Ezekiel 16
1 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations
Son of man, make known unto Jerusalem her abominations,
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.
And thou shalt say, Thus hath said the Lord Eternal unto Jerusalem, Thy origin and thy birth are out of the land of Canaan: thy father was an Emorite, and thy mother 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.
And as for thy birth, on the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, nor wast thou washed in water to he cleansed; and thou wast not rubbed with salt, nor wrapt in swaddling clothes.
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 eye looked with pity on thee, to do any of these things unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out on the open field, with a loathing of thy body, on the day that thou wast 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 then by thee, and I saw thee stained with thy own blood, and I said unto thee, In thy blood, live; yea, I said unto thee, In thy blood, 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.
Myriads, like the vegetation of the field, did I make of thee, and thou didst increase and become great, and thou attainedst the highest attractions: with thy breasts developed, and thy hair full grown; but thou wast still naked and bare.
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.
But I passed then by thee, and saw thee, and, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread the skirt of my garment over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I swore unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord Eternal, and thou becamest mine.
9 Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
Then did I bathe thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee; and I anointed thee 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 clothed thee also with broidered work, and made thee shoes of badger's skin, and I placed on thy head a turban of fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
11 I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
And I decked thee with ornaments, and I placed bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain around thy neck.
12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
And I placed a ring on thy nose, and earrings in thy ears, and a crown of splendor on thy 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.
Thus wast thou ornamented with gold and silver; and thy garments were of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; fine flour, and honey, and oil didst thou eat: and thou wast exceedingly beautiful, and thou didst succeed to acquire dominion.
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.
And thy fame went forth among the nations because of thy beauty; for it was perfect through my glorious ornament, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord Eternal.
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.
But thou didst trust in thy beauty, and play the harlot because of thy fame, and lavish thy lewd caresses on every one that passed by—on him they were bestowed.
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!
And thou didst take from thy garments, and deck thee high-places with divers colors, and play the harlot thereupon: never should the like come to pass, and never should it be so.
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.
And thou didst take thy elegant ornaments of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and make for thyself male images, and play the harlot with them;
18 You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them.
And thou didst take thy broidered garments, and cover them: and my oil and my incense didst thou place before them.
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.
And my bread which I had given thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, which I had let thee eat, even this didst thou set before them for a sweet savour: yes, so was it, saith the Lord Eternal.
20 You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hadst born unto me, and didst slaughter these unto them to be devoured; [but] were thy acts of lewdness not yet enough?
21 You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols.
That thou didst slay my children, and give them up to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
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.
And in all thy abominations and thy acts of lewdness thou didst not remember the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, when thou wast stained with thy blood.
23 Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness,
And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, —[woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord Eternal; ]—
24 you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square.
That thou didst build unto thyself eminences, and make thyself elevations in every street.
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.
On the corner of every road didst thou build thy elevations, and make thy beauty abominable, and spread out thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiply thy acts of lewdness.
26 You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.
And thou didst play the harlot with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, with large limbs, and multiply thy acts of lewdness, to provoke me to anger.
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.
And, behold, I stretched out my hand over thee, and diminished thy stated portion; and I gave thee up unto the will of those that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who were made to blush for thy incestuous course.
28 Then you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, because you were not yet satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied.
Then didst thou play the harlot with the sons of Asshur, because thou wast unsatiable: yea, thou didst play the harlot with them, and wast even then not satisfied.
29 So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied!
And thou didst multiply thy lewdness with the traders' land as far as Chaldea; and even with this wast thou not satisfied.
30 How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute!
How very corrupt is thy heart, saith the Lord Eternal, seeing thou didst all these things, deeds of an abandoned lewd woman;
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.
Seeing that thou didst build thy eminences at the corner of every road, and make thy elevations in every street; and wast not like a harlot, as thou scornedst the wages.
32 You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband!
O thou adulterous wife! who, while bound to her husband, receiveth strangers!
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.
Unto all harlots they give presents; but thou hast given thy presents to all thy lovers, and hast bribed them, that they might come unto thee from every side in thy acts of lewdness.
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!
And the reverse was the case with thee from [other] women in thy acts of lewdness, that men did not follow thee to seek thy lewd caresses; and because thou gavest the wages, and no wages were given thee: so was it the reverse with thee.
35 Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of 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,
Thus hath said the Lord Eternal, Whereas thy wealth was squandered, and thy nakedness was uncovered through thy lewd acts with thy lovers, and with all thy abominable idols, and for the blood of thy children, whom thou didst give unto them:
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.
Therefore, behold, I will gather all thy lovers, whom thou hast given pleasure, and all whom thou hast loved, together with all whom thou hast hated, —yea, I will gather them all round about thee, and will uncover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
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.
And I will judge thee, as adulteresses and women that shed blood are judged; and I will bring upon thee the blood of fury and jealousy.
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.
And I will also give thee up into their hand, and they shall pull down thy eminences, and shall break down thy elevations; and they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and they shall take thy elegant ornaments, and leave thee naked and bare.
40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
And they shall bring up against thee an assembly, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through 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.
And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute punishments on thee before the eyes of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from being a harlot, and also the wages [of sin] shalt thou not give any more.
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.
And then will I assuage my fury on thee, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
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?
Because that thou didst not remember the days of thy youth, but didst irritate me with all these things: behold, therefore I also will bring thy course upon thy head, saith the Lord Eternal, and thou shalt no more commit incest with all thy [other] abominations.
44 Behold, all who speak in proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
Behold, every one that speaketh in proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As the mother is, so is her 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.
Thou art thy mother's daughter, loathing her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, who have loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Emorite.
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.
And thy elder sister is Samaria, she with her daughters, that dwelleth at thy left hand, and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom 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.
Yet not even in their ways didst thou walk, nor act according to their abominations: as though this were quite too little, and thou wast more corrupt than they in all thy ways.
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, saith the Lord Eternal, Sodom thy sister, she with her daughters, hath not done as thou hast done, thou with thy daughters.
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.
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: Pride, abundance of food, and prosperous security were hers and her daughters'; but the hand of the poor and needy did she not strengthen.
50 Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen.
And they became haughty, and committed abominations before me: therefore did I remove them when I saw their course.
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.
And Samaria hath not committed even the half of thy sins; but thou didst multiply thy abominations more than they; and thou hast justified thy sisters through all thy abominations which thou hast done.
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.
Bear then thou also thy own confusion, which thou didst adjudge unto each of thy sisters; through thy sins, which thou hast committed more abominably than they, are they made more righteous than thou: therefore thou also—be ashamed, and bear thy confusion, since thou hast justified thy sisters.
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.
And I will bring back again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of the captives in the midst of them:
54 So you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did to comfort them.
In order that thou mayest bear thy confusion, and mayest be confounded because of all that thou hast done, when thou art a comfort unto them.
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.
And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former state.
56 Did you not treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn in the day of your pride,
And was not thy sister Sodom a report in thy mouth in the days of thy pride,
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 yet thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all those round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who taunted thee on all sides?
58 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD.
Thy incest and thy abominations, —thou thyself hadst to bear them, saith 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.
For thus hath said the Lord Eternal, I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, thou who hast despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
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.
Nevertheless will I indeed remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.
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.
And thou shalt then remember thy ways, and be confounded, when thou receivest thy sisters, both those that are older than thou and younger than thou: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, though not because thou wast faithful to the covenant.
62 So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD,
And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt 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.”
In order that thou mayest remember, and feel ashamed, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy confusion, when I forgive thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Eternal.
