Chapter 16 is Yechezkel's great allegory of Jerusalem: an infant girl cast out into the open field, over whom the Holy One, blessed be He, passed, granting her life, raising her, clothing and adorning her, and making her royalty - yet she trusted in her beauty and betrayed her Husband. In the section before us, the prophet details exactly with whom Jerusalem "played the harlot": with Egypt, with Assyria, and with Chaldea. He shows that her corruption surpassed that of any harlot in the world, and finally comes the punishment: the judgments of adulteresses and women who shed blood, destruction, and exile.
Harlotry with Egypt: Turning for Help Instead of Returning to Hashem
וַתִּזְנִי אֶל־בְּנֵי־מִצְרַיִם שְׁכֵנַיִךְ גִּדְלֵי בָשָׂר וַתַּרְבִּי אֶת־תַּזְנֻתֵךְ לְהַכְעִיסֵנִי׃ (כו) - "You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors with large members, and multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger." (26)
"You played the harlot with the sons of Egypt" - meaning with the Egyptians, who are "large of flesh." As the commentators explain, the term "flesh" throughout Scripture is a euphemism for the male reproductive organ. Radak notes: in intimate matters, women desire those of large flesh, and therefore "and you multiplied your harlotry" - you multiplied your corruption and specifically sought out those of large flesh, the Egyptians. You added harlotry upon harlotry, until the entire act became akin to idolatry performed "to provoke Me to anger," to provoke Hashem.
The Malbim explains what this refers to: they turned to Egypt for help in the days of Ahaz. Even when troubles began, instead of realizing that their true, original Husband is the Master of the Universe, and that He is the One calling for us to return to Him, they declared: Master of the Universe, we do not need You; we have Egypt! You turned to Egypt to seek their aid, and this is "You played the harlot with the sons of Egypt, and multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger" - it was an outright provocation of the Master of the Universe.
וְהִנֵּה נָטִיתִי יָדִי עָלַיִךְ וָאֶגְרַע חֻקֵּךְ וָאֶתְּנֵךְ בְּנֶפֶשׁ שֹׂנְאוֹתַיִךְ בְּנוֹת פְּלִשְׁתִּים הַנִּכְלָמוֹת מִדַּרְכֵּךְ זִמָּה׃ (כז) - "Behold, therefore, I have stretched out My hand over you and diminished your allotted portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way." (27)
"Behold, therefore, I have stretched out My hand over you" - the Holy One, blessed be He, struck Ahaz with blow after blow, as recorded in II Chronicles 28, and ultimately the Philistines raided the cities of the Lowland (Shephelah) and the Negev and conquered them, taking places where the tribe of Judah had lived, and now the Philistines dwelled there. This is "and diminished your allotted portion (chok)": these cities were your rightful portion, designated for you, and I subtracted from what was legally yours. "And delivered you to the will of those who hate you" - I surrendered these cities to the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were perpetual enemies of Israel. "The daughters of the Philistines," similar to "let the daughters of Judah rejoice," does not mean literal women, but rather neighboring satellite towns; just as towns adjoining Judah are called the daughters of Judah, so too the daughters of the Philistines are Philistia and its adjacent towns. And since they are our bitter enemies, with whom we fought constantly throughout history, there is no greater disgrace than our cities falling into their hands.
"Who are ashamed of your lewd way" - the Philistines did not commit acts as depraved as the people of Israel did, and consider what an utter disgrace this is: they, the Philistines, did not act as evilly as we did, and when they observe your lewd ways, they are ashamed, as it were, embarrassed at how the people of Israel could do such things. Targum Yonatan explains "ashamed" differently: had someone rebuked them, they would have felt ashamed. That is, had I sent a prophet to rebuke them, they would have been ashamed of their lewd ways and accepted the rebuke - whereas to you, I send a prophet to rebuke you for your lewdness, and you do not change your ways. Rashi, on the other hand, explains that "your allotted portion" refers to sustenance, and this occurred in the days of the Judges when there were periods of famine, while "and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines" refers to the time of Samson (Shimshon), who was delivered into the hands of the Philistines. Thus, according to Rashi, this refers to earlier historical events.
Harlotry with Assyria: "Playing the Harlot Unto" vs. "Playing the Harlot with Them"
וַתִּזְנִי אֶל־בְּנֵי אַשּׁוּר מִבִּלְתִּי שָׂבְעָתֵךְ וַתִּזְנִים וְגַם לֹא שָׂבָעַתְּ׃ (כח) - "You played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; you played the harlot with them, and yet you could not be satisfied." (28)
After describing how they engaged in harlotry with Egypt, the prophet now explains how they also engaged in harlotry with Assyria, for Ahaz sent word to the kings of Assyria to come and help him. The Malbim asks: what is the difference between vatizni el ("you played the harlot unto") and vatiznim ("you played the harlot with them")? "To play the harlot unto" implies solicitation and flirtation leading to harlotry - that is, the overtures and actions that lead up to it, since the word el ("unto") always indicates moving toward something. Vatiznim, on the other hand, is the actual act of harlotry itself, as if to say you committed harlotry with them. Thus, initially, "you played the harlot unto the Assyrians" - these were merely overtures and overt actions seeking an alliance; but then, not content with this, "you played the harlot with them" - you engaged with them fully and forged a formal treaty. "Because you were insatiable... and yet you were not satisfied" - you could never find satisfaction in it; and even from those through whom you hoped to be satisfied, receiving help and support, you found no relief, as Scripture states: "And Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came to him and distressed him, but did not strengthen him."
וַתַּרְבִּי אֶת־תַּזְנוּתֵךְ אֶל־אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן כַּשְׂדִּימָה וְגַם־בְּזֹאת לֹא שָׂבָעַתְּ׃ (כט) - "You multiplied your harlotry unto the land of Canaan, unto Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied." (29)
This was not enough; rather, you further multiplied your harlotry "to the land of Canaan, to Chaldea." On the surface, Chaldea is not the land of Canaan, and the land of Canaan is not Chaldea, so how does this combination come about? The Malbim explains that he calls Chaldea the land of Canaan because Chaldea was the merchant of nations; there was great commerce there, and "Canaanite" is an expression for a merchant, as in "neither shall there be any more a merchant (Canaanite) in the house of the Lord." Similarly, regarding what is written about Yehudah taking the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua, Rashi comments: Canaanite means a merchant, for it is inconceivable that Avraham Avinu refused to take wives from the daughters of Canaan, yet Yehudah would go and marry from the daughters of Canaan! Rather, Canaanite here means a merchant. In an additional explanation, the Malbim says the intention is acting with the Chaldeans according to the abominations of Canaan, "after the doings of the land of Canaan... shall you not do" - and the deeds of the land of Canaan are licentiousness and immorality, and here we are dealing with harlotry. This reality of turning to the Chaldeans continued until the days of Menasheh, at which point they began straying after the Babylonians.
"Yet you were not satisfied with this" - nothing came of this for you either, for afterward they captured Menasheh with hooks, brought him to Babylon, placed him inside a caldron, and began to boil him. A person in such a situation starts dancing even without music, and he indeed began to dance. According to Chassidic thought, what is the virtue of dancing? That a person lifts himself a tefach (handbreadth) above the ground. It seems the dance there lifted him a tefach, and suddenly he began to perceive that there is something higher, that there is the Holy One, blessed be He, and then he turned to Hashem Yitbarach. And the Holy One, blessed be He, restored him to his kingdom. As is well known, the ministering angels shut the windows of heaven, but the Holy One, blessed be He, dug an opening for him beneath the Throne of Glory, a wind carried him back to Eretz Yisrael, and at the end of his life he repented, as we learned at length in the Book of Melachim. Thus, just as going astray after Egypt did not help, so too going astray after the Chaldeans did not help: you abandoned Hashem and turned to the Chaldeans, and the Chaldeans went on to capture Menasheh with hooks and bring him to Babylon.
"How Weak Is Your Heart" - A Severed and Corrupt Heart
מָה אֲמֻלָה לִבָּתֵךְ נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה בַּעֲשׂוֹתֵךְ אֶת־כׇּל־אֵלֶּה מַעֲשֵׂה אִשָּׁה־זוֹנָה שַׁלָּטֶת׃ (ל) - "How weak is your heart, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the deeds of an imperious harlot."
What is the meaning of "amulah"? Rashi emphasizes that it is spelled with an aleph and not a hei, meaning corrupt or wretched, akin to "umlal," as in "the miserable Jews" in Nechemiah, and as in "heal me, Hashem, for I am wretched (umlal)." The Radak explains that "amulah" means severed, related to "amilam" - "in the name of Hashem I will cut them off (amilam)." Similarly, what does a mohel do? He circumcises (mal), cuts, seals a covenant. And what does an ant (nemalah) do? It cuts (malah) the grain of wheat. A grain of wheat has a small sprout-tip in the middle; when it germinates, one sees that it begins to grow from there and the root emerges. The ant gathers grains of wheat and might have an entire forest of them underground where it stores them, so why do they not sprout? Because the ant cuts them: it removes the small germ-tip, and the wheat will no longer grow. Therefore it is called nemalah, because it cuts (malah) - from the root meaning to circumcise, sever, or cut off. Thus, "how weak (amulah) is your heart" - how severed is your heart, lacking sound thought, as though the heart were cut away and absent. Whether we explain it as wretched or severed, this is the intent of "how weak is your heart."
The Malbim explains: A harlot acts promiscuously in public and with total abandon, as we saw above, building an eminent place and an elevated platform in high locations to practice her harlotry in every street and on every path, and she does this in order to receive something. A harlot has not opened a charity fund; she demands hire (etnan), which is the profit she derives from the act of harlotry. By contrast, an adulterous woman commits adultery in secret while still remaining under the domain of her husband, and she is content under his domain, because her husband provides for her, cares for her, and sustains her. She is not abandoned to everyone; rather, she designates one specific man with whom to commit adultery. And even if she does not receive hire (etnan), she receives gifts (nedeh) - as we will see in verse 33, "to all harlots they give gifts (nedeh)" - related to a dowry (nadan), meaning that her actions are not voluntary either; rather, her lover gives her gifts, buys her jewelry, and brings her fine things. Here the prophet says: Come and see how severed and feeble your heart is, for all the deeds you have committed are "the deeds of an imperious harlot" - one who holds dominion herself. Normally, a woman is under the authority of her husband, but here she rules over herself, with no man governing her.
בִּבְנוֹתַיִךְ גַּבֵּךְ בְּרֹאשׁ כׇּל־דֶּרֶךְ וְרָמָתֵךְ עָשִׂית בְּכׇל־רְחוֹב וְלֹא־הָיִית כַּזּוֹנָה לְקַלֵּס אֶתְנָן׃ (לא) - "In that you build your eminent place at the head of every way, and make your high place in every street, yet you were not like a harlot who disdains hire."
Here scripture demonstrates just how great her disgrace is: You built your eminent place at the head of every way, namely like an imperious harlot who has no fear of her husband, and therefore sets her place of promiscuity in high, prominent locations and publicizes her name. Yet the intention of an ordinary harlot in doing so is the payment: she abandons herself so that many will come to her, thereby increasing her hire. With you, however, it was not so, and this magnifies your disgrace: you go and act promiscuously with no profit motive at all. "Yet you were not like a harlot who disdains hire" - the Malbim explains that this is from the language of scorn and derision (keles). Any harlot, when offered hire, derides it, mocking it and saying, "What is this pittance you bring me?" Her point is that she demands a greater payment. But with you it is not so: you do not ask for any hire at all, and certainly not a greater hire.
And why is this such a great disgrace? Because any woman who engages in promiscuity degrades herself, and by debasing herself she brings tremendous shame upon herself. What covers that shame? The large profits she receives. But if she does it with no expectation of profit, it is an appalling humiliation, for it effectively says: I am base and degraded even without money; I do not do this out of desperation or because I need the money like an ordinary harlot, but rather I am even willing to pay so that they will come and consort with me. There is no greater degradation than this. The nimshal (allegory) is the Jewish people: If you had gained some advantage from your alliances with all these nations, one could say you were straying for benefit and profit, like a harlot who receives gifts and hire - where, though disgraceful, at least some gain was realized. But if you gained nothing but humiliation and received nothing in return, you are like that harlot who seeks out lovers, and far from taking money from them, she flatters them and begs them to consort with her - yielding nothing but shame and wrath.
Adulterous in Secret versus the Harlot Who Pays
הָאִשָּׁה הַמְּנָאָפֶת תַּחַת אִישָׁהּ תִּקַּח אֶת־זָרִים׃ (לב) - "The adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!"
"The adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband" - this is not an abandoned harlot like the one seen earlier upon every high hill, but one who commits adultery while under her husband's authority, in secret, without her husband knowing. She takes strangers for intimate love, the Malbim explains, in modesty and concealment. And even she, though she does not demand a prostitute's hire (etnan), receives gifts (nedeh).
לְכׇל־זֹנוֹת יִתְּנוּ־נֵדֶה וְאַתְּ נָתַתְּ אֶת־נְדָנַיִךְ לְכׇל־מְאַהֲבַיִךְ וַתִּשְׁחֳדִי אוֹתָם לָבוֹא אֵלַיִךְ מִסָּבִיב בְּתַזְנוּתָיִךְ׃ (לג) - "Men give gifts to all harlots, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, and bribed them to come to you from all around for your harlotries."
Here lies the core of the rebuke. Even an adulterous woman who takes strangers in place of her husband - "Men give gifts to all harlots": every harlot, even if she acts in secret and modesty, receives a fixed payment, like a dowry; she derives a profit from it, and that profit motivates her actions. But with you, it was the exact opposite: "but you gave your gifts to all your lovers" - you paid them in order to commit harlotry with them! Beyond giving them a regular gift so they would love you, you would further pay them a dowry and bribe them to come to you. And with what did you bribe them? "For your harlotries" - through the harlotry you practiced with them, adorning yourself and using every manner of scheme to make them desire you, chasing after them instead of having them pursue you.
וַיְהִי־בָךְ הֵפֶךְ מִן־הַנָּשִׁים בְּתַזְנוּתַיִךְ וְאַחֲרַיִךְ לֹא זוּנָּה וּבְתִתֵּךְ אֶתְנָן וְאֶתְנַן לֹא נִתַּן־לָךְ וַתְּהִי לְהֶפֶך׃ (לד) - "And the contrary occurred in you from other women in your harlotries, in that no one pursued you to commit harlotry, and in your paying hire while no hire was given to you, so you were the contrary."
You were the very opposite of other harlots, in two respects. First: "in your harlotries, in that no one pursued you to commit harlotry" - the way of the world is that the man pursues the woman; he is drawn after her, he runs after her, and he seduces her. The Gemara teaches that it is more the nature of a man to court, and a man is more prone to sin than a woman; that is the nature of the world. But in you it was the opposite: you poured out your harlotry and your love upon them; they did not pursue you or seek you out, but rather you went and sought them. Second: "and in your paying hire while no hire was given to you, so you were the contrary" - beyond being the opposite of other women, you were contrary in your very essence, doing the reverse of what is customary. This runs contrary to nature itself, for by nature the man courts the woman, yet you went courting the men. Such an unnatural state shows just how deep your corruption had grown.
The Malbim notes: Observe that in verse 32 she is called an adulteress (mena'efet), and elsewhere a harlot (zonah). What is the difference? An adulteress is named for the act of adultery itself, the transgression itself. A harlot, by contrast, is so termed because she has made herself completely uninhibited and cast off her husband's authority entirely. This is why the term appears so frequently in connection with idolatry - "after whom you go astray (zonim)" - meaning: I have abandoned the authority of the Holy One, blessed be He, to turn to idolatry; that is the definition of a zonah. Therefore, when speaking of a woman who remains under her husband, she cannot be called a zonah, since a zonah has cast off her husband's authority entirely, which occurs when she sins openly in public. Because she does not want her husband to know of her deeds, it is not considered public, and so she is called only an adulteress. As for linguistics: etnan (hire) - the Malbim explains that it comes from the root natan (to give), in the sense of a gift; Rashi explains it as payment or hire. And nedeh refers to a gift or payment, related to a dowry (nedunya).
"Therefore, O Harlot, Hear" - Why She Specifically Is Called an Essential Harlot
לָכֵן זוֹנָה שִׁמְעִי דְּבַר־יְהֹוָה׃ (לה) - "Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord:"
The Malbim explains: A harlot who acts for hire, whose primary intent is money, is not an essential harlot; rather, she is considered base, coveting money. Her true aim is not the harlotry itself, and if you were to give her the opportunity to acquire wealth in a less degrading manner, she would choose it. Therefore, one cannot call her an essential harlot; for her, "harlot" is merely an incidental label, not a defining essence. But here, where she pays hire so that they will come to her, her primary aim is the harlotry itself. Even if she were offered money to refrain, it would not stop her from pursuing her corrupt deeds, for she desires the harlotry for its own sake. Therefore, specifically to her it is said: "Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord" - your actions define your very essence as a harlot.
כֹּה־אָמַר אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה יַעַן הִשָּׁפֵךְ נְחֻשְׁתֵּךְ וַתִּגָּלֶה עֶרְוָתֵךְ בְּתַזְנוּתַיִךְ עַל־מְאַהֲבָיִךְ וְעַל כׇּל־גִּלּוּלֵי תוֹעֲבוֹתַיִךְ וְכִדְמֵי בָנַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר נָתַתְּ לָהֶם׃ (לו) - "Thus said the Lord God: Because your poison was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your abominable idols, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them:"
What is "your nechoshet was poured out"? The Malbim brings two explanations: First, from the word nachash (serpent), meaning that your venom was poured out, for through your actions you injected venom into others. Second, from the word nichush (divination), referring to sorcery. A third possibility is offered by Rashi: that nechoshtech refers to the base, like the bottom of an oven (nechoshto shel tannur), meaning the lower part of the body, and "your nechoshet was poured out" means that out of intense lust, your discharge flowed.
"And your nakedness uncovered" - and corresponding to this, the verse says: "through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your abominable idols." The Malbim explains: She practiced two forms of harlotry. One was "with your lovers" - those with whom she engaged in regular harlotry, who are called her lovers. The second was "with all your abominable idols" - those with whom she committed harlotry indiscriminately, abandoning herself to every passerby, as we saw earlier: "at every head of the way you built your high place... and spread your feet to every passerby." And corresponding to "Because your venom was poured out," it says "and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them" - that you poured out the serpent's power through divination and sorceries just like the blood of your children, meaning in great abundance; just as you shed vast amounts of blood, so too was your venom poured out in great abundance, for you surrendered your children to the rites of Molech and idolatry, which were conducted through practices of divination and sorcery.
The Punishment: Gathering the Lovers and Uncovering the Nakedness
לָכֵן הִנְנִי מְקַבֵּץ אֶת־כׇּל־מְאַהֲבַיִךְ אֲשֶׁר עָרַבְתְּ עֲלֵיהֶם וְאֵת כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר אָהַבְתְּ עַל כׇּל־אֲשֶׁר שָׂנֵאת וְקִבַּצְתִּי אֹתָם עָלַיִךְ מִסָּבִיב וְגִלֵּיתִי עֶרְוָתֵךְ אֲלֵהֶם וְרָאוּ אֶת־כׇּל־עֶרְוָתֵךְ׃ (לז) - "Therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you found sweetness, and all whom you loved, along with all whom you hated; I will gather them against you from all around, and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they shall see all your nakedness." (37)
Now Hashem reveals what the punishment will be. First, "Behold, I will gather all your lovers" - the lovers are the regular partners with whom she was continuously unfaithful, and about them it is said, "with whom you found sweetness" (asher aravt aleihem). The Malbim explains that aravt comes from erev (evening): you would sit and wait for them each and every evening, as it is written, "The eye of the adulterer watches for twilight" (Iyov 24:15), and twilight means evening. Radak, on the other hand, interprets it as sweet or pleasing (davar arev), as in "May my speech be sweet (ye'erav) to Him" - meaning pleasure and delight; thus "with whom you found sweetness" means you were pleasing to them. "And all whom you loved" - also the other suitors we saw earlier, whom she loved only intermittently and with whom she was not consistently unfaithful. "Along with all whom you hated" - together with all those who are your enemies. Hashem says: all of these - the regular lovers, the occasional partners, and your enemies as well - "I will gather them against you from all around, and I will uncover your nakedness to them" - I will expose your blemishes and your disgrace, until you become repulsive in their eyes.
וּשְׁפַטְתִּיךְ מִשְׁפְּטֵי נֹאֲפוֹת וְשֹׁפְכֹת דָּם וּנְתַתִּיךְ דַּם חֵמָה וְקִנְאָה׃ (לח) - "And I will judge you with the judgments of adulteresses and women who shed blood, and I will give you over to blood of wrath and jealousy." (38)
Radak explains: there are two judgments against them, the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of shedding blood. And why does he determine that adultery also involves the shedding of blood? From several angles. An adulterous woman sometimes causes blood to be shed, for often two suitors come to her and fight over her, and one murders the other - thus through her adultery she caused bloodshed. It may also happen that her husband comes home unexpectedly, finds the adulterer with his wife, and kills him - so through her adultery with that man, she caused his death. Or conversely, the adulterer, seeing that disaster has overtaken him, might kill the husband. Therefore, "the judgments of adulteresses and women who shed blood" - for adulteresses also shed blood. And so too are you, the people of Israel: committing adultery beneath your Husband, Who is the Holy One, blessed be He, and shedding the blood of your children by handing them over to idolatry (avodah zarah).
"And I will give you over to blood of wrath and jealousy" - Radak cites Targum Yonatan: "I will deliver you to be slain in anger and in wrath" - I will hand you over to bloodshed and slaughter in wrath and fury, for I have wrath toward you for all the wicked deeds we have seen. Furthermore, there is also jealousy here, as it says, "They provoked Me to jealousy with a non-god, they provoked Me to anger with their vanities" (Devarim 32:21). When people pursue idolatry, just as a husband is angered and provoked to jealousy when his wife is unfaithful beneath him, so it is, as it were, regarding the Holy One, blessed be He. There is an aspect here of an "image of jealousy," an aspect of provocation and anger when the people of Israel go astray after idolatry and foreign gods.
Demolishing the Mound and Shattering the High Places
וְנָתַתִּי אֹתָךְ בְּיָדָם וְהָרְסוּ גַבֵּךְ וְנִתְּצוּ רָמֹתַיִךְ וְהִפְשִׁיטוּ אוֹתָךְ בְּגָדַיִךְ וְלָקְחוּ כְּלֵי תִפְאַרְתֵּךְ וְהִנִּיחוּךְ עֵירֹם וְעֶרְיָה׃ (לט) - "And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound and shatter your high places; they will strip you of your clothes and take away your splendid jewels, leaving you naked and bare." (39)
"And I will give you into their hand" - I will judge you and pronounce the verdict, and then I will deliver you into their hand, so that they execute the punishment I have decreed and sentenced upon you. "And they will demolish your mound" - we saw earlier that there was a gav (mound) and a ramah (high place), an elevated site where she engaged in promiscuity. The underlying meaning is that the cities, houses, and fortresses will all be destroyed, for this refers to the punishment of the House of Israel, and that punishment is the Churban (destruction). "They will strip you of your clothes" - the Malbim explains that the deeper meaning is plunder; they will plunder all her coveted treasures and everything she possesses, until she is ultimately left "naked and bare." And what does this correspond to? Radak explains: this corresponds to how I found you at the beginning, for as we saw, "And I passed over you and saw you wallowing in your blood," where it was said, "yet you were naked and bare." Concerning this He says: I will return you to that earlier state, leaving you naked and bare.
The Malbim makes a precise observation: the verse states, "and they will demolish (ve-haresu) your mound and shatter (ve-nattzu) your high places," and there is a distinction between harisah (demolition) and netitzah (shattering). Heres means to break something and bring it down, whereas lintotz means to take something and pulverize it into small fragments. This is similar to how we use the term today: shattering glass so that it becomes tiny fragments, whereas something that simply breaks is called demolished. This is the lesson here: since you added sin upon sin - for a ramah is higher than a gav, as we noted that a gav is a raised, flat, prominent area while a ramah is a high place - and you practiced your promiscuity on the ramah, just as they made idols for themselves under every leafy tree and upon every high hill, an elevated place; therefore, "they will demolish your mound," but your high places they will shatter (yenattzu), for shattering is a far greater and harsher form of destruction.
The Four Death Penalties of Beis Din
וְהֶעֱלוּ עָלַיִךְ קָהָל וְרָגְמוּ אוֹתָךְ בָּאָבֶן וּבִתְּקוּךְ בְּחַרְבוֹתָם׃ (מ) - "And they will bring up an assembly against you, and they will stone you with stones and cut you down with their swords." (40)
"And they will bring up an assembly against you" - they will sentence you to death and execute you before an assembly of people, with the execution taking place in front of a vast multitude. And they will put her to death with all four court-imposed capital punishments: stoning (sekilah), burning (sereifah), decapitation (hereg), and strangulation (chenek), as the verses immediately enumerate. "And they will stone you with stones" - this corresponds to the death penalty of stoning. "And cut you down with their swords" - this corresponds to the death penalty by the sword (sayif). And what is the meaning of u-vitkuch? Rashi explains: it has no parallel, meaning we have no other source in Scripture from which to derive this word.
We have explained countless times that in order to understand what a word means and expresses, one needs a concordance - a book that compiles all words of the same root appearing in Tanach. For example, if it says harim (mountains), it gathers all the places where har, harim, or harei are mentioned, arranging them by categories. A concordance is extremely useful; when one does not know the meaning of a word, one looks it up there. It is not a dictionary, but it helps one understand the word. By the way, the Rishonim had this all in their heads and did not need books! How does it help? For instance, if it says u'vitekuch and one does not know what it means, one opens another place and sees vayvatek vayachtoch (he severed and sliced), understanding that bituk means cutting, and can derive the meaning here from the meaning elsewhere. But when a word has no counterpart or parallel in Scripture, or is a unique expression, or has the letter Lamed noted on it in the Masorah - meaning leita or leika, that it has no other parallel, as Rashi says here, ein lo dimyon (it has no comparable instance in Scripture) - we have no choice but to explain the word according to its context here. Therefore, here too, "and they shall cleave you with their swords" (u'vitekuch becharvotam) is understood as cleaving the body with a sword, as the sword is explicitly mentioned. The Targum likewise renders it ve-yevaz'unach, just as "and he rent his clothes" (vayikra et begadav) is translated u'veza yat levushohi, which denotes tearing. Thus, bituk means tearing or cleaving - that they will cleave you with their swords - representing the death penalty by the sword.
Radak explains that this verse mentions the punishments customary for adulteresses: "They shall stone you with stones," in accordance with the judgment of adulteresses who were pelted with stones, though not necessarily unto death. If a harlot passed by, people would pelt her with stones, yet not fatally, since it is subsequently stated, "and cleave you with their swords," showing that the execution itself was carried out by the sword. Radak also cites another explanation in the name of his father: after describing the parable of "and I will cause you to cease from being a harlot," the verse describes how this will happen. It refers to a harlot who was struck with stones, stabbed with a sword, and whose house was burned down - all done to humiliate and disgrace her until she became utterly degraded and low. Once she is so despised and lowly, she automatically ceases to be a harlot. For men consort with a woman when she carries an aura of prestige, but when she is utterly degraded, no one desires to approach her. In such a state, says Radak's father, even if she pays a harlot's hire, no one will be with her; due to her extreme degradation, they would not be willing to be with her even for pay. And what is the nimshal (analogy)? The destruction of the walls. How were the walls destroyed? With slingstones. Thus, "they shall stone you with stones" means they would topple the walls with siege works and massive stones, as it says of Kir-charaseth, "and the slingers surrounded it and struck it"; and then, "and cleave you with their swords" - that the cleaving was by the sword, as we see that they breached the city and killed the people within it.
וְשָׂרְפוּ בָתַּיִךְ בָּאֵשׁ וְעָשׂוּ־בָךְ שְׁפָטִים לְעֵינֵי נָשִׁים רַבּוֹת וְהִשְׁבַּתִּיךְ מִזּוֹנָה וְגַם־אֶתְנַן לֹא תִתְּנִי־עוֹד׃ (מא) - "And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; and I will cause you to cease from being a harlot, and you shall give hire no more." (41)
The Malbim notes: We have seen all four court-imposed executions. Stoning and the sword have already appeared, and now the verse speaks of burning - "And they shall burn your houses with fire." "And execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women" - this refers to the judgment of any married woman who commits adultery, whose execution is by strangulation (chenek); this is "judgments in the sight of many women," according to the law of a woman who is unfaithful to her husband. Then, "and I will cause you to cease from being a harlot" - no one will want to consort with her, not even for a fee, which is "and you shall give hire no more." And what is the nimshal? That afterward, idolatry will be abolished. As we know, after the destruction of the Temple, the evil inclination for idolatry was eradicated; there would no longer be any aspect of idol worship at all, and they would no longer give any hire to idolatry.
וַהֲנִחֹתִי חֲמָתִי בָּךְ וְסָרָה קִנְאָתִי מִמֵּךְ וְשָׁקַטְתִּי וְלֹא אֶכְעַס עוֹד׃ (מב) - "So will I cause My fury toward you to rest, and My jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no more." (42)
"So will I cause My fury toward you to rest" - the fury I held over the past will be appeased through the punishment you receive. Consequently, "and My jealousy shall depart from you" - the jealousy I harbored over the idolatry you practiced will depart from you, meaning that the inclination for idolatry will be nullified, and Hashem's jealousy regarding idolatry will subside. Afterward, "and I will be quiet and will be angry no more" - I will be tranquil and angry no longer, because the sin of idolatry will cease to exist.
The Malbim notes a distinction: there is a difference between ka'as (anger) and cheimah (fury) or other synonyms of anger. The verse mentions both "chamati" (My fury) and "lo ech'as" (I will not be angry); what is the difference? Af (wrath), ketzef (rage), and cheimah (fury) are active responses directed against the target of anger - meaning they produce an outward consequence upon the object of wrath. By contrast, the term ka'as denotes an internal emotion felt only in the heart, as in "For all his days are pains, and his travail anger (ka'as)," or "And her rival provoked her sore (ka'as)" - where the frustration and anger remain in the heart. Conversely, wrath, rage, and fury manifest externally toward others. When these appear in a causative form, such as "hiktzaftem et Hashem" (you provoked Hashem to rage), it means you caused Hashem to act with rage against you, whereas "hich'astem" means you stirred up His inner anger toward you.
"And You Did Not Commit Lewdness" - Why Burning Is Also Deserved
יַעַן אֲשֶׁר לֹא־זָכַרְתְּ אֶת־יְמֵי נְעוּרַיִךְ וַתִּרְגְּזִי־לִי בְּכׇל־אֵלֶּה וְגַם־אֲנִי הֵא דַּרְכֵּךְ בְּרֹאשׁ נָתַתִּי נְאֻם אֲדֹנָי יֱהֹוִה וְלֹא עָשִׂית אֶת־הַזִּמָּה עַל כׇּל־תּוֹעֲבֹתָיִךְ׃ (מג) - "Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged Me with all these things, behold, I also will bring your way upon your head, says the Lord God; and have you not committed this lewdness above all your abominations?" (43)
"Because you have not remembered the days of your youth" - why did these punishments come upon you in poured-out fury? Because they failed to remember the kindnesses Hashem bestowed upon them in the days of their youth: that He took them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and brought them into the Land. After all, as we explained, the entire exodus from the house of bondage obligated the people of Israel to keep Hashem's commandments; yet instead of doing so, "and you have enraged Me with all these things" - through all the abominations mentioned earlier, you angered the Holy One, blessed be He. "Behold, I also will bring your way upon your head" - the word heih means "behold," as in "Behold (heh), here is seed for you," and carries the meaning of bringing one's way upon one's head: I have rendered to you your just recompense, rewarding you as you deserve.
And the punishments we saw are deserved according to Torah law, for across all those sins with which they provoked Him, they incurred the four court-mandated death penalties: stoning, burning, slaying (by sword), and strangulation, as seen in verses 40 and 41. They worshiped idols and Molech, which warrants stoning; there was adultery (a married woman), which warrants strangulation; and they murdered their children for Molech - for the murder itself the penalty is the sword, and similarly if they are judged as an Ir HaNidachat (an apostate city), the sentence is the sword. But for the penalty of burning, the Malbim notes, we find no apparent basis: we find no transgression warranting the penalty of burning for an ordinary Jewish daughter who commits adultery, but only for the daughter of a Kohen who is unfaithful, where Scripture terms it zimah (lewdness): "she shall be burned with fire." Therefore, for them to also incur burning, they had to be guilty of zimah. Thus the prophet says, "and have you not committed this lewdness (zimah) above all your abominations?" - meaning: Did you not commit lewdness? Was not zimah added to all your abominations? If so, you also deserve the penalty of burning, which is why verse 41 stated, "And they shall burn your houses with fire."
The Malbim explains the precise meaning of zimah: the term denotes an obsession and deep immersion of thought in depravity. We find it in two Torah contexts: one who profanes his daughter by causing her to be a harlot, and the prohibition of incest with a woman and her daughter - marrying a woman and her daughter, where the Torah says, "You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; it is zimah." What is common to both? In both, depravity is transmitted and perpetuated from the generation of the parents to the generation of the children. When a father profanes his daughter to be a harlot, the father is corrupt and passes this corruption down to his daughter; likewise, when a man marries a woman and her daughter, the mother is corrupt by being wedded to a man while her daughter is also taken by him, repeating immorality across a second generation, where parents bequeath immorality to their children. It is natural and fitting, says the Malbim, for a father and mother to protect their offspring from corruption; even if a person slips into improper conduct himself, he should at least strive for his children to remain upright. Yet here, as the prophet says elsewhere, "A man and his father go to the same maiden" - illustrating brazenness and corruption, where not only has the father corrupted himself, but he actively brings his son along to sin with him. Such generational corruption is called zimah.
"Like Mother, Like Daughter" - A Parable for the Entire Nation
הִנֵּה כׇּל־הַמֹּשֵׁל עָלַיִךְ יִמְשֹׁל לֵאמֹר כְּאִמָּה בִּתָּהּ׃ (מד) - "Behold, everyone who speaks in proverbs shall speak a proverb against you, saying: As the mother, so is her daughter."
"Everyone who speaks in proverbs shall speak a proverb against you" - The word hamoshel here does not refer to governance or rule, but to speaking in parables and proverbs (meshalim): anyone who crafts proverbs will make a proverb about you, saying, "Like mother, like daughter." Whoever wishes to draw a parable from the punishment of burning that you received for lewdness (zimah) - which, as we explained, corresponds to uncovering the nakedness of both a woman and her daughter - will find in this an allegory for the nation as a whole, against whom there is an indictment that both they and their children sinned. A mother and daughter represent an aspect of zimah, which denotes an entrenchment in sin, where parents pass down their sin to the children after them - "it is depravity" (zimah hi). The parable reflects what happened to the people of Israel: they did not merely sin on their own, but took deep root in sin and transmitted it to their sons and daughters as well, and this is "like mother, like daughter."
Radak explains that "like mother, like daughter" is a parable: the mother is the land of Canaan, as the Land of Israel is called the land of Canaan, and the daughter is the people of Israel, the Congregation of Israel, just as Scripture writes "the daughter of Jerusalem," "the daughter of Edom." This means: you arrived here and learned from the corrupt deeds of those who inhabited the land. "Like mother, like daughter" - the mother, which is the land of Canaan, raised her offspring in her own image, raising people who commit evil deeds like her. Indeed, the Torah warns in several places not to follow the abominations of the land of Canaan, and the abominations of Canaan enumerated there are forbidden sexual relationships (arayot). Thus, "like mother, like daughter": this place, which is the mother, the land of Canaan, produced a daughter, the Congregation of Israel, who followed and acted just like her mother.
בַּת־אִמֵּךְ אַתְּ גֹּעֶלֶת אִישָׁהּ וּבָנֶיהָ וַאֲחוֹת אֲחוֹתֵךְ אַתְּ אֲשֶׁר גָּעֲלוּ אַנְשֵׁיהֶן וּבְנֵיהֶן אִמְּכֶן חִתִּית וַאֲבִיכֶן אֱמֹרִי׃ (מה) - "You are your mother's daughter, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite."
"You are your mother's daughter" - resembling your mother, "who loathes her husband and her children," where "her man" refers to her husband. Just as your mother loathed her husband and her children, meaning she estranged herself from her husband and her children, so too are you, who resemble your sisters. And who are the sisters to whom he compares the Congregation of Israel? We will see this shortly, that they are two rebellious sisters, and you are like a sister to them. And he explains, "Your mother was a Hittite" - because you were born in the land of the Hittites, which serves allegorically as the mother, a metaphorical mother rather than a biological one; you are the daughter of a Hittite mother, and you emulate their deeds.
Rashi explains that "your mother's daughter" refers, as explained, to the land being called a mother: the land is Canaan, and you inherited their land and behave as they did. And "who loathes her husband and her children" - they multiplied abominations to such a degree that the land loathed and vomited out its inhabitants, both fathers and sons together. That is to say, not as we explained that the woman loathes her husband and her children, but here it refers to the land, which represents the punishment itself: what did the land do to the inhabitants of Canaan? It loathed (disgorged) them. And what is the meaning of ga'alah? Just as in hagalat kelim (purging utensils), which means expelling or purging; and as Iyov says, "his bull genders and does not cast off (velo yag'il)," meaning that it impregnated the cow and the cow did not miscarry prematurely. Thus, "you are your mother's daughter" - for this land which is your mother, Canaan, loathed and cast out the wicked who dwelt in it, both fathers and children alike.
"And you are the sister of your sister" - note that it does not say merely "your sister," but "the sister of your sister," as if the connection is indirect, for this refers to Sodom, which was adjacent to the Land of Israel. Regarding this he says, "who loathed their husbands and their children" - Sodom was overturned in an instant, loathing their men and their children. On the words "your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite," Rashi cites Targum Yonatan: your mother is Sarah, who "dwelt among the Hittites," among the children of Chet, "and your father Avraham dwelt among the Amorites, yet did not follow their counsel" - your father Avraham lived among the Amorites and did not walk in their counsel or copy their deeds. If so, why have you come and settled here, only to perform wicked deeds like the inhabitants of the land?
In summary: In this passage, the prophet details the stages of betrayal: turning to Egypt in the days of Achaz, then to Assyria, and then to the Chaldeans, and each time "yet you were not satisfied" - the harlotry brought no benefit and provided no salvation. The corruption is revealed to be far worse than that of any ordinary harlot, for an ordinary harlot sells herself for a hire and a dowry, whereas the Congregation of Israel paid, bribed, and pursued her lovers in complete defiance of nature; therefore, she alone is called "a harlot" in the absolute sense. From this stems the punishment: the gathering of all lovers and enemies, the exposure of nakedness and blemishes, the judgments of adulteresses and those who shed blood, and the four court-imposed capital punishments, all alluded to in the verses - stoning, the sword, burning, and strangulation - manifested in the tearing down of the walls, the slaughter in the city, and the burning of the houses. Ultimately, "I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot," for after the destruction, the evil inclination for idolatry was nullified, wrath subsided, and jealousy ceased. And all this judgment came "because you have not remembered the days of your youth": one who forgets the kindnesses of youth - the Exodus from Egypt, the wilderness, and the entry into the Land - not only sins individually, but transmits that sin to the next generation - "like mother, like daughter" - and this is the depravity (zimah) that incurs the penalty of burning.