Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Ezekiel 23:34
Thou shalt even drink it and suck [it] out, and thou shalt break the shards thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.
34. Cf. Psa 75:8; Isa 51:17.
break the sheards ] gnaw the sherds. The act of plucking out her own breasts is that of one intoxicated to madness, Jer 25:16. The words are wanting in LXX. Beating the breasts and tearing the cheeks was a sign of excessive grief ( Hamasa, p. 373). “The women rent the breast of their dress, went half-naked, tore their faces, and beat their skin till it was lacerated with shoes ( Aghani, xiv. 101, 28; xv. 139, 6; Hudh. 139, 3),” Well., Skizzen, iii. p. 160.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 34. Thou shalt – pluck off thine own breasts] Thou shalt tear them; a frequent action in extreme sorrow and desolation. Weeping, tearing the bosom, and beating the breasts.
Tunc vero rupique sinus, et pectora planxi.
OVID’S Ep. 5.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou shalt even drink it; nothing shall divert the punishment.
And suck it out; the dregs shalt thou drink, and multiply thine own sorrows.
Break the sherds; either out of indignation, or to suck out what was imbibed.
Pluck off thine own breasts; which tempted others, and undid thyself, for which cause thou now revengest thyself upon thyself.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
34. break . . . sherdsSogreedily shalt thou suck out every drop like one drinking to madness(the effect invariably ascribed to drinking God’s cup of wrath,Jer 51:7; Hab 2:16)that thou shalt crunch the very shreds of it; that is, there shall beno evil left which thou shalt not taste.
pluck off thine ownbreastsenraged against them as the ministers to thineadultery.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Thou shalt even drink it, and suck it out,…. The very dregs of it, that which lies at the bottom, which is the most nauseous and the most pernicious; not through love to it, but through force, shall be obliged to it; see Ps 75:8:
and thou shall break the sherds thereof; and suck them, so that not a drop of the liquor shall be lost; even what has penetrated into the earthen vessel, which this cup is supposed to be; and therefore it shall be broken to pieces, and these pieces sucked, that all may be got out; suggesting that there will be no abatement of the punishment, it shall be endured to the utmost: or it may be an allusion to drunkards, who, having drunk up their liquor, and become drunk, break their glasses, pots, and cups, and to which the next clause agrees:
and pluck off thine own breasts; as men in their drunken fits, being like mad men, tear their own flesh; and so the Targum paraphrases it,
“thou shall tear thy flesh;”
so the Jews, under punishment for sin, and pressed with the guilt of it, through indignation at themselves should tear their flesh, and particularly pluck off their breasts: the allusion is to fornication, to which idolatry is compared, in which those parts are particularly affected; see Eze 23:21, the Syriac version renders this and the former clause thus, “thou shall shave thine hair and cut off thy breasts”; Kimchi thinks by the “breasts” are meant the oral and written laws, which ceased in the time of the captivity; but without any foundation:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord; and therefore it shall be done.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
34. Thou shalt break the sherds Or, “gnaw the sherds” (R.V.). In her madness and pain the drunken woman lacerates her lips with the broken cup and plucks off ( mutilates, or tears, Eze 23:25) her own breasts. See Jer 25:15-18.) This verse is sometimes omitted in the critical versions of the text because of its ambiguity.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Eze 23:34. And pluck off thine own breasts And shalt tear thy breasts. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Eze 23:34 Thou shalt even drink it and suck [it] out, and thou shalt break the sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken [it], saith the Lord GOD.
Ver. 34. And thou shalt break the sherds thereof, ] i.e., Of the cup, which thou shalt cast away with utmost indignation: but thou hast thy bane.
And pluck off thine own breast.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
break: or, gnaw, lest a drop should be lost.
pluck off = tear out: i.e. destroy the occasions of their idolatry.
saith the Lord GOD = [is] Adonai Jehovah’s oracle.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
drink: Psa 75:8, Isa 51:17
and pluck: Eze 23:3, Eze 23:8, Rev 18:7
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Eze 23:34. The language is still figurative, using a cup as the basis of the figure. With that form of imagery in view, the emphasis is expressed by representing them as being so greedy that they crush the cup by their action. Pluck off breasts indicates a gesture of despair by snatching at their breasts. Such a movement was an ancient custom used in times of great sorrow or astonishment. (See Luk 18:13; Luk 23:48.)