The intimate absolute rejection of divorce was yehôvâh’s will for no one.  But I’ve stacked the deck here as if I believe that staying together and formalizing the relationship is necessarily the “right” decision.  In my case it was not so.

My contract with God had broken down.  I had heard enough religion to know that some believed Christ put an “end” to the law and all things were “lawful” for me.  So I did what I wanted.  I shacked up with my girlfriend du jour.  Unbeknownst to me at the time, with my sexual desires more or less satisfied for the first time in a long time, I began to walk in the grace of Christ’s salvation as I began to set the words of the Gospel to music.

Too many years of hallucinogenic drugs had made me functionally illiterate.  At least I thought that term described me accurately the first time I heard it.  (As it turned out functionally illiterate is just a redundancy for illiterate.)  If I had read aloud one would have assumed I understood what I read.  I read easily, fluently and coherently with an actor’s flair for inflection.  My problem was a lack of faith.  I had no confidence that strings of words meant anything beyond the beauty of their sounds, except in the most mundane cases: I’m hungry, I’m horny, I have to pee.  And so with a young man’s needs met, a job and a woman, I set out to make art.

The one who hated the Bible as a child knew he wasn’t smart enough to choose which Gospel was the “right” one for his libretto, so he spent countless hours creating a harmony of the four Gospel narratives, and untold hours more with those words rolling over and over in his mind to set them to music.  It was a long and laborious task because he was not a very good composer, at least he wasn’t quick about it.

When he played and sang John 17:1-11 for another composer friend, his friend commended his work: “You know, the first time you played this for me I thought it was just a throw-away.  Now I think it may be the best piece you’ve ever written.”  He, being a highly literate fellow, also commented on the meaning of the text: “And that’s the most interesting definition of eternal life I’ve ever heard.”

The functionally illiterate composer of the best piece he had ever written nodded appreciatively but hadn’t realized that the words—This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent[4]—constituted a definition of eternal life.  But he planned to take the words—This is and whatever words followed—a bit more seriously in the future.  When he decided to formally marry his roommate the functionally illiterate composer had fallen away from grace, though he would not have understood that if someone had told him.

In fact, I wonder if I was capable of understanding it apart from actively becoming one who was trying to be declared righteous by the law.  I began to study the Bible in earnest.  Though I had been warned that the meaning of eternal life was to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He had sent I didn’t study to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He had sent to live that eternal life.  I searched the Bible for rules to obey—or disobey as it turned out.

So what do I currently think is the “right” decision when one is conscience-stricken over “shacking up” together?  I return to Ezra (Ezra 9:15 NET):

O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day.  Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt.  However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.

And then wait—acknowledging that you are caught in a tender trap (Hosea 11:4) and that there is no way for you to cleanse yourself of sin by your deeds.  And while you’re waiting, study the Bible to know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent to live his eternal life.  This essay will become a tale of three women (four women, though one was actually a symbol for a city), more importantly it will focus on Jesus’ response to those women.

Go call your husband and come back here,[5] Jesus said to a Samaritan woman at a well.  The woman replied, “I have no husband.”[6]  Jesus already knew her past: you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband.[7]  He did not command her to leave the man she had now (νῦν ὃν ἔχεις), nor did He command her to go to a priest and get married; the man was apparently already married to another woman.  Jesus commended her for her truthfulness: καλῶς εἶπας ὅτι ἄνδρα οὐκ ἔχω is literally “beautifully you poured forth that husband you have not.”  And he told her that in her truthfulness she was exactly the kind of person his Father was seeking for his kingdom (John 4:23, 24 NET):

But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.  God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.

The second woman was from Thyatira: But I have this against you, Jesus addressed the singular angel of the church in Thyatira, You tolerate that woman Jezebel[8]  The Greek word translated You tolerate was ἀφεῖς (a form of ἀφίημι).  Here is a table of all the occurrences of ἀφεῖς and its translation.

Form of ἀφίημι Reference KJV

NET

ἀφεὶς Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away Then he left the crowds…
Matthew 26:44 And he left them… So leaving them again…
Mark 8:13 And he left them… Then he left them…
Mark 13:34 who left his house… He left his house…
Mark 15:37 And Jesus cried with a loud voice… But Jesus cried out with a loud voice…[9]
ἀφεῖς Revelation 2:20 thou sufferest that woman Jezebel… You tolerate that woman Jezebel…

Mark’s word picture, that Jesus left his body and its loud voice echoed on afterward, is stunning.  In Revelation, You [left] that woman Jezebel hints that the angel of the church of Thyatira was a kind of ἐπίσκοπος on a visitation circuit inspecting (ἐπισκέπτομαι) churches.  He saw what Jezebel was doing but did nothing.  It doesn’t answer the question whether the angel was a human being or not but serves as prima facie evidence that he was not a local pastor.

Jesus described Jezebel as one who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants[10]  The Greek word translated by her teaching was διδάσκει (a form of διδάσκω).  Here is a table of all the occurrences of διδάσκει and its translation.

Form of διδάσκω Reference KJV

NET

διδάσκει 1 Corinthians 11:14 Doth not even nature itself teach you… Does not nature itself teach you…
1 John 2:27 …the same anointing teacheth you of all… …his anointing teaches you about all things…
Revelation 2:20 to teach and to seduce my servants… …and by her teaching deceives my servants…

Though I have assumed that the fact that Jezebel taught indicated that she held a formal teaching position, neither nature nor Christ’s (or, God’s) anointing hold official teaching positions in the church.  The Greek word translated deceives was πλανᾷ (a form of πλανάω).  A table of the occurrences and translations of πλανᾷ follows.

Form of πλανᾷ

Reference KJV

NET

πλανᾷ John 7:12 …but he deceiveth the people… He deceives the common people.
Revelation 2:20 …to teach and to seduce my servants… …and by her teaching deceives my servants…
Revelation 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth… he deceived those who live on the earth.

Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth, John reported (Revelation 13:11-14a NET):

He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.  He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.  He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth.

This prophecy of an ostensibly Christian leader (He had two horns like a lamb) preaching Satan (speaking like a dragon) and deceiving people by momentous signs might explain to some extent why folks from my religious background fear the leading of the Holy Spirit.  For false messiahs and false prophets will appear, Jesus warned, and perform great signs and wonders to deceive (πλανῆσαι, another form of πλανάω), if possible, even the elect.[11]  But to turn the fruit of the Spirit into one’s own works or qualities turns the salvation of Jesus Christ into just another works religion.

One of the momentous signs this beast will perform is to make fire come down from heaven in front of people.  This is what James and John—before they received the Holy Spirit—wanted to do to Samaritans who refused to welcome Jesus (Luke 9:51-56).  On the other hand some of the Ἰουδαῖοι (a form of Ἰουδαῖος) accused Jesus, He deceives (πλανᾷ, a form of πλανάω) the common people, because their leaders had recognized that He was performing many miraculous signs and they feared that everyone would believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation (John 11:45-53).  Knowing Jesus intimately through his Spirit is essential to faith.

Jezebel by her teaching deceived Jesus’ servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.[12]  The Greek word translated to commit sexual immorality was πορνεῦσαι (a form of πορνεύω).  A table of the occurrences and translations of πορνεῦσαι follows.

Form of πορνεύω Reference KJV

NET

πορνεῦσαι Revelation 2:14 …to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. …eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
Revelation 2:20 to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

These two occurrences seem to be obvious references to sexualized pagan worship.  Though I had no conscious alliance with any pagan deities I’m willing to consider my desire for group sex πορνεῦσαι for two reasons: 1) I thought group sex was the way of peace, distinct from, more real and effective than, any aspect of the fruit of the Spirit.  My naiveté was deliberate.  I was forbidden from reading or viewing stories about the treachery and violence of adultery.  And I had discounted my parents’ example, assuming they were so hung up about the morality of sexuality they didn’t do it right.

The one story I had seen about adultery, on the sly as it were once I could drive and date, seemed like a subtle promo.  I watched Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) talk Lt. Dish (Jo Ann Pflug) into mercy sex with Painless (John Schuck) the night before she was scheduled to return home to her husband.  I was desperate to find some meaning after the main character Frank Burns (Robert Duvall), the only character with anything like a storyline, had been written out of the movie MASH.  I could see the guilt of Dish’s adultery on her face, particularly in her eyes—until she smiled.  It’s been forty-seven years and I still remember her smile.

2) God stopped me from following through on my desire for group sex—twice.  The second time was considerably more embarrassing and I may or may not reveal it.  Jesus went on to describe πορνεῦσαι as πορνείας (a form of πορνεία), translated sexual immorality: I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality.[13]  Here is a table of the occurrences and translations of πορνείας.  I’ll consider each in turn.

Form of πορνεία Reference KJV

NET

πορνείας Matthew 5:32 … whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication …everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality
John 8:41 We be not born of fornication[14] We were not born as a result of immorality!
Acts 15:20 …abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication …to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality
Acts 15:29 …and from things strangled, and from fornication …from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality.
1 Corinthians 7:2 …to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife… …because of immoralities, each man should have relations with his own wife…
1 Thessalonians 4:3 …that ye should abstain from fornication …that you keep away from sexual immorality
Revelation 2:21 …to repent of her fornication …to repent of her sexual immorality.
Revelation 9:21 …nor of their fornication …of their sexual immorality
Revelation 14:8 …she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.
Revelation 17:2 …of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. …the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.
Revelation 17:4 …and filthiness of her fornication… …unclean things from her sexual immorality.
Revelation 18:3 …wine of the wrath of her fornication …from the wine of her immoral passion…

It was said, Jesus taught, “Whoever divorces his wife must give her a legal document.”  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for immorality, makes her commit adultery (μοιχευθῆναι, a form of μοιχεύω), and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (μοιχᾶται, a form of μοιχάω).[15]  Limiting πορνείας (translated, immorality) to the ritual sex of pagan worship here would correspond better to yehôvâh’s word through Malachi—I hate divorce—and Jesus’ negative answer (Matthew 19:4-6) to the Pharisees’ question: Is it lawful to divorce a wife for any cause?[16]

I’m not entirely sure what the Ἰουδαίους (another form of Ἰουδαῖος) meant when they said: We were not born as a result of immorality!  We have only one Father, God himself.[17]  But I take it as mostly irrelevant to understanding what Jesus meant when He used πορνείας.  Assuming that James used πορνείας to mean the ritual sex of pagan worship when he suggested writing a letter to Gentiles, telling them to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood,[18] is the most charitable understanding of his abbreviation of the law.

If Paul had the lure of ritual sex in view it would account for his prescription of marriage though he considered it a distraction from devotion to Christ (1 Corinthians 7:32-35) and it would account for his description of Corinthian marriage as mutual sexual slavery[19] (1 Corinthians 7:3-5).  But as I’ve written before I find it very difficult to believe that Paul had ritual sex in mind in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8.

Still, in Revelation ritual sex seems to be the meaning of πορνείας as its resurgence with pagan worship is a portent of the end times:  The rest of humanity, those who survived the onslaught of an army numbering two hundred million, who had not been killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they did not stop worshiping demons and idols made of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood – idols that cannot see or hear or walk about.  Furthermore, they did not repent of their murders, of their magic spells, of their sexual immorality, or of their stealing.[20]

Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, John continued his vision, and he had an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth – to every nation, tribe, language, and people.  He declared in a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has arrived, and worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water!”

A second angel followed the first, declaring: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great city!  She made all the nations drink of the wine of her immoral passion.”[21]

The Greek word translated passion was θυμοῦ (a form of θυμός).  Here is a table of the occurrences and translations of θυμοῦ.

Form of θυμός Reference KJV

NET

θυμοῦ Luke 4:28 …these things, were filled with wrath …in the synagogue were filled with rage.
Acts 19:28 …these sayings, they were full of wrath When they heard this they became enraged
Revelation 14:8 …wine of the wrath of her fornication… …drink of the wine of her immoral passion.
Revelation 14:10 …shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God… …also drink of the wine of God’s anger
Revelation 14:19 …the great winepress of the wrath of God. …the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Revelation 15:7 …golden vials full of the wrath of God… …golden bowls filled with the wrath of God…
Revelation 16:1 …the vials of the wrath of God… …the seven bowls containing God’s wrath.
Revelation 16:19 …the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. …the wine made of God’s furious wrath.
Revelation 18:3 …the wine of the wrath of her fornication… …the wine of her immoral passion
Revelation 19:15 …he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. …he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God…

In the NET translation Babylon made all the nations (or, all the Gentiles: πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) drink of her immoral passion, which I understand as idolatrous worship including ritual sex.  In the KJV translation Babylon made all the nations (or, all the Gentiles) drink of the wrath directed at her fornication, whether all the individual nations or all of the individual Gentiles engaged directly in idolatrous worship including ritual sex or not.  Though I prefer the NET translation as a matter of justice I can’t verify it independently.  Here are the footnotes which attempt to explain it.

24 Grk “of the wine of the passion of the sexual immorality of her.” Here τῆς πορνείας…has been translated as an attributive genitive. In an ironic twist of fate, God will make Babylon drink her own mixture, but it will become the wine of his wrath in retribution for her immoral deeds (see the note on the word “wrath” in 16:19).

65 Following BDAG 461 s.v. θυμός 2, the combination of the genitives of θυμός…and ὀργή…in Rev 16:19 and 19:15 are taken to be a strengthening of the thought as in the OT and Qumran literature (Exod 32:12; Jer 32:37; Lam 2:3; CD 10:9). Thus in Rev 14:8 (to which the present passage alludes) and 18:3 there is irony: The wine of immoral behavior with which Babylon makes the nations drunk becomes the wine of God’s wrath for her. 

In a later passage however it is clear that the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality (Revelation 17:1, 2 NET):

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me.  “Come,” he said, “I will show you the condemnation and punishment of the great prostitute (πόρνης, a form of πόρνη) who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω) and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.”

Now the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, John’s vision continued, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls.  She held in her hand a golden cup filled with detestable things and unclean things from her sexual immorality.  On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the Great, the Mother of prostitutes (πορνῶν, another form of πόρνη) and of the detestable things of the earth.”[22]  As for the woman you saw, the angel explained, she is the great city that has sovereignty over the kings of the earth.[23]  I’m not sure if the angel meant a city at the time John saw the vision or at the time of the prophecy’s fulfillment.  If pressed I would assume the latter since no single city has had sovereignty over the kings of the earth since the tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9).

After these things I saw another angel, John continued (Revelation 18:1-3 NET):

who possessed great authority, coming down out of heaven, and the earth was lit up by his radiance.  He shouted with a powerful voice: “Fallen, fallen, is Babylon the great!  She has become a lair for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detested beast.  For all the nations have fallen from the wine of her immoral passion, and the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω) with her, and the merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the power of her sensual behavior (στρήνους, a form of στρῆνος).”

Here, after the other verses I’ve quoted I’m much more comfortable with the NET translation (her immoral passion) of τοῦ θυμοῦ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῆς than the KJV translation (the wrath of her fornication).

Jesus described Jezebel’s followers with the Greek word μοιχεύοντας (another form of μοιχεύω), translated those who commit adultery.  Though μοιχεύοντας only occurred this once in the New Testament it is fairly clear that in Jesus’ mind the verb πορνεῦσαι and the noun πορνείας described a special form of adultery.  Consider his words to the third woman.

She had been caught (κατειλημμένην, a form of καταλαμβάνω) committing adultery (μοιχείᾳ, a form of μοιχεία).[24]  Teacher, this woman was caught (κατείληπται, another form of καταλαμβάνω) in the very act (αὐτοφώρῳ, a form of ἐπαυτοφώρῳ) of adultery (μοιχευομένη, another form of μοιχεύω),[25] her accusers said to Jesus.  When none of her accusers considered himself guiltless (ἀναμάρτητος) they left Jesus alone with the woman.  He asked her, “Woman, where are they?  Did no one condemn you?”  She replied, “No one, Lord.”  And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either.  Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”[26]

But of the woman who was guilty of that special form of μοιχεία designated by the verb πορνεῦσαι and the noun πορνείας, He said: I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.[27]  This was not written in the past age under the law, but in the present after Jesus’ death, resurrection and ascension into heaven.  Since I don’t believe that human bishops or circuit riders are enjoined or authorized by this Scripture to infect church members guilty of idolatrous worship and ritual sex with disease, Jesus’ condemnation indicates to me that the angel of the church of Thyatira, criticized for having left Jezebel unattended, was not human.


[1] Does Deuteronomy 22:28-29 command a rape victim to marry her rapist?

[2] Mark 10:9 (KJV)

[3] Proverbs 30:18, 19 (NET)

[4] John 17:3 (NASB)

[5] John 4:16b (NET)

[6] John 4:17a (NET)

[7] John 4:18a (NET)

[8] Revelation 2:20a (NET)

[9] See: Mark 15:34 The Greek word translated cried out was ἐβόησεν (a form of βοάω).

[10] Revelation 2:20b (NET)

[11] Matthew 24:24 (NET)

[12] Revelation 2:20c (NET)

[13] Revelation 2:21 (NET)

[14] Peter J. Leithart, “Born in Fornication,” First Things

[15] Matthew 5:31, 32 (NET) Table

[16] Matthew 19:3b (NET) Table

[17] John 8:41b (NET)

[18] Acts 15:20b (NET) Table

[19] Romans, Part 30 ; Paul’s Religious Mind Revisited, Part 4

[20] Revelation 9:20, 21 (NET)

[21] Revelation 14:6-8 (NET)

[22] Revelation 17:4, 5 (NET)

[23] Revelation 17:18 (NET)

[24] John 8:3a (NET)

[25] John 8:4 (NET)

[26] John 8:10b, 11 (NET)

[27] Revelation 2:22 (NET)

Sexual Immorality Revisited, Part 2

The exercise of revisiting Paul’s Religious Mind and the meaning of Sexual Immorality has clarified a few things that were right in front of me all along.  I considered again the list of sins that described the former lives of some who were called to faith in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 6:9b, 10 (NET) Table

Parallel Greek

The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. οὔτε πόρνοι (another form of πόρνος) οὔτε εἰδωλολάτραι οὔτε μοιχοὶ οὔτε μαλακοὶ οὔτε ἀρσενοκοῖται οὔτε κλέπται οὔτε πλεονέκται, οὐ μέθυσοι, οὐ λοίδοροι, οὐχ ἅρπαγες βασιλείαν θεοῦ κληρονομήσουσιν

Each word preceded by οὔτε, οὐ or οὐχ (a form of οὐ) gives a strong indication that Paul did not consider πόρνοι the one word that included all of the others.  In other words the list is not to be understood as, The πόρνοι: idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers.  I’ve considered this option, by the way, given the shorter list in Ephesians.

Ephesians 5:5 (NET)

Parallel Greek

For you can be confident of this one thing: that no person who is immoral, impure, or greedy (such a person is an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. τοῦτο γὰρ ἴστε γινώσκοντες, ὅτι πᾶς πόρνος ἢ ἀκάθαρτος ἢ πλεονέκτης οὐκ ἔχει κληρονομίαν ἐν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ

So I began a subtractive process, trying to determine what πόρνοι did not mean.  As I studied ἀρσενοκοῖται (a form of ἀρσενοκοίτης; translated, practicing homosexuals) the obvious became more clear.  The Greek word ἀρσενοκοίτης is a compound of two words: 1) αρσην, male, and 2) κοίτη, couch, bed.

Have you not read that from the beginning the Creator made them male (ἄρσεν, a form of αρσην) and female,[1] Jesus answered the Pharisees who asked Him about divorce.  The men (ἄρσενες, another form of αρσην) also abandoned natural relations with women, Paul wrote the Roman believers, and were inflamed in their passions for one another.  Men (ἄρσενες, another form of αρσην) committed shameless acts with men (ἄρσεσιν, another form of αρσην) and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.[2]  The Greek is a bit more graphic: ἄρσενες ἐν ἄρσεσιν τὴν ἀσχημοσύνην κατεργαζόμενοι (literally, “male in male this unseemliness performing”).  The writer of Hebrews penned: Marriage must be honored among all and the marriage bed (κοίτη) kept undefiled, for God will judge sexually immoral people (πόρνους, another form of πόρνος) and adulterers (μοιχοὺς, a form of μοιχός).[3]  I can’t imagine one word better than ἀρσενοκοίτης (male marriage bed) to describe You must not have sexual intercourse with a male as one has sexual intercourse with a woman.[4]

I combined this with the fact that Paul’s particular usage of πορνεία in 1 Corinthians 5:1 is a fairly clear reference to You must not have sexual intercourse with your father’s wife; she is your father’s nakedness.[5]  And I came to one inescapable conclusion irrespective of whether Paul used πορνεία because he thought it meant anything and everything that was not sex between one man and one woman or because it was the only word he had had to use when he arrived in Corinth, constrained by his reliance on James’ abbreviated version of the law:

James’ abbreviated version of the law

…to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood…

Acts 15:20 (NET) Table

ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῆς πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) καὶ |τοῦ| πνικτοῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος
…that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality…

Acts 15:29a (NET) Table

ἀπέχεσθαι εἰδωλοθύτων καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτῶν καὶ πορνείας (a form of πορνεία)

The inescapable conclusion is: in the letter called 1 Corinthians Paul taught Levitical law (as knowledge of sin not as a path of salvation) to Gentiles (1 Timothy 1:8-10 NET).

But we know that the law is good if someone uses it legitimately, realizing that law is not intended for a righteous person, but for lawless and rebellious people, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, sexually immoral people (πόρνοις, another form of πόρνος), practicing homosexuals (ἀρσενοκοίταις, another form of ἀρσενοκοίτης), kidnappers, liars, perjurers – in fact, for any who live contrary to sound teaching.

Gone was any pretense to be concerned about nothing among [them] except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.[6]  More importantly, perhaps, the pretense of not placing on the neck of the [Gentile] disciples a yoke that neither [Peter’s] ancestors nor [his contemporaries had] been able to bear[7] was utterly gone from Paul’s thinking.  That yoke would not be borne by the works of the flesh.  That is true.  But it would not be shirked either.  The yoke would be borne by the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe,[8] the fruit of the Spirit, the love [that] is the fulfillment of the law.[9]  Jesus said (Matthew 11:28-30; 5:17-20 NET):

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy to bear, and my load is not hard to carry.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.  I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.  I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.  So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.  For I tell you, unless your righteousness goes beyond that of the experts in the law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Do we then nullify the law through faith? Paul asked rhetorically.  Absolutely not!  Instead we uphold the law.[10]  Have I just made the case for πορνεία as a violation of Leviticus 18 or 20?  But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful [πορνείας, a form of πορνεία]) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.[11]  I don’t think so.

I might have made that case.  I have a philosophical bent to my mind; I am a legalist in theory and in practice.  Why not see Matthew 5:32 as Jesus’ instruction to governor-priests and as vindication or exoneration of Ezra the priest?  Ancient Roman legislators had articulated concepts of lawful connubium.  The priests and bishops Constantine left to govern Rome when he abandoned it for Byzantium heard Jesus’ words as Roman law.  Wouldn’t Jesus follow Roman law?  It’s certainly more in line with the way my mind works.  Until, that is, I heard yehôvâh in the prophet Malachi (2:14b, 15a, 16 NET):

The Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) is testifying against you on behalf of the wife you married when you were young, to whom you have become unfaithful even though she is your companion and wife by law [Table].  No one who has even a small portion of the Spirit in him does this [Table]

“I hate divorce,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God (ʼĕlôhı̂ym, אלהי) of Israel, “and the one who is guilty of violence,” says the Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) who rules over all. “Pay attention to your conscience, and do not be unfaithful” [Table].

This is the intellectual and spiritual equivalent of a ratchet, and I cannot go back.  Now I hear, For God has consigned (συνέκλεισεν, a form of συγκλείω) all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια; literally, disbelief) so that he may show mercy to them all.[12]  We are all like fish caught in a net of disobedience.  Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under (ἐν; literally, in) the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world may be held accountable (ὑπόδικος; literally, under sentence, under judgment) to God.[13]

Ezra was exactly where yehôvâh wanted him to be when he said: O Lord (yehôvâh, יהוה) God of Israel, you are righteous, for we are left as a remnant this day.  Indeed, we stand before you in our guilt.  However, because of this guilt no one can really stand before you.[14]  Who knows what would have happened if Ezra had stayed there, waiting on yehôvâh, instead of chasing after Shecaniah’s get-righteous-quick scheme (Ezra 10:2-4 NET).

Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra: “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the local peoples.  Nonetheless, there is still hope for Israel in this regard [Table].  Therefore let us enact a covenant with our God to send away all these women and their offspring, in keeping with your counsel, my lord, and that of those who respect the commandments of our God.  And let it be done according to the law [Table].  Get up, for this matter concerns you.  We are with you, so be strong and act decisively [Table]!”

I want to make this as clear as I possibly can.  If a man has married the wrong sort of woman he cannot redeem himself in God’s eyes, he cannot make himself righteous again, by divorcing her and sending their children away.  The religious mind encourages us to change our own behavior, to conform us to some image of righteousness derived from the law (or some lesser doctrine) by that religious mind.  The mind of Christ speaks to the wriggling soul caught in a net of disbelief, saying, Stop your striving (râphâh, הרפו) and recognize (yâdaʽ, ודעו) that I am God!  I will be exalted over the nations!  I will be exalted over the earth![15]  Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must all be born from above.’[16]

I don’t live in Rome in the first half of the fourth century.  I don’t hear Jesus speaking to Roman legislators about external controls.  I hear Him speaking to the ἐκκλησία, those called by God the Father through Jesus Christ to be led by his Holy Spirit.  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God.[17]  For this and other reasons I still hear Jesus’ use of πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) in Matthew 5:32 and πορνείᾳ in Matthew 19:9 as a reference to the same πορνεῦσαι (a form of πορνεύω, e.g., sexualized worship) He condemned in Revelation 2:20 (NET):

But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality (πορνεῦσαι) and to eat food sacrificed to idols (εἰδωλόθυτα, a form of εἰδωλόθυτον).

Such sexualized worship was the bane of Israel’s descendents from the beginning of their existence as a nation: So do not be idolaters (εἰδωλολάτραι, a form of εἰδωλολάτρης), as some of them were.  As it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”  And let us not be immoral (πορνεύωμεν, another form of πορνεύω), as some of them were (ἐπόρνευσαν, another form of πορνεύω), and twenty-three thousand died in a single day.[18]  Rather than thinking of it as an abbreviated version of the law it would be far more charitable to assume that sexualized worship was what James had in mind at the Jerusalem Council:

Jesus (NET)

Parallel Greek James (NET)

Parallel Greek

…to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols…

Revelation 2:20b

πορνεῦσαι καὶ φαγεῖν εἰδωλόθυτα …to abstain from things defiled by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood…

Acts 15:20 Table

ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν ἀλισγημάτων τῶν εἰδώλων καὶ τῆς πορνείας (a form of πορνεία) καὶ |τοῦ| πνικτοῦ καὶ τοῦ αἵματος
…that you abstain from meat that has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what has been strangled and from sexual immorality…

Acts 15:29a

ἀπέχεσθαι εἰδωλοθύτων (another form of εἰδωλόθυτον) καὶ αἵματος καὶ πνικτῶν καὶ πορνείας (a form of πορνεία)

I want to substitute a more literal understanding of ὁμολογεῖ (a form of ὁμολογέω) translated confesses and confess respectively in 1 John 4:1-3 (NET):

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.  By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that [speaks the same as] Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not [speak the same as] Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

To that extent that the religious mind encourages us to reform our own behavior rather than to rely on the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is the spirit of antichrist no matter how well-intentioned the mouthpiece. Suspicious of the Gospel I tried to be good first to prove that I was, failing that, I tried because “God will get you if you don’t watch out.”  My fear was flight from rather than toward God.  And yet, in that dark foreboding I became most aware of His forgiveness and patience.  Paul put it this way for Timothy (1 Timothy 1:15, 16 NET):

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” – and I am the worst of them!  But here is why I was treated with mercy: so that in me as the worst, Christ Jesus could demonstrate his utmost patience, as an example for those who are going to believe in him for eternal life [Table].

Amanda Bynes delivers one of the funniest and most poignant lines in the movie Easy A: “Jesus tells us to love everyone.  I mean, even the whores and the homosexuals, but it’s just so hard.  It’s so hard because they keep doing it over and over again.”  An attitude of forgiveness toward others flows from the love that comes from the Holy Spirit.  Still, Jesus said, the one who is forgiven little loves little.[19] One who is forgiven much is forgiven often for the same offense, sometimes many more than seven times a day.  And that experience is far more persuasive than any threat (Matthew 18:34, 35 NET):

And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture [the unforgiving slave] until he repaid all he owed.  So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.

In that sacred space of loving forgiveness the truth began to dawn on me that not only the desire and effort were God’s but the fulfillment of his desire and his effort was his as well, the kingdom, the power and the glory.  I’ll substitute the same literal understanding I used above for ὁμολογήσῃς (another form of ὁμολογέω) translated confess, and ὁμολογεῖται (another form of ὁμολογέω) translated confesses in Romans 10:9, 10 (NET):

…if you [speak the same as Jesus] with your mouth that Jesus is Lord[20] [e.g., yehôvâh as opposed to a Lord or Sir] and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For with the heart one believes and thus has righteousness [πιστεύεται εἰς δικαιοσύνην; literally, “believes unto righteousness”] and with the mouth one [speaks the same as Jesus] and thus has salvation [ὁμολογεῖται εἰς σωτηρίαν; literally, “speaks the same as Jesus unto salvation”].

 


[1] Matthew 19:4 (NET) Table

[2] Romans 1:27 (NET) Table

[3] Hebrews 13:4 (NET)

[4] Leviticus 18:22a (NET) Table

[5] Leviticus 18:8 (NET) Table

[6] 1 Corinthians 2:2 (NET) Table

[7] Acts 15:10 (NET)

[8] Romans 3:22 (NET)

[9] Romans 13:10b (NET)

[10] Romans 3:31 (NET)

[11] Matthew 5:32b (NAB) Table

[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[13] Romans 3:19 (NET)

[14] Ezra 9:15 (NET)

[15] Psalm 46:10 (NET)

[16] John 3:7 (NET)

[17] Romans 8:14 (NET)

[18] 1 Corinthians 10:7, 8 (NET)

[19] Luke 7:47b (NET)

[20] NET note 10: Or “the Lord.” The Greek construction, along with the quotation from Joel 2:32 in v. 13 (in which the same “Lord” seems to be in view) suggests that κύριον (kurion) is to be taken as “the Lord,” that is, Yahweh. Cf. D. B. Wallace, “The Semantics and Exegetical Significance of the Object-Complement Construction in the New Testament,” GTJ 6 (1985): 91-112.

Forgiven or Passed Over? Part 1

Revisiting an essay—David’s Forgiveness, Part 1—I realized I had put an inordinate emphasis on the word forgiven without looking into the meaning of the original Hebrew word.  My suspicion of Bible translators feels at times like a paranoid schizophrenic’s fear of the CIA.  Lapses like this one renew my appreciation for the maxim, “Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you.”[1]

This essay could be very short.  I could simply say that Nathan actually responded to David’s confession with the words, Yes, and the Lord has passed over[2] (ʽâbar) your sin.  You are not going to die.[3]  Such a translation would agree with Paul’s assessment of God’s past actions: God in his forbearance had passed over (πάρεσιν, a form of πάρεσις) the sins previously committed.[4]  I could simply accept the text at face value, that ʽâbar is not forgiveness and God is free to exact whatever penalty He chooses.

It seems like an ironclad argument.  But five of the twelve Bibles I checked translate ʽâbar in 2 Samuel 12:13 forgiven or forgives.  Of the remaining seven four have it put away, two are taken away, and one, Jehovah hath caused thy sin to pass away.  How different is that from forgiven really?

ʽâbar 2 Samuel 12:13

Bible Versions

forgiven NET, CEV, NAB
put away ASV, DNT, KJV, NKJV
taken away GWT, NIV
forgives TEV, TMSG
pass away YLT

Do the translators believe that this is all I should expect from the forgiveness God exalted Jesus to give to Israel?  God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness (ἄφεσιν, a form of ἄφεσις) of sins.[5]  Apparently a primary verb to forgive is as absent from holy Hebrew as it is from pagan Greek.  The concept to forgive is either shoehorned into, or extrapolated from, other verbs in both languages.  [Addendum 2/14/2018: This is wrong regarding Hebrew: sâlach (סלח).]  That gives me cause to study ʽâbar in more detail to get a feel for its capacity to carry forgiveness.

I had the opportunity to go home for a month at Christmas.  Home is a relative concept.  I alternated between my mother’s house visiting her, my sister and her husband, and my ex-mother-in-law’s house about a hundred miles north visiting her, my kids, my ex-wife and her husband.  The day after I arrived I attended my son’s wedding.

We all sat in the front row.  I offered the seat next to our ex-wife to my son’s biological father.  He declined the offer and sat next to me.  (Her current husband sat on her other side.)  He is about two years from a painful break-up with his significant other.  He leaned over and whispered to me, “I don’t know how you do it.  I don’t think I could sit next to my ex, smiling, at her son’s wedding.”  He gave me the opportunity to say that I couldn’t take the credit, that it is not my doing so much as my getting out of the way of the Lord’s doing: his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  He received it well and acknowledged that he was seeking a similar peace.

Later, in a phone conversation with another friend who questioned me more specifically about the fruit of the Spirit, I acknowledged that sadly the Lord’s love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and gentleness aren’t always my first impulse.  Sometimes letting the fruit of his Spirit shine through me is a matter of waiting in that firm control until the second, third or fourth impulse holds sway.  But as I think of it now there is something else that makes friendship with my ex-wife possible.

I forgave her for divorcing me.  I forgive her every night I go to bed alone and every morning I wake up.  And I will forgive her for as long as we both shall live.  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel[6]  I don’t forgive her because I am so righteous.

Jesus taught us to pray, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven (ἀφήκαμεν, another form of ἀφίημι) our debtors.[7]  I, a sinful man in need of the Father’s forgiveness, pray this daily, and I believe Jesus’ saying: For if you forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others their sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα), your heavenly Father will also forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you.  But if you do not forgive (ἀφῆτε, another form of ἀφίημι) others, your Father will not forgive (ἀφήσει, another form of ἀφίημι) you your sins (παραπτώματα, a form of παράπτωμα).[8]

And here I probably give myself too much credit for rational consistency.  I forgive because I am schooled in this teaching by the Holy Spirit and filled continuously with his love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and firm control.  It occurs to me, however, that one who feels more righteous than I, might feel less need of the Father’s forgiveness and less compulsion to forgive others.  The fault in this logic is that the most righteous man of all prayed, Father, forgive (ἄφες, a form of ἀφίημι) them, for they don’t know what they are doing[9] as He surrendered[10] to his Father’s will.

The Father’s answer to his beloved Son’s request is the hope of all us sinners if it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy[11] (ἐλεῶντος, a form of ἐλεέω).  For God has consigned all people to disobedience (ἀπείθειαν, a form of ἀπείθεια) so that he may show mercy (ἐλεήσῃ, another form of ἐλεέω) to them all.[12]  What shall we say then?  Is there injustice with God?  Absolutely not!  For he says to Moses: I will have mercy (ἐλεήσω, another form of ἐλεέω) on whom I have mercy (ἐλεῶ, another form of ἐλεέω), and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[13]

The Greek word ὡς persuades me that forgiveness is, and will be perceived as, a relative as opposed to an absolute concept.  So then, be perfect, as (ὡς) your heavenly Father is perfect.[14]  Whenever you pray, do not be like (ὡς) the hypocrites[15]  …may your will be done on earth as (ὡς) it is in heaven.[16]  …and forgive us our debts, as (ὡς) we ourselves have forgiven our debtors.[17]  The absolute on/off positions are clear.[18]  But some form of continuum from none to full pardon seems to be indicated by ὡς, contingent upon that quality of forgiveness we extend to others.

Still, I would suggest that we will be inclined to extend the same forgiveness to others that we believe we receive from God.  If that forgiveness seems to include punishment we are more likely to believe that some form of punishment should be meted out with our forgiveness as well.  Or if the one extending such forgiveness has no authority to punish, conditions may be attached, making forgiveness something that must be earned as opposed to something graciously given and received.  I take the interaction between David and Shimei as a case in point.

As David fled from Jerusalem during the events that fulfilled the Lord’s promise to bring disaster (raʽ ) on you from inside your own household,[19] Shimei threw stones and yelled, “Leave!  Leave!  You man of bloodshed, you wicked man!  The Lord has punished (shûb) you for all the spilled blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you rule.  Now the Lord has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom.  Disaster (raʽ ) has overtaken you, for you are a man of bloodshed [Table]!”[20]  Clearly, Shimei’s assessment does not agree with Nathan the prophet’s assessment.

Nathan the Prophet’s Assessment

This is what the Lord God of Israel says:

2 Samuel 12:7b (NET) Table

Why have you shown contempt for the word of the Lord by doing evil in my sight?

2 Samuel 12:9a (NET) Table

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword…

2 Samuel 12:9b (NET)

…and you have taken his wife as your own!

2 Samuel 2:9c (NET)

You have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.  So now the sword will never depart from your house.

2 Samuel 12:9d, 10a (NET)

For you have despised me by taking the wife of Uriah the Hittite as your own!

2 Samuel 12:10b (NET) Table

I am about to bring disaster on you from inside your own household!  Right before your eyes I will take your wives and hand them over to your companion.  He will have sexual relations with your wives in broad daylight!  Although you have acted in secret, I will do this thing before all Israel, and in broad daylight.

2 Samuel 12:11, 12 (NET) Table1 Table2

Then David exclaimed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord!”  Nathan replied to David, “Yes, and the Lord has ʽâbar your sin.  You are not going to die.

2 Samuel 12:13 (NET) Table

Nonetheless, because you have treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son who has been born to you will certainly die.

2 Samuel 12:14 (NET) Table

The Hebrew word translated punished (shûb) is not found among the words the Lord God of Israel spoke through Nathan,[21] though I have certainly interpreted them as if they described recompense.  As a child I assumed that “forgiveness” only pertained to hell.  I believed that God would still punish me for my sins some other way.  He couldn’t help Himself, I thought, it’s who He is.

Abishai couldn’t tolerate hearing his king and commander spoken to as Shimei had spoken to him: Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king?  Let me go over (ʽâbar) and cut off his head![22]  Abishai’s use of ʽâbar doesn’t sound much like forgiveness, but David said, “What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  If he curses because the Lord has said to him, ‘Curse David!’, who can say to him, ‘Why have you done this [Table]?’”[23]  David exercised what I have come to call an experimental faith (2 Samuel 16:11, 12 NKJV):

And David said to Abishai and all his servants, “See how my son who came from my own body seeks my life.  How much more now may this Benjamite?  Let him alone, and let him curse; for so the Lord has ordered him [Table].  It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay (shûb) me with good for his cursing this day [Table].”

As David returned, lamenting his Pyrrhic victory[24] over his son Absalom, Shimei was one of the first[25] to greet him.  Don’t think badly of me, my lord, he said, and don’t recall the sin of your servant on the day when you, my lord the king, left Jerusalem!  Please don’t call it to mind!  For I, your servant, know that I sinned, and I have come today as the first of all the house of Joseph to come down to meet my lord the king.[26]  These are reminiscent of David’s words after Nathan confronted him (Psalm 51:1-3 NET):

Have mercy on me, O God, because of your loyal love!  Because of your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! [Table]  Wash away my wrongdoing!  Cleanse me of my sin! [Table]  For I am aware of my rebellious acts; I am forever conscious of my sin [Table].

Abishai, who may have been hiding with David in the cave when Saul entered to relieve himself,[27] pursued a pious good (possibly expecting David’s approval): For this should not Shimei be put to death?  After all, he cursed the Lord’s anointed (mâshı̂yach)![28]  But David seemed to pursue something more like a beautiful good: What do we have in common, you sons of Zeruiah?  You are like my enemy today!  Should anyone be put to death in Israel today?  Don’t you realize that today I am king over Israel?[29]

David said to Shimei, “You won’t die.”  The king vowed an oath concerning this.[30]  Here it sounds like he forgave Shimei.  But apparently that wasn’t the case.  He held onto his grudge against Shimei for the rest of his life.  With his dying breath[31] he instructed Solomon, another son by Bathsheba (1 Kings 2:8, 9 NET):

Note well, you still have to contend with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, who tried to call down upon me a horrible judgment when I went to Mahanaim.  He came down and met me at the Jordan, and I solemnly promised him by the Lord, ‘I will not strike you down with the sword.’  But now don’t treat him as if he were innocent.  You are a wise man and you know how to handle him; make sure he has a bloody death.

The Lord however didn’t treat David that way.  He didn’t recall David’s sin when He spoke to Jeroboams’s wife by Ahijah the prophet (1 Kings 14:7, 8 NET Table1 Table2):

“Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.  I tore the kingdom away from the Davidic dynasty and gave it to you. But you are not like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me wholeheartedly by doing only (raq) what I approve.”’”

This is another reason I wish to look deeper into ʽâbar.  Whatever it means, it altered reality for the God, who does not lie[32] when He extended it to David.

[1] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/98153-just-because-you-re-paranoid-doesn-t-mean-they-aren-t-after-you

[2] The first occurrence in the Bible is Genesis 8:1b (NKJV), And God made a wind to pass (ʽâbar) over the earth, and the waters subsided.

[3] 2 Samuel 12:13b (NET) Table

[4] Romans 3:25b (NET)

[5] Acts 5:31 (NET)

[6] Malachi 2:16a (NET) Table

[7] Matthew 6:12 (NET) Table

[8] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET) Table

[9] Luke 23:34a (NET) Table

[10] Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and that he would send me more than twelve legions of angels right now?  How then would the scriptures that say it must happen this way be fulfilled (πληρωθῶσιν, a form of πληρόω)? (Matthew 26:53, 54 NET) Table

[11] Romans 9:16 (NET) Table

[12] Romans 11:32 (NET)

[13] Romans 9:14, 15 (NET)

[14] Matthew 5:48 (NET)

[15] Matthew 6:5a (NET) Table

[16] Matthew 6:10b (NET)

[17] Matthew 6:12 (NET)

[18] Matthew 6:14, 15 (NET)

[19] 2 Samuel 12:11 (NET) Table

[20] 2 Samuel 16:7, 8 (NET)

[21] It does occur in the description of events leading up to and following those words (2 Samuel 11:4, 15; 12:23) but seems to be used in its more literal sense, to return.

[22] 2 Samuel 16:9 (NET)

[23] 2 Samuel 16:10 (NET)

[24] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrrhic_victory See: 2 Samuel 18:33 (NET)

[25] 2 Samuel 19:16 (NET)

[26] 2 Samuel 19:19, 20 (NET)

[27] 1 Samuel 24:3 (NET)

[28] 2 Samuel 19:21 (NET)  See also: 1 Samuel 24:6 (NET)

[29] 2 Samuel 19:22 (NET)

[30] 2 Samuel 19:23 (NET)

[31] 1 Kings 2:10 (NET)

[32] Titus 1:2 (NET)

Adultery in the Prophets, Part 3

Ezekiel, a priest, prophesied from Babylonia after the southern kingdom of Judah was taken captive.1  Ezekiel 23 is a history lesson from the Lord’s point of view told as an allegory (23:1-4 NET).

The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.  They engaged in prostitution (zānâ, ותזנינה) in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנו).  Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there [see Addendum below].  Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister.  They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters.  Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.”

The key to the allegory is at the end of this passage above: Oholah stands for Samaria the former capital of the long-exiled northern kingdom of Israel.  Oholibah stands for Jerusalem the capital of the more recently exiled southern kingdom of Judah (though Jerusalem was still inhabited at this particular time).2  Oholah and Oholibah became the Lord’s at Sinai after the exodus from Egypt.  Though I had missed it many times before, studying in this context helped me recognize that the people standing there that day were quite different than I had imagined previously.

According to Ezekiel’s prophetic allegory, in Egypt they had become accustomed to worship and sacrifice that included the drunken sexual practices of the nations around them.  And it was to this that they returned when Moses tarried on the mountain.  So they got up early on the next day and offered up burnt offerings and brought peace offerings, and the people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.3

The Hebrew word translated to play (ṣāḥaq, לצחק) does not necessarily mean what I have suggested.  But in light of the Lord’s testimony through Ezekiel I’m quite comfortable assuming that it is within the bounds of a euphemistic usage of the word.  It was used to describe Isaac caressing (ṣāḥaq, מצחק) his wife Rebekah4 or sporting (ṣāḥaq) with Rebekah his wife5 in a manner that alerted Abimelech that she was in fact his wife and not his sister, as Isaac had said.  And I sincerely doubt that Moses and the Levites strapped on swords, marched through the camp and killed three thousand men to break up the ancient equivalent of sack races, horseshoe matches and softball games.6

The Lord continued his allegorical history lesson through Ezekiel with a brief reprise of Oholah’s exploits (Ezekiel 23:5-10 NET):

Oholah engaged in prostitution (zānâ, ותזן) while she was mine.  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians – warriors clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.  She bestowed her sexual favors (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria.  She defiled herself with all whom she desired – with all their idols [see Addendum below].  She did not abandon the prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished (taznûṯ, תזנותם) her [see Addendum below].  Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.  They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword.  She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.

This is a familiar tale from Hosea’s prophecies about the northern kingdom of Israel7 with an additional insight that the desire for a military alliance with the Assyrians may have been the justification for joining in cultic worship practices.  And once again, just in case I missed it the first time (which I did many times), what Israel (Oholah) practiced and was judged for by war and captivity is the same practice that she did not abandon from her youth in Egypt.

Then Oholibah took center stage in the allegory (Ezekiel 23:11-21 NET):

Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) were more numerous than those of her sister [see Addendum below].  She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.  I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path.  But she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה).  She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red [see Addendum below], wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea.  When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.  The Babylonians crawled into bed with her.  They defiled her with their lust (taznûṯ, בתזנותם); after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them [see Addendum below].  When she lustfully (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister [see Addendum below].  Yet she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה), remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנתה) in the land of Egypt [see Addendum below].  She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions.  This is how you assessed the obscene (zimmâ, זמת) conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.

Once again the idolatrous worship practices for which Judah was judged were equated to the obscene conduct of her youth in Egypt, just in case I missed it the first two times.  If I plug this understanding into Matthew 5:32 (NET) and 19:9 (NET) as the meaning of πορνεία, I get the following:

Matthew 5:32 (NET)

Matthew 19:9 (NET)

I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices),” makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Now I say to you that whoever divorces his wife, except for “idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices),” and marries another commits adultery.

1) The meaning is limited and specific.

2) One party may be guilty while the other is innocent (unlike unlawful marriage which makes both parties guilty by definition).

3) It is in keeping with a major prophetic theme of God’s complaint against his chosen people.

4) It accounts for even the apparent permissiveness of Matthew 19:9 in that God himself divorced Israel over this kind of πορνεία,8 not immediately, but after centuries of practice with little, or no, or feigned confession and repentance.

On a personal note this study and its consequent understanding of porneia (πορνεία) lifts my thoughts out of the gutter of self-obsession, that God hates divorce to make my life perpetually miserable with a despised wife, or perpetually guilt-ridden because I have failed to keep a wife, twice (once when I was young and again many years later when I could not blame it on my youth).  Rather, his hatred of divorce is yet another way to know9 Him. Paul took up this prophetic theme of marriage and divorce/adultery in Romans 7:1-6 (NET).

Or do you not know, brothers and sisters (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law is lord over a person as long as he lives?  For a married woman is bound by law to her husband as long as he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law of the marriage.  So then, if she is joined to another man while her husband is alive, she will be called an adulteress.  But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she is joined to another man, she is not an adulteress.  So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you could be joined to another, to the one who was raised from the dead, to bear fruit to God.  For when we were in the flesh, the sinful desires, aroused by the law, were active in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.  But now we have been released from the law, because we have died to what controlled us, so that we may serve in the new life of the Spirit and not under the old written code.

How secure am I joined to the Lord Jesus in this way?  “I hate divorce,” says the Lord God of Israel10  And Jesus said, Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.11  Only continual flagrant idolatrous worship (including its drunken sexual practices) compelled God to divorce his beloved.  If this is what Jesus, Paul and the New Testament writers meant by πορνεία, it fits amazingly well into the fabric of the Bible’s prophetic writings.  But could Jesus have still been concerned about this particular kind of πορνεία? in the first century? in Judea?

 

Addendum: January 25, 2022
While the English translations of the Masoretic text of Ezekiel 23:3 made the sisters’ prostitution sound like heavy petting, the English translations of the Septuagint were more direct.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:3 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:3 (NET) Ezekiel 23:3 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:3 (Elpenor English)

And they committed whoredoms in Egypt; they committed whoredoms in their youth: there were their breasts pressed (מֹֽעֲכ֣וּ), and there they bruised (עִשּׂ֔וּ) the teats (דַּדֵּ֖י) of their virginity. They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution.  Their breasts were squeezed (māʿaḵ, מעכו) there; lovers fondled (ʿāśâ, עשׁו) their virgin nipples (daḏ, דדי) there. And they played the whore in Egypt in their youth; there their breasts fell (ἔπεσον); there they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν). and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth: there their breasts fell (ἔπεσον), there they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν).

I won’t spend the time here to explore whether the rabbis understood they bruised (עִשּׂ֔וּ) the teats (דַּדֵּ֖י) of their virginity (Tanakh) as an idiom or euphemism for they lost their virginity (διεπαρθενεύθησαν, a form of διαπαρθενεύω) or if the Masoretes altered the Hebrew text.

In Ezekiel 23:7 below the Hebrew word תַּזְנוּתֶ֙יהָ֙ (taznûṯ), whoredoms (Tanakh, KJV), sexual favors (NET), was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία), whoring (NETS), fornication (English Elpenor), in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:7 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:7 (NET) Ezekiel 23:7 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:7 (Elpenor English)

Thus she committed her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֙יהָ֙) with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. She bestowed her sexual favors (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria.  She defiled herself with all whom she desired—with all their idols. And she granted her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) to them; they were all the chosen sons of Assyrians, and she was defiling herself upon all, upon whom she laid herslef, with all her notions. And she bestowed her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all [their] devices.

In Ezekiel 23:8 below it seems more likely that they bruised (עִשּׂ֖וּ) the breasts (דַּדֵּ֣י) of her virginity (Tanakh, KJV) was understood as an idiom or euphemism for they took her virginity (διεπαρθένευσαν, a form of διαπαρθενεύω) by the rabbis who translated the Septuagint.  And both תַּזְנוּתֶ֚יהָ, whoredoms (Tanakh, KJV), and תַזְנוּתָ֖ם, whoredom (Tanakh, KJV), were translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία).

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:8 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:8 (NET) Ezekiel 23:8 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:8 (Elpenor English)

Neither left she her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֚יהָ) brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised (עִשּׂ֖וּ) the breasts (דַּדֵּ֣י) of her virginity, and poured their whoredom (תַזְנוּתָ֖ם) upon her. She did not abandon the prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled (ʿāśâ, עשׁו) her virgin breasts (daḏ, דדי), and ravished (taznûṯ, תזנותם) her. And she did not give up her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) from Egypt, for they were lying with her in her youth, and they took her virginity (διεπαρθένευσαν) and poured out their whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν) upon her. And she forsook not her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) with the Egyptians: for in her youth they committed fornication with her, and they deflowered (διεπαρθένευσαν) her, and poured out their fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν) upon her.

In Ezekiel 23:11 both תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ (taznûṯ) and מִזְּנוּנֵ֖ (zᵊnûnîm) were translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:11 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:11 (NET) Ezekiel 23:11 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:11 (Elpenor English)

And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ) more than her sister in her whoredoms (מִזְּנוּנֵ֖י). “Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) were more numerous than those (zᵊnûnîm, מזנוני) of her sister. And her sister, Ooliba, saw and was corrupting her aggression beyond her and her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) beyond the whoring (τὴν πορνείαν) of her sister. And her sister Ooliba saw [it], and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) more than the fornication (τὴν πορνείαν) of her sister.

In Ezekiel 23:14 תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:14 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:14 (NET) Ezekiel 23:14 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:14 (Elpenor English)

And that she increased her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ): for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, But she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה).  She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red, And she added to her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and she saw men painted upon the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted by brush, And she increased her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and she saw men painted on the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans painted with a pencil,

In Ezekiel 23:17 בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑ם (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείᾳ in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:17 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:17 (NET) Ezekiel 23:17 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:17 (Elpenor English)

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom (בְּתַזְנוּתָ֑ם), and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. The Babylonians crawled into bed with her.  They defiled her with their lust (taznûṯ, בתזנותם); after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them. And the sons of Babylon came to her for a bed of lodgers, and they were defiling her in her whoring (τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς), and she was defiled with them, and her soul recoiled from them. And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication (τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς), and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

In Ezekiel 23:18 תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:18 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:18 (NET) Ezekiel 23:18 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:18 (Elpenor English)

So she discovered her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֔יהָ), and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. When she lustfully (taznûṯ, תזנותיה) exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister. And she uncovered her whoring (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς) and uncovered her shame, and my soul recoiled from her, as my soul recoiled from her sister. And she exposed her fornication (τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς), and exposed her shame: and my soul was alienated from her, even as my soul was alienated from her sister.

In Ezekiel 23:19 תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ (taznûṯ) was translated πορνείαν (a form of πορνεία) and זָֽנְתָ֖ה (zānâ) with the verb ἐπόρνευσας a form of πορνεύω) in the Septuagint.

Masoretic Text

Septuagint
Ezekiel 23:19 (Tanakh/KJV) Ezekiel 23:19 (NET) Ezekiel 23:19 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:19 (Elpenor English)

Yet she multiplied her whoredoms (תַּזְנוּתֶ֑יהָ), in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot (זָֽנְתָ֖ה) in the land of Egypt. Yet she increased her prostitution (taznûṯ, תזנותיה), remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution (zānâ, זנתה) in the land of Egypt. And you multiplied your whoring (τὴν πορνείαν σου) to remind them of the days of your youth when you whored (ἐπόρνευσας) in Egypt, And thou didst multiply thy fornication (τὴν πορνείαν σου), so as to call to remembrance the days of thy youth, wherein thou didst commit whoredom (ἐπόρνευσας) in Egypt,

Tables comparing Ezekiel 23:1; 23:2; 23:3; 23:4; Genesis 26:8; Ezekiel 23:5; 23:6; 23:7; 23:8; 23:9; 23:10; 23:11; 23:12; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 23:19; 23:20 and 23:21 in the Tanakh, KJV and NET, and tables comparing the Greek of Ezekiel 23:1; 23:2; 23:3; 23:4; Genesis 26:8; Ezekiel 23:5; 23:6; 23:7; 23:8; 23:9; 23:10; 23:11; 23:12; 23:13; 23:14; 23:15; 23:16; 23:17; 23:18; 23:19; 23:20 and 23:21 in the Septuagint (BLB and Elpenor) follow.

Ezekiel 23:1 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:1 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:1 (NET)

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, The Lord’s message came to me:

Ezekiel 23:1 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:1 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων ΚΑΙ ἐγένετο λόγος Κυρίου πρός με λέγων

Ezekiel 23:1 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:1 (English Elpenor)

And a word of the Lord came to me, saying: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Ezekiel 23:2 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:2 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:2 (NET)

Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one mother: “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.

Ezekiel 23:2 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:2 (Septuagint Elpenor)

υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου δύο γυναῗκες ἦσαν θυγατέρες μητρὸς μιᾶς υἱὲ ἀνθρώπου, δύο γυναῖκες ἦσαν θυγατέρες μητρὸς μιᾶς

Ezekiel 23:2 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:2 (English Elpenor)

Son of man, two women were daughters of one mother, Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother:

Ezekiel 23:3 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:3 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:3 (NET)

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. 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. They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution.  Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers fondled their virgin nipples there.

Ezekiel 23:3 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:3 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῇ νεότητι αὐτῶν ἐκεῗ ἔπεσον οἱ μαστοὶ αὐτῶν ἐκεῗ διεπαρθενεύθησαν καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσαν ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῇ νεότητι αὐτῶν· ἐκεῖ ἔπεσον οἱ μαστοὶ αὐτῶν, ἐκεῖ διεπαρθενεύθησαν

Ezekiel 23:3 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:3 (English Elpenor)

And they played the whore in Egypt in their youth; there their breasts fell; there they lost their virginity. and they went a-whoring in Egypt in their youth: there their breasts fell, there they lost their virginity.

Ezekiel 23:4 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:4 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:4 (NET)

And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters.  Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah her sister: and they were mine, and they bare sons and daughters.  Thus were their names; Samaria is Aholah, and Jerusalem Aholibah. Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah the name of her younger sister.  They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters.  Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 23:4 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:4 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἦν Οολα ἡ πρεσβυτέρα καὶ Οολιβα ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς καὶ ἐγένοντό μοι καὶ ἔτεκον υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν Σαμάρεια ἡ Οολα καὶ Ιερουσαλημ ἡ Οολιβα καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν ἦν ᾿Οολὰ ἡ πρεσβυτέρα καὶ ᾿Οολιβὰ ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς. καὶ ἐγένοντό μοι καὶ ἔτεκον υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας, καὶ τὰ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν· Σαμάρεια ἦν ᾿Οολὰ καὶ ῾Ιερουσαλὴμ ἦν ᾿Οολιβά

Ezekiel 23:4 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:4 (English Elpenor)

And their names were Oola the elder and Ooliba her sister.  And they became mine and bore sons and daughters.  As for their names: Oola was Samaria, and Ooliba was Ierousalem. And their names were Oola the elder, and Ooliba her sister: and they were mine, and bore sons and daughters: and [as for] their names, Samaria was Oola, and Jerusalem was Ooliba.

Genesis 26:8 (Tanakh)

Genesis 26:8 (KJV)

Genesis 26:8 (NET)

And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. And it came to pass, when he had been there a long time, that Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out at a window, and saw, and, behold, Isaac was sporting with Rebekah his wife. After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines happened to look out a window and observed Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.

Genesis 26:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Genesis 26:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐγένετο δὲ πολυχρόνιος ἐκεῗ παρακύψας δὲ Αβιμελεχ ὁ βασιλεὺς Γεραρων διὰ τῆς θυρίδος εἶδεν τὸν Ισαακ παίζοντα μετὰ Ρεβεκκας τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ ἐγένετο δὲ πολυχρόνιος ἐκεῖ· καὶ παρακύψας ᾿Αβιμέλεχ ὁ βασιλεὺς Γεράρων διὰ τῆς θυρίδος, εἶδε τὸν ᾿Ισαὰκ παίζοντα μετὰ Ρεβέκκας τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ

Genesis 26:8 (NETS)

Genesis 26:8 (English Elpenor)

And he stayed on there quite some time.  Now Abimelech the king of Gerara, when he peered through the window, saw Isaak playing around with his wife Rebekka. And he remained there a long time, and Abimelech the king of Gerara leaned to look through the window, and saw Isaac sporting with Rebecca his wife.

Ezekiel 23:5 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:5 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:5 (NET)

And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine.  She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors

Ezekiel 23:5 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:5 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσεν ἡ Οολα ἀπ᾽ ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐραστὰς αὐτῆς ἐπὶ τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας αὐτῇ καὶ ἐξεπόρνευσεν ἡ ᾿Οολὰ ἀπ’ ἐμοῦ καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπὶ τοὺς ἐραστὰς αὐτῆς, ἐπὶ τοὺς ᾿Ασσυρίους τοὺς ἐγγίζοντας αὐτῇ

Ezekiel 23:5 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:5 (English Elpenor)

And Oola played the whore away from me and laid herself upon her lovers, upon the Assyrians who were coming near to her And Oola went a-whoring from me, and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians that were her neighbors

Ezekiel 23:6 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:6 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:6 (NET)

Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. Which were clothed with blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.

Ezekiel 23:6 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:6 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐνδεδυκότας ὑακίνθινα ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγούς νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες ἱππεῗς ἱππαζόμενοι ἐφ᾽ ἵππων ἐνδεδυκότας ὑακίνθινα, ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγούς· νεανίσκοι καὶ ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες, ἱππεῖς ἱππαζόμενοι ἐφ’ ἵππων

Ezekiel 23:6 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:6 (English Elpenor)

clothed in blue, governors and commanders.  They were all elite young men, horsemen riding upon horses. clothed with purple, princes and captains; [they were] young men and choice, all horseman riding on horses.

Ezekiel 23:7 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:7 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:7 (NET)

Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria.  She defiled herself with all whom she desired—with all their idols.

Ezekiel 23:7 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:7 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἔδωκεν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐπ᾽ αὐτούς ἐπίλεκτοι υἱοὶ Ἀσσυρίων πάντες καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας οὓς ἐπέθετο ἐν πᾶσι τοῗς ἐνθυμήμασιν αὐτῆς ἐμιαίνετο καὶ ἔδωκε τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐπ’ αὐτούς· ἐπίλεκτοι υἱοὶ ᾿Ασσυρίων πάντες, καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας, οὓς ἐπέθετο, ἐν πᾶσι τοῖς ἐνθυμήμασιν αὐτοῖς ἐμιαίνετο

Ezekiel 23:7 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:7 (English Elpenor)

And she granted her whoring to them; they were all the chosen sons of Assyrians, and she was defiling herself upon all, upon whom she laid herslef, with all her notions. And she bestowed her fornication upon them; all were choice sons of the Assyrians: and on whomsoever she doted herself, with them she defiled herself in all [their] devices.

Ezekiel 23:8 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:8 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:8 (NET)

Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt, for in her youth men went to bed with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.

Ezekiel 23:8 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:8 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν ὅτι μετ᾽ αὐτῆς ἐκοιμῶντο ἐν νεότητι αὐτῆς καὶ αὐτοὶ διεπαρθένευσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέχεαν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν ἐπ᾽ αὐτήν καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ἐξ Αἰγύπτου οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν, ὅτι μετ’ αὐτῆς ἐκοιμῶντο ἐν νεότητι αὐτῆς, καὶ αὐτοὶ διεπαρθένευσαν αὐτὴν καὶ ἐξέχεαν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῶν ἐπ’ αὐτήν

Ezekiel 23:8 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:8 (English Elpenor)

And she did not give up her whoring from Egypt, for they were lying with her in her youth, and they took her virginity and poured out their whoring upon her. And she forsook not her fornication with the Egyptians: for in her youth they committed fornication with her, and they deflowered her, and poured out their fornication upon her.

Ezekiel 23:9 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:9 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:9 (NET)

Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted. Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.

Ezekiel 23:9 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:9 (Septuagint Elpenor)

διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκα αὐτὴν εἰς χεῗρας τῶν ἐραστῶν αὐτῆς εἰς χεῗρας υἱῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐφ᾽ οὓς ἐπετίθετο διὰ τοῦτο παρέδωκα αὐτὴν εἰς χεῖρας τῶν ἐραστῶν αὐτῆς, εἰς χεῖρας υἱῶν ᾿Ασσυρίων, ἐφ’ οὓς ἐπετίθετο

Ezekiel 23:9 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:9 (English Elpenor)

Therefore, I gave her over into the hands of her lovers, into hands of the sons of Assyrians upon whom she was laying herself. Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the children of the Assyrians, on whom she doted.

Ezekiel 23:10 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:10 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:10 (NET)

These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her. These discovered her nakedness: they took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became famous among women; for they had executed judgment upon her. They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword.  She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.

Ezekiel 23:10 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:10 (Septuagint Elpenor)

αὐτοὶ ἀπεκάλυψαν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας αὐτῆς ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτὴν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ ἀπέκτειναν καὶ ἐγένετο λάλημα εἰς γυναῗκας καὶ ἐποίησαν ἐκδικήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ εἰς τὰς θυγατέρας αὐτοὶ ἀπεκάλυψαν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς, υἱοὺς καὶ θυγατέρας αὐτῆς ἔλαβον καὶ αὐτὴν ἐν ῥομφαίᾳ ἀπέκτειναν. καὶ ἐγένετο λάλημα εἰς γυναῖκας, καὶ ἐποίησαν ἐκδικήσεις ἐν αὐτῇ εἰς τὰς θυγατέρας

Ezekiel 23:10 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:10 (English Elpenor)

They uncovered her shame; they took her sons and daughters and killed her by sword, and she became prattle for women, and they executed judgment against her upon her daughters. They uncovered her shame: they took her sons and daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became a byword among women: and they wrought vengeance in her for the sake of the daughters.

Ezekiel 23:11 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:11 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:11 (NET)

And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. And when her sister Aholibah saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. “Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.

Ezekiel 23:11 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:11 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶδεν ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς Οολιβα καὶ διέφθειρε τὴν ἐπίθεσιν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν πορνείαν τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς Καὶ εἶδεν ἡ ἀδελφὴ αὐτῆς ᾿Οολιβὰ καὶ διέφθειρε τὴν ἐπίθεσιν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ αὐτὴν καὶ τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς ὑπὲρ τὴν πορνείαν τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς

Ezekiel 23:11 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:11 (English Elpenor)

And her sister, Ooliba, saw and was corrupting her aggression beyond her and her whoring beyond the whoring of her sister. And her sister Ooliba saw [it], and she indulged in her fondness more corruptly than she, and in her fornication more than the fornication of her sister.

Ezekiel 23:12 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:12 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:12 (NET)

She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. She lusted after the Assyrians—governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.

Ezekiel 23:12 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:12 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν Ἀσσυρίων ἐπέθετο ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς ἐνδεδυκότας εὐπάρυφα ἱππεῗς ἱππαζομένους ἐφ᾽ ἵππων νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες ἐπὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῶν ᾿Ασσυρίων ἐπέθετο, ἡγουμένους καὶ στρατηγοὺς τοὺς ἐγγὺς αὐτῆς ἐνδεδυκότας εὐπάρυφα, ἱππεῖς ἱππαζομένους ἐφ’ ἵππων· νεανίσκοι ἐπίλεκτοι πάντες

Ezekiel 23:12 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:12 (English Elpenor)

She applied herself to the sons of Assyrians, governors and commanders near her, wearing fine purple, horsemen riding upon horses.  They were all elite young men. She doted upon the sons of the Assyrian, princes and captains, her neighbours, clothed with fine linen, horsemen riding on horses; [they were] all choice young men.

Ezekiel 23:13 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:13 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:13 (NET)

Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path.

Ezekiel 23:13 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:13 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ εἶδον ὅτι μεμίανται ὁδὸς μία τῶν δύο καὶ εἶδον ὅτι μεμίανται· ὁδὸς μία τῶν δύο

Ezekiel 23:13 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:13 (English Elpenor)

And I saw that she had been defiled, one way for the two. And I saw that they were defiled, [that] the two [had] one way.

Ezekiel 23:14 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:14 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:14 (NET)

And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,

Ezekiel 23:14 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:14 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ προσέθετο πρὸς τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ εἶδεν ἄνδρας ἐζωγραφημένους ἐπὶ τοῦ τοίχου εἰκόνας Χαλδαίων ἐζωγραφημένους ἐν γραφίδι καὶ προσέθετο πρὸς τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ εἶδεν ἄνδρας ἐζωγραφημένους ἐπὶ τοῦ τοίχου, εἰκόνας Χαλδαίων, ἐζωγραφημένους ἐν γραφίδι

Ezekiel 23:14 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:14 (English Elpenor)

And she added to her whoring, and she saw men painted upon the wall, images of the Chaldeans, painted by brush, And she increased her fornication, and she saw men painted on the wall, likenesses of the Chaldeans painted with a pencil,

Ezekiel 23:15 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:15 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:15 (NET)

Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:15 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:15 (Septuagint Elpenor)

ἐζωσμένους ποικίλματα ἐπὶ τὰς ὀσφύας αὐτῶν καὶ τιάραι βαπταὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεφαλῶν αὐτῶν ὄψις τρισσὴ πάντων ὁμοίωμα υἱῶν Χαλδαίων γῆς πατρίδος αὐτῶν ἐζωσμένους ποικίλματα ἐπὶ τὰς ὀσφύας αὐτῶν, καὶ τιάραι βαπταὶ ἐπὶ τῶν κεφαλῶν αὐτῶν, ὄψις τρισσὴ πάντων, ὁμοίωμα υἱῶν Χαλδαίων, γῆς πατρίδος αὐτῶν

Ezekiel 23:15 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:15 (English Elpenor)

girded with brocades upon their loins and dyed tiaras on their heads; all had a triple aspect, a likeness of sons of Chaldeans of their native land. having variegated girdles on their loins, having also richly dyed [attire] upon their heads; all had a princely appearance, the likeness of the children of the Chaldeans, of their native land.

Ezekiel 23:16 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:16 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:16 (NET)

And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

Ezekiel 23:16 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:16 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς τῇ ὁράσει ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰς γῆν Χαλδαίων καὶ ἐπέθετο ἐπ’ αὐτοὺς τῇ ὁράσει ὀφθαλμῶν αὐτῆς καὶ ἐξαπέστειλεν ἀγγέλους πρὸς αὐτοὺς εἰς γῆν Χαλδαίων

Ezekiel 23:16 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:16 (English Elpenor)

And she applied herself to them in the vision of her eyes and sent out messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans. And she doted upon them as soon as she saw them, and sent forth messengers to them into the land of the Chaldeans.

Ezekiel 23:17 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:17 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:17 (NET)

And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. The Babylonians crawled into bed with her.  They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.

Ezekiel 23:17 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:17 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς αὐτὴν υἱοὶ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς κοίτην καταλυόντων καὶ ἐμίαινον αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν αὐτοῗς καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ ἤλθοσαν πρὸς αὐτὴν υἱοὶ Βαβυλῶνος εἰς κοίτην καταλυόντων καὶ ἐμίαινον αὐτὴν ἐν τῇ πορνείᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐμιάνθη ἐν αὐτοῖς· καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτῆς ἀπ’ αὐτῶν

Ezekiel 23:17 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:17 (English Elpenor)

And the sons of Babylon came to her for a bed of lodgers, and they were defiling her in her whoring, and she was defiled with them, and her soul recoiled from them. And the sons of Babylon came to her, into the bed of rest, and they defiled her in her fornication, and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

Ezekiel 23:18 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:18 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:18 (NET)

So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister.

Ezekiel 23:18 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:18 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν τὴν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς ὃν τρόπον ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς καί ἀπεκάλυψε τὴν πορνείαν αὐτῆς καὶ ἀπεκάλυψεν αἰσχύνην αὐτῆς, καὶ ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπ’ αὐτῆς, ὃν τρόπον ἀπέστη ἡ ψυχή μου ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδελφῆς αὐτῆς

Ezekiel 23:18 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:18 (English Elpenor)

And she uncovered her whoring and uncovered her shame, and my soul recoiled from her, as my soul recoiled from her sister. And she exposed her fornication, and exposed her shame: and my soul was alienated from her, even as my soul was alienated from her sister.

Ezekiel 23:19 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:19 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:19 (NET)

Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 23:19 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:19 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐπλήθυνας τὴν πορνείαν σου τοῦ ἀναμνῆσαι ἡμέρας νεότητός σου ἐν αἷς ἐπόρνευσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ καὶ ἐπλήθυνας τὴν πορνείαν σου τοῦ ἀναμνῆσαι ἡμέραν νεότητός σου, ἐν αἷς ἐπόρνευσας ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ

Ezekiel 23:19 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:19 (English Elpenor)

And you multiplied your whoring to remind them of the days of your youth when you whored in Egypt, And thou didst multiply thy fornication, so as to call to remembrance the days of thy youth, wherein thou didst commit whoredom in Egypt,

Ezekiel 23:20 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:20 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:20 (NET)

For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. She lusted after her lovers there, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions.

Ezekiel 23:20 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:20 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐπέθου ἐπὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους ὧν ἦσαν ὡς ὄνων αἱ σάρκες αὐτῶν καὶ αἰδοῗα ἵππων τὰ αἰδοῗα αὐτῶν καὶ ἐπέθου ἐπὶ τοὺς Χαλδαίους, ὧν ὡς ὄνων αἱ σάρκες αὐτῶν καὶ αἰδοῖα ἵππων τὰ αἰδοῖα αὐτῶν

Ezekiel 23:20 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:20 (English Elpenor)

and you applied yourself to the Chaldeans, whose flesh was like that of donkeys and their privates were privates of horses. and thou didst dote upon the Chaldeans, whose flesh is as the flesh of the asses, and their members [as] the members of horses.

Ezekiel 23:21 (Tanakh)

Ezekiel 23:21 (KJV)

Ezekiel 23:21 (NET)

Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth. Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth. This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.

Ezekiel 23:21 (Septuagint BLB)

Ezekiel 23:21 (Septuagint Elpenor)

καὶ ἐπεσκέψω τὴν ἀνομίαν νεότητός σου ἃ ἐποίεις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῷ καταλύματί σου οὗ οἱ μαστοὶ νεότητός σου καὶ ἐπεσκέψω τὴν ἀνομίαν νεότητός σου, ἃ ἐποίεις ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ ἐν τῷ καταλύματί σου, οὗ οἱ μαστοὶ νεότητός σου

Ezekiel 23:21 (NETS)

Ezekiel 23:21 (English Elpenor)

And you reflected upon the lawlessness of your youth, what you used to do in Egypt in your lodging, where the breasts of your youth were. And thou didst look upon the iniquity of thy youth, [the things] which thou wroughtest in Egypt in thy lodgings, where were the breasts of thy youth.