But you trusted in your beauty (Ezekiel 33:13; Dt 32:15; Is 48:1; Jer 7:4; Mic 3:11; Zeph 3:11; Mt 3:9) (See Torrey's Topic Ingratitude to God)

What was the root (problem) which led to the abominable conduct of harlotry? Israel trusted in her beauty and her fame. In sum, she became proud.  They did not trust God but in what He had by grace made them. Pride preceded their fall as it always does.

Solomon (who sadly seemed to fall prey to this root sin also) wrote

When pride (arrogance, insolence, presumption, an attitude of the heart which deceives the one who is proud) comes, then comes dishonor (confusion,  ignominy, reproach, shame), but with the humble (modest, showing lack of pretentiousness) is wisdom (ability to see something from God’s viewpoint). (Pr 11:2)

He also wrote that

Pride (arrogance as overbearing conceit, or the boastful assertion of more than one has a right to) goes before destruction, and a haughty (viewing one as having "high" or majestic status) spirit before stumbling (tottering, calamity, disaster). (Pr 16:18)

A man's pride (arrogance, haughtiness, highness, swelling) will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor. (Pr 29:23)

played the harlot because of your fame (Ezekiel 20:8; 23:3,8,11,12-21; Ex32:6-35; Nu 25:1,2; Jdg 2:12; 3:6; 10:6; 1Ki 11:5; 12:28; 2Ki 17:7; 21:3; Ps 106:35; Isa 1:21; 57:8; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:1; 7:4; Ho 1:2; 4:10; Rev 17:5)

The Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge note on this verse says that...

Raised from the most abject state to dignity and splendour by Jehovah, Israel became proud of her numbers, riches, strength, and reputation, forgetting that it was "through his comeliness which He had put upon them;" and thus departing from God, made alliances with heathen nations, and worshipped their idols. (Comment: Anything and everything we have that is good is from the Father of lights and it behooves all God's children to frequently recall this truth to mind, lest we begin to think that it is because of our efforts alone that success or wealth have come our way! Ingratitude is sin. We need to constantly recall that God provides all we need for life and godliness [see note 2 Peter 1:3]. We sin against Him when we take His gifts and prostitute them to serve purposes other than His. Our beauty, fame, fortune, skills are all His gracious gifts to us. When we use them selfishly to attract other people whose favors we desire, we sin. When we use them to buy protection from other powers, we sin. When we use them to pay homage to anyone or thing besides God, we sin just as surely as did Israel in the Old Testament.)

The Psalmist reminds that we are to...

Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way,for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! (Ps 2:12)

and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing

On every passer-by - The Amplified version explains this as..."as you worshiped the idols of every nation which prevailed over you".

Years prior to Ezekiel's words, Moses had written prophetically of Israel's behavior declaring...

But Jeshurun ("the upright one", used ironically here as a reference to unrighteous Israel!) grew fat and kicked-- You are grown fat, thick, and sleek-- Then he forsook God who made him, and scorned the Rock of his salvation. 16 "They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. 17 "They sacrificed to demons (see Ps 106:37, 1Cor 10:20) who were not God, to gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread. 18 "You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth. (Deut 32:15-18) (Comment: Notice in verse 18 God is described figuratively as both father - begot you - and mother - gave birth to you -- which makes the Chosen nation of Israel's flagrant spiritual adultery all the more reprehensible. Hosea 1-2 is a clear parallel to Ezekiel 16.)

In Isaiah God describes Jerusalem declaring

How the faithful city has become a harlot, she who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, but now murderers." (Isaiah 1:21)

Feinberg adds

Notice how pride was singled out as the root of Sodom’s sin when her abominations were traced to their source. God had blessed her abundantly with fullness of bread (Ge13:10), but she monopolized these blessings for her own pleasures and basked in prosperous ease. Provision for her own needs made her insensible to the needs of others; she had no social conscience. Then she committed the abominations and enormities which are linked inseparably with her name. God took her away with a final blow when He saw it " (Feinberg "Ezekiel")

And you took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. (Ezek 7:20; 2 Ki 23:7; 2Chr 28:24; Hos 2:8)

Earlier Ezekiel had recorded that...

they transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and they made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an abhorrent thing to them. (see note Ezekiel 7:20)

After King Josiah discovered the book of the Law which has been lost in the house of God he experienced personal revival and he carried out numerous acts to cleanse the land...

He also broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes which were in the house of the LORD, where the women were weaving hangings for the Asherah. (2Kings 23:7)

High places (01116) (bamah which is used literally in Ezekiel 20:29 Study the uses of bamah in 1 Kings, 2 Kings Jeremiah Ezekiel) were associated with at least six activities--the burning of incense (Jer 48:35), sacrificing (2Ki 16:4), the eating of sacrificial meals, praying, prostitution, and child sacrifice (Jer 7:31 Jer 19:5 Jer 32:35)!

The high places consisted of several basic elements: an altar for offering sacrifices usually built of stone or mud brick, a wooden pole to represent the female goddess of fertility called Asherah, at least one stone pillar called a maššebâ to represent the male deity Baal and  a smaller incense altar with a tent for use in eating sacrificial meals, practicing sacred prostitution (1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 21:3), and storage of cultic vessels.

Remember that...

You also took your beautiful jewels...and made...images (Ezekiel 7:19; 23:14-21; Ex 32:1-4; Hos 2:13; 10:1)  (Isa 44:19,20; 57:7,8; Jer 2:27,28; 3:9)

In a similar passage in Hosea we read...

For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, And lavished on her silver and gold, Which they used for Baal. (Hosea 2:8)

Might play the harlot with them (the images of men) -

Cooper observes that...

It was wickedly ironic that the people used God’s gifts to build shrines and make idols of gods that were nonexistent. They took fine jewelry and constructed male idols and engaged in ritual sex as part of the fertility cult  (Cooper, L. E. Vol. 17: Ezekiel The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers)

Constable agrees that this phrase is to be taken literally writing that...

The people evidently even made phallic images out of God’s gifts with which they engaged in sex (Expository Notes in Pdf format)

Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them

If you are a man and married, as God was to Israel, you can understand how flagrant and brazen were Israel's actions. Surely this speaks of the longsuffering of God to hold back His hand of wrath in the face of such bold faced actions against His holiness and His covenant.

Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares the Lord GOD.

My bread which I gave you...which I fed you (13; Dt 32:14-17; Ho 2:8-13) - God reminds Israel of how He repeatedly demonstrated His favor upon them.

soothing aroma - The ultimate perversion of God's gift -- offering it to idols. There is a touch of sarcasm in the descriptive word "soothing" (sweet, pleasant, pleasing, delightful). This word was first used in to describe the offering of Noah after the flood abated...

And the LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. (Ge 8:21) (Comment: That which had been a sweet savor to God now had the stench of sinful sacrifices!)

Moreover you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and you sacrificed them to idols to be devoured  (Ezek 16:21; 23:4; Ge 17:7; Ex 13:2,12; Dt 29:11,12) (Ezekiel 20:26,31; 23:37,39; 2 Ki 16:3; 2Chr 33:6; Ps 106:37,38; Isa 57:5; Jer 7:31; 32:35; Micah 6:7) (Ezekiel 8:17; Jer 2:34,35)

Had borne to Me - Notice who the children really belonged to! They took what belonged to God and offered them up as human sacrifices! This is God's chosen people beloved. Be careful when  you begin to drift into the path of sin for it will take you a far greater distance into the darkness than you would have ever dreamed possible!

This horrible sin is repeated alluded to in Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:26,31; 23:37,39)

God had specifically and emphatically forbidden this practice Moses recording...

You shall not behave thus toward the LORD your God, for every abominable act which the LORD hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. (Deut 12:31)

There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer (Deut 18:10)

Jeremiah addresses this heinous sin...

And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind. (Jer 7:31)

And they built the high places of Baal that are in the valley of Ben-hinnom to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin. (Jer 32:35)

Is "Christian" America guilty of a similar evil today in regard to legalization of abortion? You be the judge. And as you contemplate your answer, think too about to Whom these little creations had been borne?

You slaughtered My children, and offered them up to idols causing them to pass through the fire (Ps 106:37) (Lev 18:21; 20:1-5; Dt18:10; 2Ki17:17; 21:6; 23:10)

The Amplified Version renders this verse as a question that began at the end of verse 20...

20 Were your harlotries too little, 21 That you have slain My children and delivered them up, in setting them apart and causing them to pass through the fire for [your idols]?

Today's English Version is similar...

20 Wasn't it bad enough to be unfaithful to me, 21 without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols?

My children - God is the Creator and ultimately they were His children that were being killed and burned.

The Psalmist records that...

They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons, and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and the land was polluted (defiled, corrupted, profaned) with the blood. (Psalm 106:37-38)

To pass through the fire - Moses records...

And besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood. (Ezekiel 16:3-7,43,60-63; Jer 2:2; Hos 2:3; 11:1)

All your abominations - It is notable that of the 117 uses of abominations (tow'ebah), 41 of the uses (click for these verses) are in Ezekiel, by far the greatest frequency in the entire Old Testament!

You did not remember the days of your youth - God had preserved Jacob's family through the years of severe family by taking them to Egypt where He prospered them until they became a threat to the new pharaoh. And then God delivered them from bondage and cared for them in the frightening wilderness, providing for their every need. And yet Israel had grown fat and forgetful. What were those first days like when you came to Christ and received His gift of salvation? What has happened over the years since that time? Have you failed to remember the joy and amazement that He choose to save a wretch such as you? Have you become complacent and comfortable in your Christianity, going through the motions but without the emotion and profound sense of gratitude you experienced when He first saved you out of the miry clay? Take some time to remember, so that you don't fall into the trap of forgetfulness which breeds ingratitude at best and can lead to flagrant sin at worst.

Cooper remarks that....

The basic cause behind all the evil excesses presented in Ezekiel 16:22 was neglect of the covenant. They did not remember the days of their youth. They forgot God in the sense that he made no difference in their daily lives. They were practical atheists, professing to worship Yahweh along with other gods but failing to believe and obey his word. (Cooper, L. E. Vol. 17: Ezekiel The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers)

Then it came about after all your wickedness ('Woe, woe to you!' declares the Lord GOD) (Ezek 2:10; 13:3,18; 24:6; Jer 13:27; Zeph 3:1; Mt 11:21; 23:13-29; Rev 8:13; Rev 12:12)

This is a frightening verse. Woe, woe was an expression of lament and horror that was uttered at the arrival of disaster.

that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square (Ezek 16:31,39; 20:28,29; 2 Ki 21:3-7; 23:5-7,11,12; 2 Chr 33:3-7) (Lev 26:30; Ps 78:58; Isa 57:5,7; Jer 2:20; 3:2; 17:3)

Adam Clarke writes that the Hebrew word for shrine refers to a...

brothel; Septuagint (LXX). So my old Masoretic (text) Bible, a bordel (Ed note = brothel) house... Diodati translates, Tu hai edificato un bordello, "Thou hast built a brothel." Houses of this kind were of a very ancient date. (Clarke's Commentary: Ezekiel)

Recall that a brothel is a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes.

A number of the translations (see several recorded above) pick up this same idea in translating (or paraphrasing) the Hebrew as a brothel or house of prostitution.

The TWOT observes that...

Three times in Ezekiel 16:24, 16:31, 16:39, Judah is condemned for building for herself, in the fashion of a harlot, a “vaulted chamber” (Hebrew = gab) (KJV “eminent place”) and a lofty place (rāmâ = high place). This (referring to the Hebrew word "gab") may be a reference to an artificially constructed hill on which illegal cultic acts were performed (perhaps a word play between rāmâ and bāmâ [bama = another word translated high place]). Thus the LXX translates gab here as oikēma pornikon “brothels.” (brothel = a house or other place where men pay to have sexual intercourse with prostitutes)

You built yourself a high place at the top of every street (Ezekiel 16:31; Ge 38:14,21; Pr 9:14,15; Isa 3:9; Jer 2:23,24; 3:2; 6:15)

made your beauty abominable (Ezek 23:9,10,32; Rev 17:1-5,12,13,16) Judah had perverted that which was intended by God to0 be lovely (beautiful) to instead become loathsome! Israel who was to be a lovely lighthouse became a licentious lover of idols! She had become a vessel of dishonor, profane, useless to the Master and prepared for destruction!

One is reminded of Paul's wise warning to young Timothy to remember that...

in a large house there are not only gold and silver vessels, but also vessels of wood and of earthenware, and some to honor and some to dishonor. Therefore, if a man cleanses himself from these things, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work. Now flee from youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (See notes 2 Timothy 2:20; 2:21; 2:22)

D. L. Moody said that...

God doesn't seek for golden vessels, and does not ask for silver ones, but He must have clean ones.

Wesley once wrote...

Lord, let me not live to be useless.

and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry  This vile verse needs little amplification. Remember this is God's very own and very accurate assessment of the real spiritual condition of Judah's heart disease!

And so Judah is a picture of the essence of licentiousness -- that undisciplined and unrestrained sexual behavior which flagrantly disregards all restraints of decency and propriety and holiness!

Multiply your harlotry - Believers, beware because sin is not just additive (and addictive) but pursues a dark downward spiral, as one sin gives birth to other sins, multiplying the "offspring" so to speak. The end is death!

You also played the harlot with the Egyptians your lustful neighbors and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry. (Ezek 8:10,14; 20:7,8; 23:3,8,19-21; Ex 32:4; Dt 29:16,17; Joshua 24:14; Isa 30:21)

Played the harlot - KJV is more direct - "committed fornication"! How so? By adopting the idolatrous practices of the godless pagans.

With the Egyptians - Cooper observes that Judah...

They placed hope for present and future security on alliances with idolatrous neighbors who further prostituted the nation. Ezekiel mentioned specifically Egypt (v. 26) and Assyria (v. 28), who captured some of Judah’s territory in Sennacherib’s invasion in 701 b.c., and Babylon (v. 29). The people’s conduct was so depraved that even the Philistines, noted for their debauchery, were “shocked” by their lewd conduct (v. 27). (Cooper, L. E. Vol. 17: Ezekiel The New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers)

Lustful (01320) (basar) has the basic sense of literal flesh but here refers to the sinful and sensuous behavior that characterized pagan idol worship.

The Amplified Version renders says "worship is thoroughly sensuous".

I have stretched out My hand against you (Ezekiel 14:9; Isa 5:25; 9:12,17)

diminished your rations (Dt 28:48-57; Isa 3:1; Hos 2:9-12)  - Amplified renders it "ordinary allowance of food".

The NIV rendering suggests instead of diminished...rations Judah's territory was diminished...

So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory

I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you (Ezekiel 16:37; 23:22,25,28,29,46,47; Ps 106:41; Jer 34:21; Rev 17:16)

Delivered up is translated by the with the Greek verb paradidomi, which Paul uses three times in Romans 1 to describe the pattern of divine retribution in which God gives idolatrous men and women over to the lusts of their own flesh...

22 Professing to be wise, they became fools,
23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.
24 Therefore God gave them over (paradidomi) in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them.
25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them over (paradidomi)  to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
27 and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over (paradidomi)  to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper (See notes Romans 1:22; 1:23; 1:24; 1:25; 1:26; 1:27; 1:28; 1:29)

the daughters of the Philistines (2Ki 24:2; 2Chr 28:18,19; Isa 9:12) - The Philistines were Israel's implacable adversaries. It is dangerous to continue in sin, lest God finally determine to deliver us over to that sin.

A similar idea had been voiced by God earlier when He declared that...

she (Judah) has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes. Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you, and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,' (see notes Ezekiel 5:6; 5:7)

In a parallel passage in Amos we read...

Proclaim on the citadels in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, "Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and the oppressions in her midst. "But they (Israel) do not know how to do what is right," declares the LORD, "these who hoard up violence and devastation in their citadels." (Amos 3:9-10)

who are ashamed of your lewd conduct - "who were shocked by your lewd conduct" (NIV)

The Amplified version renders it...

who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]!)

Lewd (02154) (zimmah) refers to the plans and purposes of the mind which give rise to one’s actions and almost always has a negative connotation referring to what is evil. To reiterate, although conveying the idea of evil or wickedness (in this context lewdness), it tends to focus on the thought processes that plots the wickedness. The implication is that their evil behavior was presumptuously premeditated.

The Greek Septuagint translates zimmah with the verb asebeo which means to violate the norms of a proper or professed relation to deity and so to act impiously. Asebeo describes one as living without regard for religion either in belief or in practice and so to be ungodly, to live wickedly and to act profanely (see NT use of related word asebeo in note on 2 Peter 2:6); the only NT use of asebeo is in Jude 1:15 ("deeds which they have done in an ungodly way")

Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you even played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. (Ezek 23:5-9,12-21; Jdg 10:6; 2Ki 16:7,10-18; 21:11; 2Chr 28:23; Jer 2:18,36; Hos 10:6)

Were not satisfied - The charges against Israel's whoring continue to mount, but not their satisfaction. The pleasure of sin is for a moment but like a voracious wild animal sin is insatiable and is never satisfied.

You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea (Ezek iel13:14-23; Jdg 2:12-19; 2Ki 21:9)

Multiplied...not satisfied - "addition" could not satisfy so they resorted to "multiplication" with the same result - "I can't get no...satisfaction" - a refrain made famous by that great "theological" group The Rolling Stones!

Chaldea - The other name for Babylon.

Dr Charles Dyer in the The Bible Knowledge Commentary labels Jerusalem the equivalent of...

How languishing is your heart (Pr 9:13; Isa 1:3; Jer 2:12,13; 4:22)

Languishing - sick, feeble, having reached a state of exhaustion or extremity.

In Jeremiah, Jehovah God uses another metaphor to describe Israel's spiritually sick heart declaring...

Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns, That can hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:12-13) (Ryrie comments that "Ancient landowners would dig cisterns to collect the rainwater. To insure that the cistern would hold water, the landowner plastered it inside with lime. Often cracks would develop and the water would leak out. In like manner Israel had abandoned Yahweh, the "fountain of life" or "fountain of living waters" [cf. Ps. 36:9; Prov. 13:14; 16:22; Isa. 55:1; John 4:10-14; 7:37-39] for man-made powerless gods. They had committed two "evils": they had forsaken Yahweh, and they had tried to improve upon Him.") (The Ryrie Study Bible: New American Standard Translation: 1995. Moody Publishers)

the actions of a bold-faced harlot (Jdg 16:15,16; Pr 7:11-13,21; Isa 3:9; Jer 3:3; Rev 17:1-6) - The Septuagint (LXX) translates bold faced with the Greek word trissos meaning three fold degree or domineering.

at the beginning of every street (Hos 12:11) This verse emphasizes the widespread nature of Judah's idolatrous practices.

in disdaining money you were not like a harlot (Ezek 16:33,34; Isa 52:3)

Disdaining (07046) (qalas) means Judah mocked, ridiculed, disparaged, scoffed or scorned the thought of any payment for her blatant harlotry.

Net Bible Note states that the Hebrew term for money (0868)

which also occurs in Ezekiel 16:34 and Ezekiel 16:41... always refers to the payment of a prostitute (Deut 23:19; Isa 23:17; Hos 9:1; Mic 1:7).

The New Living Translation brings out this idea more vividly rendering it...

so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment for your love! (NLT - Tyndale House)

The paraphrased Message is a bit strong...

You built your bold brothels at every major intersection, opened up your whorehouses in every neighborhood, but you were different from regular whores in that you wouldn't accept a fee.

The point in this verse and the next two is that when a whore is solicited and paid for immorality, that practice is evil enough. But such evil was not sufficient to satisfy the lusts of Israel for she solicited and even paid her idol consorts!

Literally what this payment refers to in part is the tribute Israel had to pay to the godless nations.

You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! (Ezek 16:8; 23:37,45; Jer 2:25,28; 3:1,8,9,20; Ho 2:2; 3:1; 2 Co 11:2,3)

Here we see another manifestation of Judah's deceived, hard heart, hardened by repeated rebellion and refusal to hearken to the voice of her Creator and submit to the good and acceptable and perfect will of her loving Husband.

Constable sums up this section writing that...

All her brazen adulteries had left Jerusalem with a sick heart; she could no longer feel true love. She was worse than a common prostitute in that she practiced adultery not because she needed money from her lovers but simply because it made her feel good. She took strangers to bed with her instead of her husband. She even gave gifts to her lovers to bribe them to come to her (paying tribute to make alliances) rather giving them what they wanted in payment for the bribes they would normally have offered her. Her adulteries were worse than those of common prostitutes in that she paid her lovers rather than receiving payment from them (Hos. 8:9). (Expository Notes in Pdf format)

Men give gifts to all harlots (Ge 38:16-18; Dt 23:17,18; Hos 2:12; Joel 3:3; Micah 1:7; Lu 15:30)

you give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you (Isa 30:3,6,7; 57:9; Hos 8:9,10)

Cooper sums up this chapter noting that...