Ezekiel 23:32

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You shall drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you shall ridiculed and had in derision; it contains much.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Highlights

1 hapax legomenon — only here in the Hebrew Bible
1 first appearance in the Hebrew Bible
Septuagint runs shorter here — compare

Full analysis ↓

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מִרְבָּ֥ה

mirbâh

H4767

“much”

Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 1× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears here

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H7235

TWOT: 2103c

much

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

14: words
14: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

1 hapax legomenon — a word that appears only here in the entire Hebrew Bible:

מִרְבָּ֥ה much H4767

First appearance in Scripture

This word makes its first canonical appearance in the Hebrew Bible here:

מִרְבָּ֥ה much H4767

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לִצְחֹ֛ק laughter H6712 occurs in 2 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Genesis 21:6

Grammatical profile

4 verbs
7 nouns
2 adjectives
1 adverb

Verb forms

אָמַר֙ Qal · Perfect
תִּשְׁתִּ֔י Qal · Imperfect
תִּהְיֶ֥ה Qal · Imperfect
לְהָכִֽיל Hiphil · Infinitive Construct

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 27 words from the Hebrew and 17 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — the Septuagint runs noticeably shorter here. See the side-by-side →

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 14 Hebrew tokens and 18 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 23:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Psalms 60:3 You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.
Isaiah 51:17 Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
Ezekiel 22:4–5 You have become guilty in your blood that you have shed, and are defiled in your idols which you have made; and you have caused your days to draw near, and are come even to your years: therefore have I made you a reproach to the nations, and a mocking to all the countries.
Deuteronomy 28:37 You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh shall lead you away.
1 Kings 9:7 then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
Psalms 79:3 Their blood they have shed like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them.
Jeremiah 25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, says Yahweh, and [I will send] to Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants of it, and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations.
Jeremiah 25:15–28 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it.

Jeremiah 48:26 Make you him drunken; for he magnified himself against Yahweh: and Moab shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
Lamentations 2:15–16 All that pass by clap their hands at you; They hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, [saying], Is this the city that men called The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?
Ezekiel 25:6 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel;
Ezekiel 26:2 Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste:
Ezekiel 35:15 As you did rejoice over the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do to you: you shall be desolate, Mount Seir, and all Edom, even all of it; and they shall know that I am Yahweh.
Ezekiel 36:3 therefore prophesy, and say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because, even because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession to the residue of the nations, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and the evil report of the people;
Micah 7:8 Don't rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, Yahweh will be a light to me.
Matthew 20:22–23 But Jesus answered, "You don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to him, "We are able."

Revelation 16:19 The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
Revelation 18:6 Return to her just as she returned, and repay her double as she did, and according to her works. In the cup which she mixed, mix to her double.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

Here the Septuagint runs noticeably shorter than the Hebrew — LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) 17 words vs World English Bible 27. A rough length comparison of the two English translations, not a word-level alignment — read both below.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 23:32 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

כֹּ֤ה אָמַר֙ אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהֹוִ֔ה כּ֤וֹס אֲחוֹתֵךְ֙ תִּשְׁתִּ֔י הָעֲמֻקָּ֖ה וְהָרְחָבָ֑ה תִּהְיֶ֥ה לִצְחֹ֛ק וּלְלַ֖עַג מִרְבָּ֥ה לְהָכִֽיל

Thus says the Lord Yahweh: You shall drink of your sister's cup, which is deep and large; you shall ridiculed and had in derision; it contains much.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 23:32 Septuagint · lemma form

ὅδε λέγω κύριος ὁ ποτήριον ὁ ἀδελφή σύ πίνω ὁ βαθύς καί ὁ πλατύς ὁ πλεονάζω ὁ συντελέω

Thus says the Lord; Drink your sister's cup, deep and large, and full, to cause complete drunkenness.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

On this verse, The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges discusses the Septuagint’s reading. Read the note in Commentary ↓

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

כִּדְנַן אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים כָּס פּוּרְעֲנוּת אֲחָתֵיךְ תִּשְׁתִּין תַּקִיפָא וַחֲסֵינְתָּא תְּהִין לְחוֹךְ וְלִלְעֵיב מִסְגֵי עָקָא דְתֵיתֵי עֲלָךְ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 23:32 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 23:32 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: thou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much.

Ver. 32. Thou shaIt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large.] Yea, though it have eternity to the bottom.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 32. Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup] Thou shalt be ruined and desolated as Samaria was.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(32) It containeth much.—The cup of humiliation already drunk by Samaria was large, and filled with pain and sorrow, yet Jerusalem must drink it amid the derision of her neighbours.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

32. sister’s cup deep] i.e. which is deep. The words “thou shalt … derision” are parenthetical; LXX. omits.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

Thus saith the Lord God, thou shall drink of thy sister's cup deep and large,.... That is, partake of the same punishment, which was very great, signified by a deep and large cup, which holds much:

thou shall be laughed to scorn, and had in derision; by the nations round about, who, instead of pitying them under their troubles, will rejoice at them; just as drunken men are laughed at, when intoxicated and reeling about:

it containeth much; the cup of wrath and vengeance; as much as will last severity years drinking. The Targum connects this with the preceding clause,

"and thou shalt be for derision and for laughter, because of the greatness of the tribulation that shall come upon thee.''

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

Thou shalt drink; thou shalt not put it by, and shift it off.

Deep; towards the dregs, where the bitterest poison of it lieth.

And large; in great quantity; thy punishment shall be most grievous who must drink so deep of this cup of astonishment.

Thou shalt be laughed to scorn; when sick as heart can hold, and needest pity and help to relieve, instead hereof thou shalt be derided and abused: these will be cruel mockings.

It, the cup,

containeth much; is large, and contains what will last many years, till the seventy years be expired; and of this cup thou shalt still drink, and be derided.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

John Wesley's Explanatory Notes

It - Is large, and contains what will last many years, even 'till the seventy years be expired.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

unfoldingWord translationNotes

Door43 World Missions Community

General Information:

Yahweh continues his metaphor in which he speaks of the cities of Jerusalem and Samaria as if they were two prostitutes. This metaphor continues through Ezekiel 23:34. (See: Metaphor)

You will drink your sister's cup

Here Yahweh speaks of punishment as if it were a cup of wine the woman drank. AT: "You will drink the same cup of punishment as your sister" (See: Metonymy)

your sister's cup that is

Here the "cup" represents what is in the cup. AT: "from your sister's cup that is" or "all that is in your sister's cup, and her cup is" (See: Metonymy)

a laughingstock ... a subject for derision

Both of these phrases refer to a person who is laughed at and criticized because of their foolish behavior. Derision is mocking or ridiculing something or someone. (See: Parallelism)

this cup contains a great amount

This sentence does not say what is in the cup because it is understood by reading Ezekiel 23:31. AT: "this cup contains a great amount of punishment" (See: Ellipsis)

translationWords

Lord Yahweh

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

too much to bear Too much to contain, like to bear.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 14 words (14 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is mirbâh (“much”). The Greek Septuagint runs shorter here. A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

What does “much” (mirbâh) contribute to the verse as a whole?
1 word here appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Why might the author reach for such rare wording?
This is the first place “much” appears in Scripture (first appears here). What does its debut here establish?
How does Genesis 21:6, which shares the word «laughter», read alongside this verse?
The Septuagint runs shorter here than the Hebrew. What might account for the difference?
These translations render this verse differently; the difference is in the English rendering, not the original. What questions does that raise?
«אָמַר֙» is a Qal Perfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Adam Clarke's Commentary read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

1 word in this verse appears nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible.
1 word makes its first canonical appearance in Scripture here.
This verse counts 14 Hebrew ↔ 18 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 24 words in this verse.
14 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 14 words in this verse.