This verse from Ezekiel's allegory depicting Jerusalem as a faithless prostitute lusting after foreign powers uses shockingly crude, hyperbolic imagery to condemn spiritual adultery through idolatry and political alliances, yet it is often misinterpreted literally as promoting or describing bestiality, ignoring its symbolic intent rooted in ancient Near Eastern prophetic rhetoric where animalistic metaphors highlight depravity and excess. Another common error is reading it in isolation, missing the chapter's broader narrative of two sister cities (Samaria and Jerusalem) as harlots, with the "paramours" representing Assyrian and Babylonian influences whose overwhelming might is likened to the brute strength and virility of beasts, emphasizing Israel's shameful betrayal of God rather than endorsing immorality.
Ezekiel 23:20
King James Version (1769)
20 For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
Ezekiel 23:20 uses shocking, hyperbolic imagery to depict Judah's (Oholibah's) insatiable lust for Egypt's military might and pagan ways, portraying her as craving lovers whose brute strength and excessive virility mirror animals like donkeys and horses, underscoring the depth of her spiritual adultery against God. The core truth is a divine indictment of Israel's unfaithfulness: by forging illicit alliances with foreign powers and adopting their idolatries, the nation degraded itself into moral depravity, forsaking covenant loyalty to Yahweh for fleeting, beastly pleasures that lead only to judgment and shame.