< Ezekiel 16 >

1 Yahweh gave me another message. He said,
And the word of the Lord was maad to me,
2 “You human, cause the people of Jerusalem to think about their detestable behavior.
and he seide, Sone of man, make thou knowun to Jerusalem her abhomynaciouns; and thou schalt seie,
3 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.
The Lord God seith these thingis. A! thou Jerusalem, thi rote and thi generacioun is of the lond of Canaan; thi fadir is Amorrei, and thi moder is Cetei.
4 [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].
And whanne thou were borun, thi nawle was not kit awei in the dai of thi birthe, and thou were not waischun in watir in to helthe, nethir saltid with salt, nether wlappid in clothis.
5 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}.
An iye sparide not on thee, that it hauynge merci on thee, dide to thee oon of these thingis; but thou were cast forth on the face of erthe, in the castynge out of thi soule, in the dai in which thou were borun.
6 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!”
Forsothe Y passide bi thee, and Y siy thee defoulid in thi blood; and Y seide to thee, whanne thou were in thi blood, Lyue thou; sotheli Y seide to thee in thi blood, Lyue thou.
7 [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].
Y yaf thee multiplied as the seed of a feeld, and thou were multiplied, and maad greet; and thou entridist, and camest fulli to wymmens ournyng; thi tetis wexiden greet, and thin heer wexide; and thou were nakid, and ful of schenschipe.
8 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.
And Y passide bi thee, and Y siy thee, and lo! thi tyme, the tyme of louyeris; and Y spredde abrood my clothing on thee, and Y hilide thi schenschipe. And Y swoor to thee, and Y made a couenaunt with thee, seith the Lord God, and thou were maad a wijf to me.
9 [And then it was as though] [MET] I bathed you and washed the blood from you and put ointment on your body.
And Y waischide thee in water, and Y clenside awei thi blood fro thee, and Y anoyntide thee with oile.
10 [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.
And Y clothide thee with clothis of dyuerse colours, and Y schodde thee in iacynct, and Y girde thee with biys;
11 [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.
and Y clothide thee with sutil thingis, and Y ournede thee with ournement.
12 I put a gold ring in your nose and fastened earrings to your ears and put a beautiful crown on your head.
And Y yaf bies in thin hondis, and a wrethe aboute thi necke; and Y yaf a ryng on thi mouth, and cerclis to thin eeris, and a coroun of fairnesse in thin heed.
13 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.
And thou were ourned with gold and siluer, and thou were clothid with biys and ray cloth with rounde ymagis, and many colours. Thou etist cleene flour of wheete, and hony, and oile, and thou were maad fair ful greetli; and thou encreessidist in to a rewme,
14 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.
and thi name yede out in to hethene men for thi fairnesse; for thou were perfit in my fairnesse which Y hadde sett on thee, seith the Lord God.
15 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.
And thou haddist trist in thi fairnesse, and didist fornicacioun in thi name; and thou settidist forth thi fornicacioun to ech that passide forth, that thou schuldist be maad his.
16 [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!
And thou tokist of my clothis, and madist to thee hiy thingis set aboute on ech side; and thou didist fornycacioun on tho, as it was not don, nether schal be don.
17 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.
And thou tokist the vessels of thi fairnesse, of my gold and of my siluer, which Y yaf to thee; and thou madist to thee ymagis of men, and didist fornycacioun in tho.
18 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].
And thou tokist thi clothis of many colours, and thou were clothid in tho; and thou settidist myn oile and myn encence in the siyt of tho.
19 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.
And thou settidist my breed, which Y yaf to thee, flour of wheete, and oile, and hony, bi whiche Y nurschide thee, in the siyt of tho, in to odour of swetnesse; and it was don, seith the Lord God.
20 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.
And thou tokist thi sones and thi douytris, whiche thou gendridist to me, and offridist to tho, for to be deuourid. Whether thi fornicacioun is litil?
21 You slaughtered [those who were like] [MET] my children, and offered them to be sacrifices to the gods!
Thou offridist my sones, and yauest hem, and halewidist to tho.
22 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.
And aftir alle thin abhomynaciouns and fornicaciouns, thou bithouytist not on the daies of thi yong wexynge age, whanne thou were nakid, and ful of schenschipe, and were defoulid in thi blood.
23 So I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that terrible things will happen to you. In addition to all the other wicked things that you did,
And after al thi malice, wo, wo bifelle to thee, seith the Lord God.
24 you built a shrine to worship idols in every [city] square/plaza.
And thou bildidist to thee a bordel hous, and madist to thee a place of hordom in alle stretis.
25 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.
At ech heed of the weie thou bildidist a signe of thin hordom, and madist thi fairnesse abhomynable; and thou departidist thi feet to ech man passynge forth, and multepliedist thi fornicaciouns.
26 [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.
And thou didist fornicacioun with the sones of Egipt, thi neiyboris of grete fleischis, and thou multepliedist thi fornicacioun, to terre me to wraththe.
27 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.
Lo! Y schal stretch forth myn hond on thee, and Y schal take awei thi iustifiyng; and Y schal yyue thee in to the soulis of hem that haten thee, of the douytris of Palestyns, that ben aschamed in thi weie ful of greet trespas.
28 [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.
And thou didist fornicacioun with the sones of Assiriens, for thou were not fillid yit; and after that thou didist fornicacioun, nether so thou were fillid.
29 So you also had sex [with soldiers from] Babylonia, a country full of merchants/businessmen, but even that did not satisfy you.
And thou multipliedist thi fornycacioun in the lond of Canaan with Caldeis, and nether so thou were fillid.
30 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].
In what thing schal Y clense thin herte, seith the Lord God, whanne thou doist alle these werkis of a womman an hoore, and gredi axere?
31 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.
For thou madist thi bordel hous in `the heed of ech weie, and thou madist thin hiy place in ech street; and thou were not maad as an hoore ful of anoiyng,
32 You are like [MET] a woman who commits adultery: You prefer to [have sex with] strangers rather than with your husband.
encreessynge prijs, but as a womman auowtresse, that bryngith in aliens on hir hosebonde.
33 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.
Hiris ben youun to alle hooris, but thou hast youe hire to alle thi louyeris; and thou yauest to hem, that thei schulden entre to thee on ech side, to do fornycacioun with thee.
34 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.
And it was don in thee ayens the custom of wymmen in thi fornycaciouns, and fornicacioun schal not be after thee; for in that that thou yauest hiris, and tokist not hiris, the contrarie was don in thee.
35 Therefore, [you people of] Jerusalem, who are like a prostitute [MET], listen to what I, Yahweh the Lord, am saying about you!
Therfor, thou hoore, here the word of the Lord.
36 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.
The Lord God seith these thingis, For thi riches is sched out, and thi schenschipe is schewid in thi fornicaciouns on thi louyeris, and on the idols of thin abhomynaciouns, in the blood of thi sones, whiche thou yauest to hem; lo!
37 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.
Y schal gadere to gidere alle thi louyeris, with whiche thou were meddlid, and alle men whiche thou louedist, with alle men whiche thou hatidist; and Y schal gadere hem on thee on ech side, and Y schal make nakid thi schenschipe bifore hem, and thei schulen se al thi filthe.
38 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.
And Y schal deme thee bi the domes of auoutressis, and schedinge out blood;
39 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].
and Y schal yyue thee in to the blood of strong veniaunce, and of feruour. And Y schal yyue thee in to the hondis of hem, and thei schulen destrie thi bordel hous, and thei schulen destrie the place of thin hordom; and thei schulen make thee nakid of thi clothis, and thei schulen take awei the vessels of thi fairnesse, and thei schulen forsake thee nakid, and ful of schenschipe.
40 They will bring a mob to attack you, and that mob will throw stones at you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
And thei schulen bringe on thee a multitude, and thei schulen stoon thee with stoonys, and thei schulen sle thee with her swerdis.
41 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.
And thei schulen brenne thin housis with fier, and thei schulen make domes in thee, bifor the iyen of ful many wymmen; and thou schalt ceese to do fornicacioun, and thou schalt no more yyue hiris.
42 Then I will no longer be angry [DOU] with you. I will stop being jealous [because of your worshiping gods other than me only].
And myn indignacioun schal reste in thee, and my feruent loue schal be takun awei fro thee; and Y schal reste, and Y schal no more be wrooth,
43 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.
for thou haddist not mynde on the daies of thi yong wexynge age, and thou terridist me to ire in alle these thingis. Wherfor and Y yaf thi weies in thin heed, seith the Lord God, and Y dide not aftir thi grete trespassis, in alle these thin abhomynaciouns.
44 People who [like to] quote proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “[behave] like their mothers [behave].”
Lo! ech man that seith a prouerbe comynli, schal take it in thee,
45 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.
and schal seie, As the modir, so and the douytir of hir. Thou art the douyter of thi modir, that castide awey hir hosebonde and hir sones; and thou art the sister of thi sistris, that castiden a wei her hosebondis and her sones. Thi modir is Cetei, and thi fadir is Ammorrei;
46 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.
and thi gretter sister is Samarie, sche and hir douytris, that dwellen at thi left side; but thi sistir lesse than thou, that dwellith at thi riyt side, is Sodom, and hir douytris.
47 You not only imitated all [DOU] their detestable behavior, but you quickly became more sinful than they were.
But thou yedist not in the weies of hem, nethir thou didist aftir the grete trespassis of hem; hast thou do almest a litil lesse cursidere dedis than thei, in alle thi weies?
48 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.
Y lyue, seith the Lord God, for Sodom, thi sister, did not, sche and hir douytris, as thou didist, and thi douytris.
49 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.
Lo! this was the wickidnesse of Sodom, thi sister, pride, fulnesse of breed, and habundaunce, and idilnesse of hir, and of hir douytris; and thei puttiden not hond to a nedi man and pore.
50 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.
And thei weren enhaunsid, and diden other abhominaciouns bifore me; and Y took hem awei, as thou hast seyn.
51 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.
And Samarie synnede not the half of thi synnes, but thou hast ouercome hem in thi grete trespassis; and thou hast iustified thi sistris in alle thin abhomynaciouns, whiche thou wrouytist.
52 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].
Therfor and thou bere thi schenschipe, that hast ouercome thi sistris with thi synnes, and didist more cursidli than thei; for thei ben iustified of thee. Therfor and be thou schent, and bere thi schenschipe, which hast iustified thi sistris.
53 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.
And Y schal conuerte and restore hem by the conuersioun of Sodom with hir douytris, and bi the conuersioun of Samarie and of hir douytris; and Y schal conuerte thi turnyng ayen in the myddis of hem,
54 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.
that thou bere thi schenschipe, and be aschamed in alle thingis whiche thou didist, coumfortynge hem.
55 [The people of] Sodom and Samaria will prosper again, and you and the people in nearby cities will prosper also.
And thi sister Sodom and hir doytris schulen turne ayen to her eldnesse; and Samarie and hir douytris shulen turne ayen to her eeldnesse; and thou and thi douytris turne ayen to youre eldnesse.
56 You (sneered at/despised) [the people of] Sodom when you were proud,
Forsothe Sodom, thi sister, was not herd in thi mouth, in the dai of thi pride,
57 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.
bifore that thi malice was schewid, as in this tyme, in to schenschipe of the douytris of Sirie, and of alle douytris in thi cumpas, of the douytris of Palestyn that ben aboute thee bi cumpas.
58 And you are being punished for all your immoral behavior and other detestable things that you do.
Thou hast bore thi greet trespas, and thi schenschipe, seith the Lord God.
59 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.
For the Lord God seith these thingis, And Y schal do to thee as thou dispisidist the ooth, that thou schuldist make voide the couenaunt;
60 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.
and Y schal haue mynde on my couenaunt with thee in the daies of thi yongthe, and Y schal reise to thee a couenaunt euerlastynge.
61 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.
And thou schalt haue mynde on thi weies, and schalt be aschamed, whanne thou schalt resseyue thi sistris grettere than thou, with thi lesse sistris; and Y schal yyue hem in to douytris to thee, but not of thi couenaunt.
62 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].
And Y schal reise my couenaunt with thee, and thou schalt wite, that Y am the Lord, that thou haue mynde, and be aschamed;
63 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.’”
and that it be no more to thee to opene the mouth for thi schame, whanne Y schal be plesid to thee in alle thingis whiche thou didist, seith the Lord God.

< Ezekiel 16 >