Ezekiel 16
1 And there is a word of YHWH to me, saying,
Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and you have said,
“Son of man, inform Jerusalem about her abominations,
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.
and declare, 'The Lord Yahweh says this to Jerusalem: Your beginning and your birth took place in the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
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.
On the day of your birth, your mother did not cut your navel, nor did she purify you in water or rub you down with salt, or wrap cloth around you.
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 eye had compassion for you to do any of these things for you, to be compassionate toward you. On the day that you were born, with loathing for your life, you were thrown out into the open field.
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!
But I passed by you, and I saw you writhing in your own blood; so I said to you in your blood, “Live!” I said to you in your blood, “Live!”
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!
I made you grow like a plant in a field. You multiplied and became great, and you became the jewel of jewels. Your breasts became firm, and your hair grew thick, though you had been naked and bare.
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.
I passed by you again, and I saw you. See! the time of love came for you, so I spread my robe over you and covered your nakedness. Then I swore to you and brought you into a covenant—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—and you became mine.
9 And I wash you with water, And I wash away your blood from off you, And I anoint you with oil.
So I washed you with water and rinsed your blood off you, and I anointed you with oil.
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.
I dressed you in embroidered clothes and placed leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
11 And I adorn you with adornments, And I give bracelets for your hands, And a chain for your neck.
Next I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain around your neck.
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 nose ring in your nostrils and earrings in your ears, and 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 you were adorned with gold and silver, and you were dressed in fine linen, silk, and embroidered clothes; you ate fine flour, honey, and oil, and you were very beautiful, and you became 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.
Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect in the majesty that I had given to you—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.
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 you trusted in your own beauty, and you acted like a prostitute because of your fame; you poured out your acts of prostitution on everyone who passed by, so that your beauty became his.
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!
Then you took your clothes and with them you made high places for yourself decorated in various colors, and there you acted like a prostitute. This should not have happened. Nor should such a thing exist.
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 jewels of the gold and silver that I gave you, and you made for yourself male figures, and you did with them as a prostitute would do.
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 your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set my oils and perfumes before 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.
My bread I gave you—made with fine flour, oil, and honey—you set before them for a fragrant aroma, for this is what happened—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.
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,
Then you took your sons and daughters whom you bore for me, and you sacrificed them to the images to be devoured as food. Are your acts of prostitution a small matter?
21 that you slaughter My sons, And give them up in causing them to pass over to them?
You slaughtered my children to the idols and made them pass through the fire.
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!
In all your abominations and your acts of prostitution you have not thought about the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare as you thrashed about in your blood.
23 And it comes to pass, after all your wickedness (Woe, woe, to you—a declaration of Lord YHWH),
Woe! Woe to you!—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—therefore, in addition to all this wickedness,
24 That you build an arch for yourself, And make a high place for yourself in every broad place.
you built yourself a vaulted chamber in every public place.
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,
You built your high place at the head of every road and made your beauty a disgrace, and you spread your legs to anyone who passed by, and you multiplied your acts of prostitution.
26 And go whoring to sons of Egypt, Your neighbors—great of appetite! And you multiply your whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger.
You have acted like a prostitute with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and you committed many more acts of prostitution, provoking me to anger.
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.
See! I will strike you with my hand and cut off your food. I will hand your life over to your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your obscene 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.
You have acted like a prostitute with the Assyrians because you could not be satisfied. You acted like a prostitute and 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.
You performed many more acts of prostitution in the land of the merchants of Chaldea, and even this 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.
How sick is your heart—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—that you would do all these things, deeds of a shameless prostitute?
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.
You have built your high places at the head of every street and made your vaulted chamber in every public place. Yet you were not like a prostitute because you refused to take payment.
32 The wife who commits adultery—Under her husband—receives strangers.
You adulterous woman, you accept strangers instead of 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.
People give payment to every prostitute, but you give your wages to all your lovers and bribe them to come to you from all around for your acts of prostitution.
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 there is a difference between you and those other women, since no one goes to you to ask you to sleep with them. Instead, you pay them. No one pays you.
35 Therefore, O whore, hear a word of YHWH!
Therefore, you prostitute, listen to the word of Yahweh.
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;
The Lord Yahweh says this: Because you have poured out your lust and uncovered your nakedness through your acts of prostitution with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children's blood,
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.
therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers that you have met, all those whom you loved and all those whom you hated, and I will gather them against you on every side. I will uncover your nakedness to them so they see all your nakedness.
38 And I have judged you—judgments of adultresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given you blood, fury, and jealousy.
For I will punish you for adultery and the shedding of blood, and I will bring on you the bloodshed of my anger and passion.
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 give you into their hands so they will throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your high places and they will strip you of your clothes and take all of your jewelry. They will leave you naked and bare.
40 And have caused an assembly to come up against you, And stoned you with stones, And thrust you through with their swords,
Then they will bring up a crowd against you and stone you with stones, and they will cut you apart 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 your houses and will perform many acts of punishment on you in the sight of many women, for I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
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 calm my fury against you; my anger will leave you, for I will be satisfied, and will no longer be angry.
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.
Because you did not call to mind the days of your youth and have made me shake with anger because of all these things, therefore, behold! I myself will bring down on your own head the punishment for what you have done—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration. Have you not added prostitution to all your other detestable practices?
44 Behold, everyone using the allegory against you, Uses [this] allegory concerning [you], saying, As the mother—her daughter!
Behold! Everyone who speaks proverbs concerning you will say, “As the mother is, so also is her daughter.”
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 the daughter of your mother, who detested her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters who detested their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite.
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.
Your older sister was Samaria and her daughters were the ones living in the north, while your younger sister was the one living south of you, that is, Sodom and her daughters.
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 walked in their ways and copied their behavior and practices, but in all your ways you have been worse 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.
As I live—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—your sister Sodom and her daughters, have not done as much evil as you and your daughters 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.
Behold! This was the sin of your sister Sodom that she was arrogant in her leisure, careless and unconcerned about anything. She did not strengthen the hands of the poor and needy people.
50 And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.
She was arrogant and committed disgusting actions before me, so I took them away just as you have seen.
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.
Neither did Samaria commit even half of your sins; instead, you have done many more disgusting things than they did, and you have shown that your sisters were better than you because of all the disgusting things that you do!
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.
Especially you, show your own shame; in this way you have shown that your sisters were better than you, because of the sins you committed in all those disgusting ways. Your sisters now seem better than you. Especially you, show your own shame, for in this way you have shown that your sisters were better than you.
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,
For I will restore their fortunes—the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters; but your fortunes will be among them.
54 So that you bear your shame, And have been ashamed of all that you have done, In your comforting them.
On account of these things you will show your shame; you will be humiliated because of everything that you have done, and in this way you will be a comfort to them.
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.
So your sister Sodom and her daughters will be restored to their former condition, and Samaria and her daughters will be restored to their former estate. Then you and your daughters will be restored to your former condition.
56 And your sister Sodom has not been for a report in your mouth, In the day of your arrogancy,
Sodom your sister was not even mentioned by your mouth in the days 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 your wickedness was revealed. But now you are an object of scorn to the daughters of Edom and to all the daughters of the Philistines around her. People all about despise you.
58 Your wicked plans and your abominations, You have borne them, a declaration of YHWH.
You will show your shame and your disgusting actions!—this is Yahweh's declaration!
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.
The Lord Yahweh says this: I will deal with you as you deserve, you who have despised your oath by breaking the covenant.
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 myself will call to mind my covenant with you made in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
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 call to mind your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older sisters and your younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.
62 And I have established My covenant with you, And you have known that I [am] YHWH.
I myself will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
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!”
Because of these things, you will call everything to mind and be ashamed, so you will no longer open your mouth to speak because of your shame, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration.'”
