Ezekiel 16
1 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,
Another message from the Lord came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, inform Jerusalem about her abominations,
“Son of man, challenge Jerusalem over her disgusting practices.
3 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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!”
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 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.
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 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.
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 So I washed you with water and rinsed your blood off you, and I anointed you with oil.
Then I washed you with water, cleaned off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
10 I dressed you in embroidered clothes and placed leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered 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 Next I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your hands, and a chain around your neck.
I gave you jewelry—I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
12 I put a nose ring in your nostrils and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown 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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
You also used the beautiful gold and silver jewelry I gave you to make male idols and you prostituted yourself with them.
18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set my oils and perfumes before them.
You used your embroidered clothes to dress them, and you placed before them my olive oil and incense.
19 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.
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 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?
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 You slaughtered my children to the idols and made them pass through the fire.
You slaughtered my children, sacrificing them to idols.
22 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.
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 Woe! Woe to you!—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—therefore, in addition to all this wickedness,
Disaster is coming! Disaster is coming on you, declares the Lord God. As well as all the other evil things you did,
24 you built yourself a vaulted chamber in every public place.
you built yourself a pagan shrine, a high place of idol worship on every public square in the city.
25 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.
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 You have acted like a prostitute with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and you committed many more acts of prostitution, provoking 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 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.
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 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.
Because you weren't satisfied you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians. But even then you weren't satisfied.
29 You performed many more acts of prostitution in the land of the merchants of Chaldea, and even this did not satisfy you.
So you took your promiscuous behavior to Babylonia, the country of merchants, but even then you weren't satisfied!
30 How sick is your heart—this is the Lord Yahweh's declaration—that you would do all these things, deeds of a shameless prostitute?
You're really sick-minded to do all this, acting like a prostitute with no shame, declares the Lord God.
31 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.
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 You adulterous woman, you accept strangers instead of your husband.
You're a wife that loves adultery! You sleep with strangers instead of your husband!
33 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.
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 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.
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, you prostitute, listen to the word of Yahweh.
So, you prostitute, listen to the message from the Lord!
36 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,
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 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.
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 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.
I will impose on you the punishment for women who commit adultery and those who murder; you will be punished in passionate anger.
39 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.
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 Then they will bring up a crowd against you and stone you with stones, and they will cut you apart 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 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.
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 Then I will calm my fury against you; my anger will leave you, for I will be satisfied, and will no longer be angry.
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 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?
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 Behold! Everyone who speaks proverbs concerning you will say, “As the mother is, so also is her daughter.”
Everyone who likes to use proverbs will quote this one about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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—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.
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 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.
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 She was arrogant and committed disgusting actions before me, so I took them away just as you have seen.
They became arrogant and did disgusting things in my presence. So I got rid of them when I saw this.
51 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!
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 Sodom your sister was not even mentioned by your mouth in the days when you were proud,
Didn't you mock your sister Sodom when you were feeling proud,
57 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.
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 You will show your shame and your disgusting actions!—this is Yahweh's declaration!
You will have to experience the consequences of your immorality and your disgusting practices, declares the Lord.
59 The Lord Yahweh says this: I will deal with you as you deserve, you who have despised your oath by breaking the 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 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.
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 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.
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 I myself will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am Yahweh.
This is how I will endorse my agreement with you, and you will know that I am the Lord,
63 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.'”
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.”
