Jezekiel 16
1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Another message from the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, testify to Jerusalem [of] her iniquities;
“Son of man, challenge Jerusalem over her disgusting practices.
3 and you shall say, Thus says the Lord to Jerusalem; Your root and your birth are of the land of Chanaan: your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Chettite.
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 And [as for] your birth in the day wherein you were born, you did not bind your breasts, and you were not washed in water, neither was you salted with salt, neither was you swathed in swaddling-bands.
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 Nor did mine eye pity you, to do for you one of all these things, to feel at all for you; but you were cast out on the face of the field, because of the deformity of your person, in the day wherein you were born.
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 And I passed by to you, and saw you polluted in your blood; and I said to you, [Let there be] life out of your blood:
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 increase; I have made you as the springing grass of the field. So you did increase and grow, and did enter into great cities: your breasts were set, and your hair grew, whereas 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 And I passed by you and saw you, and, behold, [it was] your time and a time of resting; and I spread my wings over you, and covered your shame, and swear to you: and I entered into covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.
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 And I washed you in water, and washed your blood from you, and anointed you with oil.
Then I washed you with water, cleaned off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
10 And I clothed you with embroidered [garments], and clothed you beneath with purple, and girded you with fine linen, and clothed 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 and decked you also with ornaments, and put bracelets on your hands, and a necklace on your neck.
I gave you jewelry—I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
12 And I put a pendant on your nostril, and rings in your ears, and a crown of glory on 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 raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and variegated work: you did eat fine flour, and oil, and honey, and did become extremely beautiful.
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 And your name went forth amongst the nations for your beauty: because it was perfected with elegance, [and] in the comeliness which I put upon you, says the Lord.
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 You did trust in your beauty, and did go a-whoring because of your renown, and did pour out your fornication on every passer by.
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 And you did take of your garments, and made to yourself idols of needlework, and did go a-whoring after them; therefore you shall never come in, nor shall [the like] take place.
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 And you took your fair ornaments of my gold and of my silver, of what I gave you, and you made to yourself male images, and you did commit whoredom with them.
You also used the beautiful gold and silver jewelry I gave you to make male idols and you prostituted yourself with them.
18 And you did take your variegated apparel and did clothe them, and you did set before them mine oil and mine incense.
You used your embroidered clothes to dress them, and you placed before them my olive oil and incense.
19 And [you took] my bread which I gave you, ([yes] I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey) and did set them before them for a sweet smelling savour: yes, it was so, says the Lord.
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 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore, and did sacrifice [these] to them to be destroyed. You did go a-whoring as [if that were] little,
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 and did kill your children, and gave them up in offering them to them for an expiation.
You slaughtered my children, sacrificing them to idols.
22 This is beyond all your fornication, and you did not remember your infancy, when you were naked and bare, [and] did live [though] defiled in your 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 And it came to pass after all your wickedness, says the Lord,
Disaster is coming! Disaster is coming on you, declares the Lord God. As well as all the other evil things you did,
24 that you did build yourself a house of fornication, and did make yourself a public place in every street;
you built yourself a pagan shrine, a high place of idol worship on every public square in the city.
25 and on the head of every way you did set up your fornications, and did defile your beauty, and did open your feet to every passer by, and did multiply your fornication.
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 And you did go a-whoring after the children of Egypt your neighbours, great of flesh; and did go a-whoring, often 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 And if I stretch out my hand against you, then will I abolish your statutes, and deliver [you] up to the wills of them that hate you, [even to] the daughters of the Philistines that turned you aside from the way wherein you sinned.
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 And you did go a-whoring to the daughters of Assur, and not even thus was you satisfied; yes, you did go a-whoring, and was not satisfied.
Because you weren't satisfied you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians. But even then you weren't satisfied.
29 And you did multiply your covenants with the land of the Chaldeans; and not even with these was you satisfied.
So you took your promiscuous behavior to Babylonia, the country of merchants, but even then you weren't satisfied!
30 Why should I make a covenant with your daughter, says the Lord, while you do all these things, the works of a harlot? and you have gone a-whoring in a threefold degree with your daughters.
You're really sick-minded to do all this, acting like a prostitute with no shame, declares the Lord God.
31 You have built a house of harlotry in every top of a way, and have set up your high place in every street; and you did become as a harlot gathering hires.
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 An adulteress resembles you, taking rewards of her husband.
You're a wife that loves adultery! You sleep with strangers instead of your husband!
33 She has even given rewards to all that went a-whoring after her, and you have given rewards to all your lovers, yes, you did load them with rewards, that they should come to you from every side for your fornication.
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 And there has happened in you perverseness in your fornication beyond [other] women, and they have committed fornication with you, in that you give hires over and above, and hires were not given to you; and [thus] perverseness happened in you.
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, harlot, hear the word of the Lord:
So, you prostitute, listen to the message from the Lord!
36 Thus says the Lord, Because you have poured forth your money, therefore your shame shall be discovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and [with] regard to all the imaginations of your iniquities, and for the blood of your children which you have given 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, behold, I [will] gather all your lovers with whom you have consorted, and all whom you have loved, with all whom you did hate; and I will gather them against you round about, and will expose your wickedness to them, and they shall see all your shame.
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 be avenged on you with the vengeance of an adulteress, and I will bring upon you blood of fury 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 And I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall break down your house of harlotry, and destroy your high place; and they shall strip you of your garments, and shall take your proud ornaments, 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 And they shall bring multitudes upon you, and they shall stone you with stones, and pierce you 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 And they shall burn your houses with fire, and shall execute vengeance on you in the sight of many women: and I will turn you back from harlotry, and I will no more give [you] rewards.
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 will I slacken my fury against you, and my jealousy shall be removed from you, and I will rest, and be no more careful [for you].
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 your infancy, and you did grieve me in all these things; therefore, behold, I have recompensed your ways upon your head, says the Lord: for thus have you wrought ungodliness above all your [other] iniquities.
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 These are all the things they have spoken against you in a proverb, saying,
Everyone who likes to use proverbs will quote this one about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45 As is the mother, so is your mother's daughter: you are she that has rejected her husband and her children; and the sisters of your sisters have rejected their husbands and their children: your mother was a Chettite, 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 elder sister who dwells on your left hand is Samaria, she and her daughters: and your younger sister, that dwells on the right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
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 Yet notwithstanding you have not walked in their ways, neither have you done according to their iniquities within a little, but you have exceeded them in all your ways.
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] I live, says the Lord, this Sodom and her daughters have not done 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 Moreover this was the sin of your sister Sodom, pride: she and her daughters lived in pleasure, in fullness of bread [and] in abundance: this belonged to her and her daughters, and they helped not the hand of 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 And they boasted, and wrought iniquities before me: so I cut them off as I saw [fit].
They became arrogant and did disgusting things in my presence. So I got rid of them when I saw this.
51 Also Samaria has not sinned according to half of your sins; but you have multiplied your iniquities beyond them, and you have justified your sisters in all your iniquities which you have committed.
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 You therefore bear your punishment, for that you have corrupted your sisters by your sins which you have committed beyond them; and you have made them [appear] more righteous than yourself: you therefore be ashamed, and bear your dishonour, in that you have justified your sisters.
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 And I will turn their captivity, [even] the captivity of Sodom and her daughters; and I will turn the captivity of Samaria and her daughters; and I will turn your captivity in the midst of 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 that you may bear your punishment, and be dishonoured for all that you have done in provoking me to anger.
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 sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as they were at the beginning, and you and your daughters shall be restored as you were at the beginning.
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 And surely your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the days of your pride:
Didn't you mock your sister Sodom when you were feeling proud,
57 before your wickedness was discovered, even now you are the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, [even] of the daughters of the Philistines that compass you round about.
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 [As for] your ungodliness and your iniquities, you have borne them, says the Lord.
You will have to experience the consequences of your immorality and your disgusting practices, declares the Lord.
59 Thus says the Lord; I will even do to you as you have done, as you have dealt shamefully in these things to transgress my 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 And I will remember my covenant [made] with you in the days of your infancy, and I will establish to you an everlasting covenant.
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 shall remember your way, and shall be utterly dishonoured when you receive your elder sisters with your younger ones: and I will give them to you for building up, but not by your covenant.
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 And I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall 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 that you may remember, and be ashamed, and may no more be able to open your mouth for your shame, when I am reconciled to you for all that you have done, says the Lord.
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.”
