Women that break wedlock and shed blood. — Under the Mosaic law the penalty for adultery was death (Leviticus 20:10), and the same penalty also was attached to the devotion of “seed to Moloch” (Leviticus 20:1-5), and to murder (Exodus 21:12). The Jewish method of capital punishment on individuals was by stoning (see Leviticus 20:2, and comp. John 8:5), and of punishing an apostate city was by the sword (Deuteronomy 13:15). Hence both modes are mentioned together in Ezekiel 16:40, though somewhat at the expense of the consistency of the allegory. The last clause would be more exactly translated, “I will make thee blood of fury and jealousy,” the fury referring to the avenging of murder, and the jealousy to the punishment of adultery, each requiring the life, or blood, of the offender.
Related Commentaries of Ezekiel 16:38
Ezekiel 16:38
38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.