Ezekiel 23:21
Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth. Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.
The lewd or corrupt woman is the figure for a corrupt church, here Israel and Judah, Samaria and Jerusalem as adulterous women turning their affections toward foreign powers. Calling to remembrance the lewdness of youth recalls earlier unfaithfulness in turning to Egypt for help, which was rebellion against God. In that backsliding harlot state Israel and Judah ensnare souls and corrupt the nations.
The fornication thus symbolized is apostasy from the worship of Jehovah and an unlawful bond with idolatrous or false religious groups, not the church's use of civil law for temporal affairs. The same pattern warns churches against seeking union with civil power, for that is looking to human authority instead of relying wholly on God, who demands undivided loyalty and will not share His glory. Because the verse presents awful sins under the figure of a lewd woman it is best read in private, although some passages in the chapter can properly be read anywhere.