Building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square: In this first part of the verse God continues to describe the girl’s actions as a prostitute. He repeats the details in verses 24-25 (see the comments there.

Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned hire: The emphasis changes here because she was not acting like a normal prostitute. Normally men pay money to a prostitute to have sex with her, but this girl scorned hire, that is, she “refused to accept payment” (New Century Version). This is the beginning of God’s argument that she was worse than any other prostitute.

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 .