This is one of the coarsest verses in the whole book of Ezekiel.

And doted upon her paramours there …: For the Hebrew verb rendered doted upon, see Ezek 23.5. Paramours (“lovers” in New International Version) renders a Hebrew word that means “concubines.” This word usually refers to girls or women who are owned by a man purely to satisfy his sexual desires. Except in this verse, it is never used to describe men, but here it shows the way Oholibah used and treated her Egyptian lovers. “Male prostitutes” (Revised English Bible) is an acceptable equivalent.

God describes these Egyptian lovers as men whose members were like those of asses, that is, their penises were as big as a donkey’s penis. He also says they were men whose issue was like that of horses, that is, because of the size of their genitals, they ejaculated as much semen as a horse does. Both of these crude descriptions depict the Egyptians as lustful and oversexed. For the Egyptians having big penises and being highly sexed, see the comments on 16.26.

Translators need to approach the translation of this verse very sensitively. They must try not to offend their readers unduly, but they must also try to retain the meaning and emotional impact of the original. The original text intended to shock the readers, but it also showed how disgusted with his people God was. Contemporary English Version loses the shocking impact of this verse in Hebrew by saying simply “She eagerly wanted to go to bed with Egyptian men, who were famous for their sexual powers.” New Living Translation provides a better model with “She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse.” Another possible model is:

• She desired greatly the [male] prostitutes that she had sex with—they had huge penises, as big as a donkey’s, and they shot out [or, ejaculated] as much semen as a horse.

In most cultures this model will not be acceptable, and the second half of the verse may have to be toned down by saying “they were worse than dogs [or, some other animal known for its frequent and disgusting sexual activity] in the disgusting way they had sex.” Translators who retain the details of “donkeys” and “horses” need to use the male term for the animals concerned, especially if their language regularly makes the distinction between male and female.

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 .