And they shall burn your houses: This clause may refer again to the girl’s places of prostitution and false worship (see verse 39), but more likely it hints at the historical background of houses in Jerusalem being burned. The pronoun they refers to the girl’s former lovers, now enemies.

And execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women: This clause summarizes the girl’s punishments that have just been described. In order to increase her shame, many women watch her being punished, but this phrase also refers to the many nations that watched Jerusalem being destroyed. This clause may be rendered “and will carry out your punishment in front of many women.”

I will make you stop playing the harlot: Through this punishment God aims to make the girl stop sinning. For playing the harlot, see verse 15).

A model for this verse is:

• They will burn the houses you live in, and many women will watch as you are punished. In this way I will make you stop being unfaithful to me and sinning like a prostitute. Then you won’t even be able to pay others to sin with you, as you have done in the past.

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .