You built yourself a vaulted chamber, and made yourself a lofty place in every square: Vaulted chamber and lofty place both refer to the shrines to false gods that the Israelites built. They are usually called “high places” (see the comments on verse 16 and 6.3). In the context of the parable some translations have taken at least one of these expressions to refer to a place for sex; for example, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch refers to a “brothel,” New English Bible and Revised English Bible use “couch,” and Good News Translation has “places to … practice prostitution.” Translators may take whichever interpretation fits better into their own work. The Hebrew words for vaulted chamber and lofty place are quite general in meaning. The first one refers to something that is curved, such as a dome or small hill, and the second one refers to something that is high or raised a little above the ground. The verb built shows that the vaulted chamber was something that people made, not a natural phenomenon such as a hill. The Hebrew word for square refers to the broad open spaces in towns where people gather and where markets are held. It is a public meeting-place, not a “road” (Good News Translation) or “street” (King James Version / New King James Version, Moffatt).

Models for this verse are:

• you built a mound or raised platform for worshiping idols in every city square.

• in the open area of every town you built mounds or platforms for the worship of idols [or, so you could worship idols].

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 .