EzekielChapter 16

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¹The word of the LORD came to me again. He said, ²"Son of man, face Jerusalem with her disgusting acts. ³Tell her, 'This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: You came from the land of the Canaanites. You were born there. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴On the day you were born, your cord was not cut. You were not washed with water to make you clean. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. ⁵No one cared enough about you to do even one of these things for you out of kindness. Instead, you were thrown out into an open field, because you were hated on the day you were born. ⁶Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there in your blood, I said to you, "Live!" Yes, I said to you, "Live!" ⁷I made you grow like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a young woman. You became very beautiful. Your breasts formed and your hair grew. But you were naked and bare. ⁸Then I passed by and saw you. You were old enough for love. So I spread my cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I made a promise to you. I made a covenant with you, and you became mine, says the Lord GOD. ⁹Then I bathed you with water. I washed off your blood. I rubbed you with oil. ¹⁰I dressed you in cloth with beautiful stitching. I gave you sandals made of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹I decorated you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck. ¹²I put a ring in your nose and earrings on your ears. I put a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³So you were decorated with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen, silk, and cloth with beautiful stitching. You ate fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You became very beautiful, and you rose up to be a queen. ¹⁴Your beauty made you famous among the nations. It was perfect because of the glory I had given you, says the Lord GOD. ¹⁵But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty. You acted like a prostitute. You gave yourself freely to everyone who passed by. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. ¹⁶You took some of your clothes and made colorful high places for yourself. There you acted like a prostitute. Such things should never have happened. They never should have taken place! ¹⁷You also took the fine gold and silver jewelry I had given you. You made male idols from it and acted like a prostitute with them. ¹⁸You took your clothes with beautiful stitching and covered the idols with them. You set my oil and my incense in front of them. ¹⁹You also set in front of them the food I had given you. You offered the fine flour, oil, and honey I had fed you, as a sweet smell to please them. That is what happened, says the Lord GOD. ²⁰You even took the sons and daughters you gave birth to for me. You sacrificed them as food for idols. Wasn't your prostitution bad enough? ²¹You killed my children. You gave them up to idols by passing them through the fire. ²²In all your disgusting acts and your prostitution, you did not remember when you were young. You did not remember when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your own blood. ²³How terrible! How terrible it will be for you, says the Lord GOD! On top of all your other wickedness, ²⁴you built yourself a mound. You made yourself a high shrine in every town square. ²⁵You built your high shrines at the start of every street. You made your beauty something shameful. You offered your body to everyone who passed by. You became more and more sinful in your prostitution. ²⁶You acted like a prostitute with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians. You kept doing more and more of it to make me angry. ²⁷So I stretched out my hand against you. I made your share of food smaller. I handed you over to the wishes of those who hate you. They were the daughters of the Philistines, and even they were ashamed of your filthy ways. ²⁸Then you acted like a prostitute with the Assyrians, because you still were not satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied. ²⁹So you spread your prostitution to Chaldea, the land of traders. But even this did not satisfy you! ³⁰How weak your heart is, says the Lord GOD! You do all these things. You act like a prostitute who has no shame! ³¹You built your mounds at the start of every street. You made your high shrines in every town square. But you were not even like a prostitute, because you refused to be paid. ³²You unfaithful wife! You take in strangers instead of your own husband! ³³Men give gifts to all their prostitutes. But you gave gifts to all your lovers. You paid them to come to you from everywhere to sleep with you. ³⁴So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. No one asked you to sleep with them. You paid a fee instead of getting paid. You are the very opposite! ³⁵So, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD! ³⁶This is what the Lord GOD says: You poured out your wealth. You showed your naked body as you slept around with your lovers and with all your disgusting idols. You gave them the blood of your children. ³⁷So I will surely gather all the lovers you enjoyed. I will gather all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around. I will strip you in front of them, and they will see you completely naked. ³⁸I will sentence you to the punishment given to women who commit adultery and to those who murder. I will bring on you the bloody punishment of my fury and jealousy. ³⁹Then I will hand you over to your lovers. They will knock down your mounds and tear down your high shrines. They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry. They will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰They will bring a mob against you. The mob will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹They will burn down your houses. They will punish you while many women watch. I will put an end to your prostitution. You will never pay your lovers again. ⁴²Then my fury against you will rest. My jealousy will turn away from you. I will be calm and no longer angry. ⁴³You did not remember the days when you were young. Instead, you made me furious with all these things. So I will surely bring what you have done down on your own head, says the Lord GOD. Didn't you add this filthy sin to all your other disgusting acts? ⁴⁴Look, everyone who uses sayings will use this one about you: 'Like mother, like daughter.' ⁴⁵You are truly your mother's daughter. She hated her husband and her children. You are truly a sister of your sisters. They hated their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. ⁴⁶Your older sister was Samaria. She lived with her daughters to the north of you. Your younger sister was Sodom. She lived with her daughters to the south of you. ⁴⁷You did not just follow their ways and do their disgusting acts. Soon you became even more evil than they were. ⁴⁸As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹This was the sin of your sister Sodom. She and her daughters were proud. They had too much food and felt safe and careless. They did not help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰They were proud and did disgusting things in front of me. So I removed them, as you have seen. ⁵¹Samaria did not commit even half of your sins. You have done far more disgusting things than they did. All the disgusting things you have done have made your sisters look righteous. ⁵²So now you must carry your disgrace, because you have made your sisters look better. They seem more righteous than you, because your sins were more evil than theirs. So you too must carry your shame and disgrace, because you have made your sisters look righteous. ⁵³But I will bring back Sodom and her daughters from captivity. I will also bring back Samaria and her daughters. And I will bring you back along with them.a ⁵⁴Then you will carry your disgrace. You will be ashamed of all you did, which made them feel better about themselves. ⁵⁵Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will go back to how they were before. You and your daughters will also go back to how you were before. ⁵⁶In the days when you were proud, didn't you make fun of your sister Sodom? ⁵⁷That was before your wickedness was uncovered. But now you are mocked by the daughters of Edom and all those around her. You are mocked by the daughters of the Philistines. All those around you hate you. ⁵⁸You will suffer for your filthy sins and your disgusting acts, says the LORD. ⁵⁹For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have treated your oath with contempt by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰But I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young. And I will make a covenant with you that will last forever. ⁶¹Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed. That will happen when you welcome your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters. But this will not be because of my covenant with you. ⁶²So I will set up my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD. ⁶³This is so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed. You will never open your mouth again because of your disgrace, says the Lord GOD."b