What Does Ezekiel 23:11 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Aholibah means “my tent is in her,” while “corrupt” comes from a root of ruin: the verse holds indwelling and self-ruining desire in the same woman.
THE MEANING
Aholibah’s name (אָהֳלִיבָה, Oholivah) means “my tent is in her.” What she sees becomes a measure for her own appetite, until her desire and conduct surpass her sister’s.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that another person’s destructive appetite is only something to observe: what is seen can become the measure that enlarges one’s own desire.
THE ROOT
עַגְבָתָהּ
ʿagavatah
GROWS FROM
עגב
ʿ-g-b
To lust after or desire passionately.
“inordinate love” in this verse is ʿagavatah. The word carries the force of lust, not only affection. The same root describes her sister’s desire, so the verse presents one appetite recurring and intensifying through comparison.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāgab: To lust after, dote on.
עָגַב
This verb describes Aholah’s desire in Ezekiel 23:5; the sisters’ desires share the same root.
ʿagavatah: Her lust, her passionate desire.
עַגְבָתָהּ
This form names the appetite that grows until it exceeds her sister’s.
וַתַּשְׁחֵת
vat-tašḥet
GROWS FROM
שחת
š-ḥ-t
To ruin, destroy, or spoil.
“Corrupt” can suggest a stain, but this root carries the force of ruin. The verse describes desire as something that spoils and destroys, not merely as a private feeling.
ALSO GROWS
šāḥat: Ruin, destruction; also a pit.
שָׁחַת
The word’s destructive sense gives “more corrupt” the weight of something being ruined.
mašḥît: Destroyer, one who destroys.
מַשְׁחִית
This related form makes the root’s active force clear: the word belongs to the language of destruction.
זְנוּנֵי
zenunei
GROWS FROM
זנה
z-n-h
To commit whoredom or sexual unfaithfulness.
“whoredoms” in this verse is zenunei. The verse repeats the language of whoredom to make the comparison explicit: the same kind of sexual betrayal appears in both sisters, and Aholibah exceeds her sister in it.
ALSO GROWS
zānāh: To commit whoredom.
זָנָה
The verb names the conduct behind the repeated noun in this verse.
zōnāh: A prostitute, one who commits whoredom.
זוֹנָה
This related form connects the act to the person characterized by it.
THE PATTERN
Desire enlarges when what is seen becomes its measure, and unchecked appetite ripens into ruin.
And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied.Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.THE THREAD
And Aholah played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours,The rare root עגב (ʿ-g-b), meaning “to lust” or “dote,” appears as “doted” here and as “inordinate love” in the current verse. The same appetite appears in the sister, then grows more intense in Aholibah.
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