1A message from the LORD came to me. The LORD said,2‘Son of man, tell the people of Jerusalem the evil things they have done. I hate those things.3Tell them, “The LORD and King speaks to Jerusalem. He says, ‘Your history in the land of Canaan goes back a long way. Your father was an Amorite. Your mother was a Hittite.4On the day you were born your cord was not cut. You were not washed with water to clean you up. You were not rubbed with salt. And you were not wrapped in large strips of cloth.5No one took pity on you. No one was concerned enough to do any of these things for you. Instead, you were thrown out into an open field. You were hated on the day you were born.6‘ “ ‘I was passing by. I saw you kicking around in your blood. As you were lying there, I said to you, “Live!”7I made you grow like a plant in a field. Soon you had grown up. You became a young adult. Your breasts had formed. Your hair had grown. But you were completely naked.8‘ “ ‘Later, I was passing by again. I looked at you. I saw that you were old enough for love. So I married you and took good care of you. I covered your naked body. I made a firm promise to you. I entered into a covenant with you. And you became mine,’ announces the LORD and King.9‘ “ ‘I bathed you with water. I washed the blood off you. And I put lotions on you.10I put a beautiful dress on you. I gave you sandals made out of fine leather. I dressed you in fine linen. I covered you with expensive clothes.11I decorated you with jewellery. I put bracelets on your arms. I gave you a necklace for your neck.12I put rings on your nose and ears. And I gave you a beautiful crown for your head.13So you were decorated with gold and silver. Your clothes were made out of fine linen. They were made out of expensive and beautiful cloth. Your food was made out of honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful. You became a queen.14You were so beautiful that your fame spread among the nations. The glory I had given you made your beauty perfect,’ announces the LORD and King.15‘ “ ‘But you trusted in your beauty. You used your fame to become a prostitute. You offered your body freely to anyone who passed by. In fact, you gave yourself to anyone who wanted you.16You used some of your clothes to make high places colourful. That is where people worshipped other gods. You were a prostitute there. You went to your lover and he took your beauty.17I had given you fine jewellery. It was made out of gold and silver. You used it to make for yourself statues of male gods. You worshipped those gods. You were not faithful to me.18You put your beautiful clothes on them. You offered my oil and incense to them.19You also offered them food. It was made out of olive oil, honey and the finest flour. I had given it to you to eat. You offered it as sweet-smelling incense to them. That is what you did,’ announces the LORD and King.20‘ “ ‘Then you took your sons and daughters who belonged to me. And you sacrificed them as food to other gods. Wasn’t it enough for you to be a prostitute?21You killed my children. You sacrificed them to other gods.22You did not remember the days when you were young. At that time you were completely naked. You were kicking around in your blood. But now you have done evil things. I hate them. You have worshipped other gods. You have not been faithful to me.23‘ “ ‘How terrible it will be for you!’ announces the LORD and King. ‘How terrible for you! You continued to sin against me.24Your people built up mounds for themselves in every market. They put little places of worship on them.25They set them up at every street corner. Jerusalem, you misused your beauty. You offered your body to anyone who passed by. You did it again and again.26You committed shameful acts with the people of Egypt. They were your neighbours who were ready to have sex with you. You offered yourself to them again and again. That made me very angry.27So I reached out my powerful hand against you. I made your territory smaller. I handed you over to your Philistine enemies. The people in their towns were shocked by your impure conduct.28You also committed shameful acts with the people of Assyria. Nothing ever seemed to satisfy you. You could never get enough.29Then you offered yourself to the people of Babylon. But that did not satisfy you either. There are many traders in the land of Babylon.30‘ “ ‘I am filled with great anger against you,’ announces the LORD and King. ‘Just look at all the things you are doing! You are acting like a prostitute who has no shame at all.31Your people built up mounds at every street corner. You put little places of worship on them in every market. But you did not really act like a prostitute. That’s because you refused to let your lovers pay you anything.32‘ “ ‘You unfaithful wife! You would rather be with strangers than with your own husband!33Every prostitute receives gifts. Instead, you give gifts to all your lovers. You offer them money to come to you from everywhere. You want them to sleep with you. You are not faithful to me.34As a prostitute, you are the opposite of others. No one runs after you to sleep with you. You are exactly the opposite. You pay them. They do not pay you.’ ” ’35You prostitute, listen to the LORD’s message.36The LORD and King says, ‘You poured out your desire on your lovers. You took off your clothing and slept with them. You did it again and again. You worshipped other gods. I hate them. You even sacrificed your children to them.37So I am going to gather together all the lovers you found pleasure with. They include those you loved and those you hated. I will gather them against you from everywhere. I will take your clothes off right in front of them. Then they will see you completely naked.38I will hand down my sentence against you. You will be punished like women who commit adultery and sacrifice their children to other gods. I am so angry with you. So I will sentence you to death for everything you have done.39Then I will hand you over to your lovers. They will tear down those mounds you built. They will destroy the little places of worship you put on them. They will take your clothes off. They will remove your fine jewellery. And they will leave you completely naked.40They will bring a crowd against you. The crowd will put you to death by throwing stones at you. And they will chop you to pieces with their swords.41They will burn down your houses and punish you. Many women will see it. I will not let you be a prostitute anymore. You will no longer pay your lovers.42Then my great anger against you will die down. My jealous anger will turn away from you. I will be calm. I will not be angry anymore.43‘You did not remember the days when you were young. The things you did made me very angry. So anything that happens to you will be your own fault,’ announces the LORD and King. ‘You added impure conduct to all the other evil things you did. I hate all those things.44‘All those who use proverbs will use this one about you. They will say, “Like mother, like daughter.”45You are a true daughter of your mother. She hated her husband and children. And you are a true sister of your sisters. They hated their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite. Your father was an Amorite.46Your older sister was Samaria. She lived north of you with her daughters. Your younger sister was Sodom. She lived south of you with her daughters.47You lived exactly the way they did. You copied their evil practices. I hate those practices. Everything you did was so sinful that you soon became even worse than they were.48Your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. And that is just as sure as I am alive,’ announces the LORD and King.49‘Here is the sin your sister Sodom committed. She and her daughters were proud. They ate too much. They were not concerned about others. They did not help those who were poor and in need.50They were very proud. They did many things that were evil in my eyes. I hated those things. So I got rid of Sodom and her daughters, just as you have seen.51Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You sinned even more than they did. I hate those sins. Compared to what you did, you made your sisters seem godly.52So you will be dishonoured. You have given your sisters an excuse for what they did. Your sins were far worse than theirs. In fact, your sisters appear to be more godly than you. So then, be ashamed. You will be dishonoured. You have made them appear to be godly.53‘I will not only give you back what you had before. I will also do the same thing for Sodom and her daughters. And I will do the same for Samaria and her daughters.54That will make you feel dishonoured. You will be ashamed of everything you have done. You have made them feel better because you sinned more and were punished more than they were.55Your sisters Sodom and Samaria and their daughters will return to what they were before. And you and your daughters will return to what you were before.56In the past you would not even mention your sister Sodom. You were proud at that time.57That was before your sin was uncovered. Now the daughters of Edom make fun of you. So do all her neighbours and the daughters of the Philistines. Everyone who lives around you hates you.58You will be punished for your impure conduct. I will also punish you for the other evil things you have done. I hate all those things,’ announces the LORD.59The LORD and King says, ‘I will punish you in keeping with what you have done. I sealed with a promise the covenant I made with you. You hated that promise. And you broke my covenant.60But I will remember my covenant with you. I made it with you when you were young. Now I will make a new covenant with you. It will last for ever.61Then you will remember how you have lived. You will be ashamed when I give you Samaria and Sodom. Samaria is your older sister. Sodom is your younger one. I will give them and their daughters to you as daughters. That can’t happen based on my old covenant with you.62So I will make my new covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.63I will pay for all the sins you have committed. Then you will remember what you have done. You will be ashamed of it. Because of your shame, you will never speak against me again,’ announces the LORD and King.
Ezekiel 16
English Standard Version
The Lord’s Faithless Bride
1Again the word of the Lord came to me:2“Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, (Eze 2:1; Eze 22:2)3and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. (Ge 15:16; De 7:1; Jud 1:26; Eze 16:45)4And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. (Ho 2:3)5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born. (De 32:10; Eze 16:4)6“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ (Eze 16:22)7I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare. (Ex 1:7; Eze 16:11; Eze 16:13; Eze 16:22; Eze 16:39; Eze 23:29)8“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine. (Ex 19:5; Ex 24:7; Ru 3:9; Jer 2:2)9Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil. (Ru 3:3; Ps 23:5)10I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.[1] (Ex 26:36; Eze 16:13; Eze 16:18; Eze 26:16; Eze 27:7; Eze 27:16)11And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. (Ge 24:22; Ge 24:30; Ge 24:47; Eze 23:40; Eze 23:42)12And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.13Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. (De 32:13; Ps 48:2; Eze 16:15; Eze 16:25)14And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. (La 2:15; Eze 23:10)15“But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore[2] because of your renown and lavished your whorings[3] on any passerby; your beauty[4] became his. (Le 17:7; Isa 1:21; Isa 57:8; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Jer 3:6; Jer 3:20; Eze 16:13; Eze 16:25; Eze 23:3; Eze 23:8; Eze 23:11; Ho 1:2)16You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.[5]17You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. (Eze 7:20; Eze 16:11; Eze 23:14)18And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them. (Eze 23:41)19Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. (Eze 6:13; Eze 16:13; Ho 2:8)20And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter (Eze 16:21; Eze 16:36; Eze 20:26; Eze 20:31; Eze 23:37)21that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?22And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood. (Eze 16:6; Eze 16:43; Eze 16:60)23“And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God),24you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. (Eze 16:39)25At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself[6] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. (Isa 57:7; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Eze 16:14; Eze 16:15; Eze 16:31)26You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger. (Jer 7:18; Eze 16:15; Eze 20:7; Eze 23:14; Eze 23:19)27Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. (2Sa 1:20; Eze 5:10; Eze 16:37; Eze 16:57)28You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. (2Ki 16:7; 2Ch 28:16; Jer 2:18; Jer 2:36; Eze 16:15; Eze 23:12)29You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. (Eze 23:14)30“How sick is your heart,[7] declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute,31building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment. (Eze 16:33)32Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!33Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. (Eze 16:41; Ho 8:9)34So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different. (Eze 16:33)35“Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord:36Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, (Eze 16:20; Eze 16:38)37therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. (La 1:8; Eze 16:27; Eze 16:39; Eze 23:10; Eze 23:22; Eze 23:28; Eze 23:29; Ho 2:10; Ho 8:10; Re 17:16)38And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. (Ge 9:6; Le 20:10; De 22:22; Eze 18:10; Eze 21:30; Eze 23:37; Eze 23:45)39And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare. (Eze 16:7; Eze 16:11; Eze 16:24; Eze 16:25; Eze 23:26; Ho 2:3)40They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. (Jos 7:24; Eze 23:46; Eze 23:47)41And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more. (2Ki 25:9; Jer 39:8; Jer 52:13; Eze 5:8; Eze 16:33; Eze 16:40; Eze 23:27; Eze 23:48)42So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. (Eze 5:13)43Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations? (Eze 7:4; Eze 16:22; Eze 16:60; Eze 22:9)44“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ (Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2)45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. (Eze 16:3; Eze 16:46)46And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. (Isa 1:10; Eze 16:48; Eze 16:51; Eze 16:53; Eze 16:55; Eze 23:4; Eze 23:33)47Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. (2Ki 21:9; 2Ch 33:9; Jer 2:10; Eze 5:6; Eze 5:7; Eze 16:48; Eze 16:51)48As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. (Isa 49:18; Eze 5:11; Eze 14:16; Eze 14:18; Eze 14:20; Eze 16:47; Eze 17:16; Eze 17:19; Eze 18:3; Eze 20:3; Eze 20:33; Zep 2:9; Mt 10:15; Mt 11:24)49Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. (Ge 13:10)50They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it. (Ge 13:13; Ge 19:24)51Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. (Jer 3:11; Eze 16:46; Eze 16:52)52Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous. (Eze 32:24)53“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, (Eze 29:14; Eze 39:25; Zep 2:7; Zep 3:20)54that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them. (Eze 14:22; Eze 16:61)55As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. (Eze 16:53; Eze 36:11)56Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, (Isa 2:6)57before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria[8] and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you. (2Ki 16:5; 2Ch 28:18; Isa 7:1; Eze 16:27; Eze 28:24; Eze 28:26)58You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord. (Eze 14:10; Eze 23:35; Eze 23:49)
The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant
59“For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, (Eze 17:15; Eze 17:18)60yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. (Le 26:42; Jer 32:40; Jer 50:5; Eze 16:8; Eze 16:22; Eze 16:43)61Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you take your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of[9] the covenant with you. (Isa 54:1; Eze 6:9; Eze 16:45; Eze 16:54)62I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, (Eze 6:7)63that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.” (Ro 3:19)