Ezekiel 16

1 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,

Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

2 “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and you have said,

“You human, cause the people of Jerusalem to think about their detestable behavior.

3 Thus said Lord YHWH to Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity [Are] of the land of the Canaanite, Your father the Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.

Say to them, ‘This is what Yahweh the Lord says to you people of Jerusalem: [It is as though you are a woman who] [MET] was born in the country where the Canaan people-group lived. [It is as though] [MET] your father belonged to the Amor people-group and your mother belonged to the Heth people-group.

4 As for your nativity, in the day you were born, Your navel has not been cut, And you were not washed in water for ease, And you have not been salted at all, And you have not been swaddled at all.

[It is as though] [MET] on the day that you were born, your umbilical cord was not cut, and your body was not washed in water, and it was not rubbed with salt or wrapped in strips of cloth, [like Israeli babies always are].

5 No eye has had pity on you, to do any of these to you, To have compassion on you, And you are cast on the face of the field, With loathing of your soul In the day you were born!

No one pitied you or acted kindly toward you by doing those things for you. Instead, [it was as though] [MET] you were thrown into a field, because on the day that you were born, you were despised {everyone despised you}.

6 And I pass over by you, And I see you trodden down in your blood, And I say to you in your blood, Live! Indeed, I say to you in your blood, Live!

Then [it was as though] [MET] I passed by and saw you lying in your own blood and kicking. And while you lay there kicking in your own blood, I said to you, “I want you to remain alive!”

7 I have made you a myriad as the shoot of the field, And you are multiplied, and are great, And come in with an excellent adornment, Breasts have been formed, and your hair has grown—And you, naked and bare!

[It was as though] I caused you to grow up, like plants in the field grow; you grew up and became tall and became like [MET] a very beautiful jewel. [It was as though] [MET] your breasts (formed/became large), and your hair became long, although you were still naked [DOU].

8 And I pass over by you, and I see you, And behold, your time [is] a time of loves, And I spread My skirt over you, And I cover your nakedness, And I swear to you, and come into a covenant with you, A declaration of Lord YHWH, And you become Mine.

When I saw you several years later, [it was as though] [MET] I saw that you were old enough to have sex [EUP]. So [it was as though] [MET] I spread the corner of my robe over [to symbolize that I would marry you], with the result that you were no longer naked. I solemnly promised [that I would marry you] and made a marriage agreement with you, and you became my wife. That is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say.

9 And I wash you with water, And I wash away your blood from off you, And I anoint you with oil.

[And then it was as though] [MET] I bathed you and washed the blood from you and put ointment on your body.

10 And I clothe you with embroidery, And I shoe you with tachash [skin], And I gird you with fine linen, And I cover you with figured silk.

[It was as though] [MET] I put a fine linen robe on you and gave you other expensive clothes. I put an embroidered dress on you and put leather sandals on your feet.

11 And I adorn you with adornments, And I give bracelets for your hands, And a chain for your neck.

[It was as though] [MET] I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck. Those things all had nice jewels fastened to them.

12 And I give a ring for your nose, And rings for your ears, And a crown of beauty on your head.

I put a gold ring in your nose and fastened earrings to your ears and put a beautiful crown on your head.

13 And you put on gold and silver, And your clothing [is] fine linen, And figured silk and embroidery, You have eaten fine flour, and honey, and oil, And you are very, very beautiful, And go prosperously to the kingdom.

So [it was as though] you wore gold and silver ornaments. You had clothes made from fine (linen/white cloth) and other expensive embroidered material/cloth. You ate [bread made from] fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You became very beautiful, like [MET] a queen.

14 And your name goes forth among nations, Because of your beauty—for it [is] complete, In My honor that I have set on you, A declaration of Lord YHWH.

You were very beautiful, with the result that people in other nations heard about you, because they knew that I, Yahweh the Lord, am the one who had caused you to become very beautiful.

15 And you trust in your beauty, And go whoring because of your renown, And pour out your whoredoms on everyone passing by—to him [that would have] it.

But [it was as though] [MET] you realized that because people knew that you were very beautiful, you could [earn a lot of money by] becoming a prostitute. [It was as though] you had sex with [EUP] every man who came along, and they all enjoyed your beauty.

16 And you take from your garments, And make spotted high-places for yourself, And go whoring on them, They are not coming in—nor will it be!

[It was as though] you took some of your clothes to make beautifully decorated shrines, and that is where you had sex with those men. Those things should certainly never occur!

17 And you take your beautiful vessels Of My gold and My silver that I gave to you, And make images of a male for yourself, And go whoring with them,

You took the fine gold and silver jewelry that I gave you, and you made male idols for yourself, in order to have sex with them.

18 And you take the garments of your embroidery, And cover them, And you have set My oil and My incense before them.

You took some of your embroidered clothes to put on those idols, and you burned oil and incense in front of them [to honor them].

19 And My bread, that I gave to you, Fine flour, and oil, and honey, that I caused you to eat. You have even set it before them, For a refreshing fragrance—thus it is, A declaration of Lord YHWH.

And the [bread that was made from] fine flour and the olive oil and honey that I gave to you to eat, you offered to be a fragrant sacrifice to those idols. I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that is what happened.

20 And you take your sons and your daughters whom you have born to Me, And sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of your whoredoms,

And you even took your sons and daughters who were [as though they were] [MET] my children, and sacrificed them to be food for the idols. That was much worse [RHQ] than your becoming a prostitute.

21 that you slaughter My sons, And give them up in causing them to pass over to them?

You slaughtered [those who were like] [MET] my children, and offered them to be sacrifices to the gods!

22 And with all your abominations and your whoredoms, You have not remembered the days of your youth, When you were naked and bare, You were trodden down in your blood!

All during the time when you were acting like a prostitute and doing other detestable things, you did not think about the time when [it was as though] you were very young, naked [DOU], lying in your own blood and kicking.

23 And it comes to pass, after all your wickedness (Woe, woe, to you—a declaration of Lord YHWH),

So I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that terrible things will happen to you. In addition to all the other wicked things that you did,

24 That you build an arch for yourself, And make a high place for yourself in every broad place.

you built a shrine to worship idols in every [city] square/plaza.

25 At every head of the way you have built your high place, And you make your beauty abominable, And open wide your feet to everyone passing by, And multiply your whoredoms,

At the beginning of every street you built a shrine, and showed people your beautiful body, offering it to have sex with every man who walked by, becoming a better known prostitute every day.

26 And go whoring to sons of Egypt, Your neighbors—great of appetite! And you multiply your whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger.

[It was as though] [MET] you had sex with men from Egypt who were eager to have sex with you, men who lived near to Israel. You caused me to become very angry because you became more eager to have sex with more and more of them.

27 And behold, I have stretched out My hand against you, And I diminish your portion, And give you to the desire of those hating you, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of your wicked way.

So I punished [IDM] you and caused your enemies to capture some of your country. I enabled your greedy enemies from Philistia to defeat you; and even they were shocked because of your disgraceful behavior.

28 And you go whoring to sons of Asshur, Without your being satisfied, And you go whoring with them, And also—you have not been satisfied.

[It was as though] you had sex with soldiers from Assyria, too, because you always wanted more sex. And after that, you still were not satisfied.

29 And you multiply your whoredoms On the land of Canaan—toward Chaldea, And even with this you have not been satisfied.

So you also had sex [with soldiers from] Babylonia, a country full of merchants/businessmen, but even that did not satisfy you.

30 How weak [is] your heart, A declaration of Lord YHWH, In your doing all these, The work of a domineering, whorish woman.

I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that when you did all those things, acting like [MET] a bold prostitute, you were showing that you were ready to do anything that you wanted to [IDM].

31 In your building your arch at the head of every way, You have made your high place in every broad place, And have not been as a whore deriding a wage.

When you built shrines to worship idols on every street corner and in every city square/plaza, you were not like a prostitute: Prostitutes charge money, but you refused to take money for what you did.

32 The wife who commits adultery—Under her husband—receives strangers.

You are like [MET] a woman who commits adultery: You prefer to [have sex with] strangers rather than with your husband.

33 They give a gift to all whores, And you have given your gifts to all your lovers, And bribe them to come in to you, From all around—in your whoredoms.

Prostitutes are paid, but [it is as though] you give gifts to all your lovers; you bribe them to come to you from everywhere to have sex with you.

34 And you are opposite from [other] women in your whoredoms, That none go whoring after you; And in your giving a wage, And a wage has not been given to you; Therefore you are the opposite.

So although you act like [MET] a prostitute, you are not like other prostitutes: No one needs to request you to have sex [EUP] with them. You are the opposite of other prostitutes; instead of them giving any money to you, you give men money to have sex with you.

35 Therefore, O whore, hear a word of YHWH!

Therefore, [you people of] Jerusalem, who are like a prostitute [MET], listen to what I, Yahweh the Lord, am saying about you!

36 Thus said Lord YHWH: Because of your bronze being poured forth, And your nakedness is revealed in your whoredoms near your lovers, And near all the idols of your abominations, And according to the blood of your sons, Whom you have given to them;

I say that [what you have done is as though] [MET] you took off your clothes and acted like a prostitute and had sex with men who are not your husband. [What I mean is that you have been worshiping] detestable idols, and you have murdered [MTY] your own children to be sacrifices to them.

37 Therefore, behold, I am assembling all your lovers, To whom you have been sweet, And all whom you have loved, Besides all whom you have hated; And I have assembled them by you all around, And have revealed your nakedness to them, And they have seen all your nakedness.

So [what I am going to do is as though] I will gather those who you think have loved you and those whom you hated. I will gather them around you [to attack you], and [what I will do is as though] I will strip your clothes off you, and they will see you when you are completely naked.

38 And I have judged you—judgments of adultresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given you blood, fury, and jealousy.

I will punish you like women who commit adultery and who murder people [MTY] are punished. I will get revenge on you and get rid of you because I am extremely angry with you.

39 And I have given you into their hand, And they have thrown down your arch, And they have broken down your high places, And they have stripped you of your garments, And they have taken your beautiful vessels, And they have left you naked and bare.

I will allow [your enemies who you thought] loved you [IRO] to defeat you, and they will tear down your shrines. [It will be as though] they will strip off your fancy clothes and take away your fine jewelry and cause you to be completely naked [DOU].

40 And have caused an assembly to come up against you, And stoned you with stones, And thrust you through with their swords,

They will bring a mob to attack you, and that mob will throw stones at you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

41 And burned your houses with fire, And done judgments in you before the eyes of many women, And I have caused you to cease from going whoring, And also, you no longer give a wage.

They will burn down your houses and punish you while many women are watching. I will cause your acting like a prostitute and paying your lovers to have sex with you to end.

42 And I have caused My fury against you to rest, And My jealousy has turned aside from you, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry anymore.

Then I will no longer be angry [DOU] with you. I will stop being jealous [because of your worshiping gods other than me only].

43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, And give trouble to Me in all these, Therefore I also—behold—I put your way on [your own] head, A declaration of Lord YHWH, And you will not have done—have done this wickedness above all your abominations.

You have forgotten [the wonderful things that I did for you] in previous years [MET]. You have caused me to become extremely angry because of all the [evil things] that you have done. In addition to all the other detestable things that you did, you committed many sexual sins. So I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that I will punish you [IDM] for doing those things.

44 Behold, everyone using the allegory against you, Uses [this] allegory concerning [you], saying, As the mother—her daughter!

People who [like to] quote proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “[behave] like their mothers [behave].”

45 You [are] your mother’s daughter, Loathing her husband and her sons, And you [are] your sisters’ sister, Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother [is] a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

You are like your mother; [it was as though] she detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who also despised their husbands and their children. [It was as though] [MET] your father belonged to the Amor people-group and your mother belonged to the Heth people-group.

46 And your older sister [is] Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at your left hand, And your younger sister, who is dwelling on your right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.

And [it was as though] [MET] your older sister was Samaria, and she and her daughters lived to the north of you, and [it was as though] your younger sister was Sodom, and she and her daughters lived to the south of you.

47 And you have not walked in their ways, And done according to their abominations, It has been loathed as a little thing, Indeed, you do more corruptly than they in all your ways.

You not only imitated all [DOU] their detestable behavior, but you quickly became more sinful than they were.

48 [As] I live—a declaration of Lord YHWH, Your sister Sodom has not done—she and her daughters—As you have done—you and your daughters.

I, Yahweh the Lord, solemnly declare that as surely as I am alive, [the people who lived in] [MTY] Sodom and other nearby cities never did the detestable things that you [people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah] have done.

49 Behold, this has been the iniquity of your sister Sodom, Arrogancy, fullness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She has not strengthened.

These are the sins [the people who lived in] Sodom, who were like your sister [MET]: The people who lived there and in nearby cities were arrogant. In spite of having more food to eat than they needed, they refused to help the poor and needy [DOU] people among them.

50 And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.

The people of Sodom and nearby cities [MET] were proud and did detestable things in my presence, so I got rid of them when I saw what they had been doing.

51 And Samaria has not sinned even half of your sins, But you multiply your abominations more than they, And justify your sisters by all your abominations that you have done.

Also, [the people of] Samaria did not commit half as many sins as you have committed. You have done more disgusting things than they have done. You cause the people of Samaria to appear to be good, compared to you.

52 You also—bear your shame, That you have adjudged for your sisters, Because of your sins that you have done more abominably than they, They are more righteous than you, And you, also, be ashamed and bear your shame, In your justifying your sisters.

Your sins are worse than their sins, so they seem to be less wicked than you are. So I will punish you more than I punished them. As a result, you will be ashamed and disgraced [DOU].

53 And I have turned back [to] their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of your captives in their midst,

However, [some day] I will [the people of] Sodom and Samaria and the cities near to them [MET] to prosper again. And I will cause you to prosper again, too.

54 So that you bear your shame, And have been ashamed of all that you have done, In your comforting them.

You will be very ashamed [DOU] of the wicked things that you have done, and that will cause the people of those cities to be encouraged.

55 And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Return to their former state, And Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, And you and your daughters return to your former state.

[The people of] Sodom and Samaria will prosper again, and you and the people in nearby cities will prosper also.

56 And your sister Sodom has not been for a report in your mouth, In the day of your arrogancy,

You (sneered at/despised) [the people of] Sodom when you were proud,

57 Before your wickedness is revealed, As [at] the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram, And of all her neighbors, the daughters of the Philistines, Who are despising you all around.

before it was revealed that you were very wicked. And now [the people of] Edom and [the people of] Philistia all insult you and despise you.

58 Your wicked plans and your abominations, You have borne them, a declaration of YHWH.

And you are being punished for all your immoral behavior and other detestable things that you do.

59 For thus said Lord YHWH: I have dealt with you as you have done, In that you have despised an oath—to break covenant.

This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I will continue to punish you like you deserve to be punished, because by rejecting the agreement that I made with you, you have despised that solemn agreement that you promised to obey.

60 And I have remembered My covenant with you, In the days of your youth, And I have established a perpetual covenant for you.

But I will not forget the agreement that I made with you long ago [MET], and I will make an agreement with you that will endure forever.

61 And you have remembered your ways, And you have been ashamed, In your receiving your sisters—Your older with your younger, And I have given them to you for daughters, And not by your covenant.

Then you will think about what you have done, and you will be ashamed about those things when you welcome [the people of] Sodom and Samaria, cities which are like [MET] older and younger sisters to you people of Jerusalem. I will [put them under your control by] causing them to become like [MET] your daughters, but they will not have the same agreement that I will make with you.

62 And I have established My covenant with you, And you have known that I [am] YHWH.

I will establish my agreement with you, and you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].

63 So that you remember, And you have been ashamed, And there is not an opening of the mouth to you anymore because of your shame, In My receiving atonement for you, For all that you have done, A declaration of Lord YHWH!”

Then when I have forgiven you for all your sins, you will think about all the sins that you committed and you will be ashamed, and you will never again [boast about them], because you will be humiliated.’”