Ezekiel 16
1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Another message from the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations
“Son of man, challenge Jerusalem over her disgusting practices.
3 and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
Tell Jerusalem that this is what the Lord God says to her: You really are a Canaanite, both by your birth and parentage. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
4 On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths.
On the day you were born your cord was not cut, and you weren't washed to clean you up, you weren't rubbed with salt, and you weren't wrapped in cloths.
5 No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth.
No one looked on you with love to do anything like this for you; no one showed any kind of care for you. No, you were thrown away in a field, abandoned and despised from the day you were born.
6 Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’
But I passed by and saw you kicking, covered in your own blood. As you were lying there in your blood I told you, ‘I want you to live!’ I said to you right there, ‘I want you to live!’
7 I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
I help you to grow like a plant in the field. You grew up into a beautiful young woman. Your breasts developed and your body hair grew, and you were completely naked.
8 Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD.
When I passed by again, I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for lovemaking. So I spread my robe over you and covered up your naked body. I committed myself to you and made a solemn agreement with you, and made you mine, declares the Lord God.
9 Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
Then I washed you with water, cleaned off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
I put a beautifully embroidered dress on you and gave you fine leather sandals. I clothed you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
11 I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
I gave you jewelry—I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
I put a ring in your nose and earrings on your ears, and placed a beautiful crown on your head.
13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen.
You wore gold and silver jewelry, and your clothes were made of the finest linen, expensive fabric, and embroidered cloth. You ate bread made with the best flour, and honey and olive oil. You grew even more beautiful and became a queen.
14 Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.
You were famous around the world because of your beauty, for I used my majestic power to make you so wonderful, declares the Lord God.
15 But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking.
You were so proud of your beauty that you were unfaithful to me. You thought that because you were so famous you could prostitute yourself and sleep with anyone who passed by. They took your beautiful body for themselves.
16 You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred!
You made yourself colorful pagan shrines out of the clothes I'd given you, and there you acted as a prostitute. Things like this have never happened before, and they should never happen in the future!
17 You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself.
You also used the beautiful gold and silver jewelry I gave you to make male idols and you prostituted yourself with them.
18 You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.
You used your embroidered clothes to dress them, and you placed before them my olive oil and incense.
19 And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD.
You presented the food I had given you as an offering for them to accept —bread made from the best flour, olive oil, and honey that I had provided for you to eat. That's exactly what you did, declares the Lord God.
20 You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
You sacrificed your sons and daughters—the children you had for me—offering them as food for idols to eat. Wasn't your prostitution evil enough?
21 You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.
You slaughtered my children, sacrificing them to idols.
22 And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood.
While you were busy with all your disgusting practices and your prostitution, you forgot about the time when you were young, completely naked and lying there kicking in your own blood.
23 Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness,
Disaster is coming! Disaster is coming on you, declares the Lord God. As well as all the other evil things you did,
24 you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.
you built yourself a pagan shrine, a high place of idol worship on every public square in the city.
25 At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by.
You made yourselves high places of idol worship at the top of every street; you degraded yourself, offering your beautiful body to anyone who passed by, opening your legs for them, becoming more and more promiscuous.
26 You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
You gave yourself as a prostitute to your Egyptian neighbors with their large sexual organs, making me angry as you became even more promiscuous.
27 Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct.
So I acted to reduce my blessings to you. I let your enemies the Philistines do what they wanted to you. Even they were embarrassed at your immorality.
28 Then you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, because you were not yet satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied.
Because you weren't satisfied you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians. But even then you weren't satisfied.
29 So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!
So you took your promiscuous behavior to Babylonia, the country of merchants, but even then you weren't satisfied!
30 How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!
You're really sick-minded to do all this, acting like a prostitute with no shame, declares the Lord God.
31 But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
Actually you weren't even a normal prostitute when you built yourselves pagan shrines at the top of every street and high places of idol worship on every public square—because you refused to be paid for your services!
32 You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband!
You're a wife that loves adultery! You sleep with strangers instead of your husband!
33 Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
Normally all prostitutes are paid, but you were the one giving gifts to all your lovers. You even bribed them to come from all around and have sex with you.
34 So your prostitution is the opposite of that of other women: No one solicited your favors, and you paid a fee instead of receiving one; so you are the very opposite!
So you're the opposite of other prostitutes. No one comes to you asking for sex, and you pay the prostitute's fee instead of receiving it. You're the exact opposite!
35 Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
So, you prostitute, listen to the message from the Lord!
36 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
This is what the Lord God says: Because you were so crazy with desire you stripped yourself naked and committed adultery with your lovers and with all your disgusting idols, and because you killed your children as sacrifices to those idols,
37 therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked.
I'm going to bring together all the lovers you went to bed with, whether you loved them or hated them, and I will have them gather from everywhere around and I will strip you as they watch so they will see you totally naked.
38 And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy.
I will impose on you the punishment for women who commit adultery and those who murder; you will be punished in passionate anger.
39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will demolish your pagan shrines and destroy your high places of idol worship. They will strip you of your clothes, remove your beautiful jewelry, and leave you stark naked.
40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
They will come with a mob to attack you. They will stone you and chop you into pieces with their swords.
41 Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
They will burn down your houses and punish you while many women watch. I will stop your prostitution, and you won't ever pay your lovers again.
42 So I will lay to rest My wrath against you, and My jealousy will turn away from you. Then I will be calm and no longer angry.
Then I will finish being jealous and furious with you. I will calm down and won't be angry any more.
43 Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations?
Since you didn't remember how I looked after you when you were young, but made me angry with all the things that you did, I will make sure you experience the results of what you've done, declares the Lord God. For this immorality was in addition to all the other disgusting things you did, wasn't it?
44 Behold, all who speak in proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
Everyone who likes to use proverbs will quote this one about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45 You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
You are the daughter of your mother who detested her husband and children. You are just like her! You are the sister of your sisters, just like them who detested their husbands and children. In fact your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.
46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to your north; and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to your south.
Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north of you with her daughters. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived south of you with her daughters.
47 And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
You didn't just follow their ways and do the same disgusting things they did, you very quickly became even worse than them.
48 As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as you and your daughters have done.
As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters didn't ever do what you and your daughters have done.
49 Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy.
The sins of your sister Sodom were these: She and her daughters were proud, greedy, and lazy. They didn't help the poor and those in need.
50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.
They became arrogant and did disgusting things in my presence. So I got rid of them when I saw this.
51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous.
Samaria didn't sin half as badly as you did. You have done far more disgusting things than they did. In fact, all the revolting things you've done make your sisters look good!
52 So now you must bear your disgrace, since you have brought justification for your sisters. For they appear more righteous than you, because your sins were more vile than theirs. So you too must bear your shame and disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous.
Now you're going to have to put up with your shame, since by your disgraceful sins you made them seem far better. Compared to you they look good! Now you too have to put up with your shame and disgrace because you've made your sisters look as if they were good.
53 But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them.
Even so I'm going to bring Sodom and her daughters back from exile, and Samaria and her daughters too. I will bring you back together with them.
54 So you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did to comfort them.
In this way you will have to put up with your disgrace and be ashamed of all the bad things you did that made them feel better about themselves.
55 And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state.
Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will be restored to what they were before. You and your daughters will also be restored to what you were before.
56 Did you not treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn in the day of your pride,
Didn't you mock your sister Sodom when you were feeling proud,
57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.
before you were shown to be so wicked yourselves? Of course now you are mocked by the Edomites and the surrounding nations, as well as by the Philistines. Everyone around you looks down on you.
58 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD.
You will have to experience the consequences of your immorality and your disgusting practices, declares the Lord.
59 For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
This is what the Lord God says: I'm going to punish you according to your sins, because you treated the promise you made with contempt by breaking the agreement.
60 But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
But I won't forget the agreement I made with you when you were young, and I will make an everlasting agreement with you.
61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you.
Then you will remember the way you are meant to live and be ashamed when you meet your older and younger sisters when they return to you. I will give them to you as daughters, even though this was not part of our original agreement.
62 So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD,
This is how I will endorse my agreement with you, and you will know that I am the Lord,
63 so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”
so that you will remember and be ashamed, and won't ever defend your disgraceful behavior when I forgive you for everything you've done, declares the Lord God.”
