Ezekiel 16

Chapter 16

Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

1 Then another message came to me from the LORD:2 “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins.3 Give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.4 On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth.

5 No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.
6 “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’7 And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.

8 And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
9 “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.10 I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather.11 I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,12 a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.13 And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were!

14 Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign LORD.
15 “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.16 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!18 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them.

19 Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign LORD.
20 “Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?21 Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?

22 In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.
23 “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness,24 you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.25 On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.26 Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.27 That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct.28 You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.

29 You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,t the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.
30 “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign LORD, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute.31 You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment.32 Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.33 Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you.

34 So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

35 “Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the LORD!36 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,t and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods,37 this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.38 I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.39 Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked.40 They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords.

41 They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.
42 “Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore.43 But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign LORD. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.44 Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

45 For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46 “Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south.47 But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption.48 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters.49 Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.

50 She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.t
51 “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you.

52 Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.
53 “But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too.54 Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.55 Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored.56 In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt.57 But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edomt and all her neighbors and by Philistia.

58 This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the LORD.
59 “Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.61 Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant.62 And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

63 You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”

EZEKIEL 16

Jerusalem Is Unfaithful

1 The [Lord] said:
2 Ezekiel, son of man, remind the people of Jerusalem of their disgusting sins

3 and tell them that I, the [Lord] God, am saying:
Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.t 4 When you were born, no one cut you loose from your mother or washed your body. No one rubbed your skin with salt and olive oil, t and wrapped you in warm blankets.

5 Not one person loved you enough to do any of these things, and no one even felt sorry for you. You were despised, thrown into a field, and forgotten.
6 I saw you lying there, rolling around in your own blood, and I couldn't let you die.

7 I took care of you, like someone caring for a tender, young plant. You grew up to be a beautiful young woman with mature breasts and hair, but you were still naked.

8 When I saw you again, you were old enough to have sex. So I covered your naked body with my own robe.t Then I solemnly promised that you would belong to me and that I, the [Lord] God, would take care of you.
9 I washed the blood off you and rubbed your skin with olive oil. 10 I gave you the finest clothes and the most expensive robes, t as well as sandals made from the best leather. 11 I gave you bracelets, a necklace, 12 a ring for your nose, some earrings, and a beautiful crown. 13 Your jewelry was gold and silver, and your clothes were made of only the finest material and embroidered linen. Your bread was baked from fine flour, and you ate honey and olive oil. You were as beautiful as a queen,

14 and everyone on earth knew it. I, the [Lord] God, had helped you become a lovely young woman.
15 You learned that you were attractive enough to have any man you wanted, so you offered yourself to every passerby.t 16 You made shrines for yourself and decorated them with some of your clothes. That's where you took your visitors to have sex with them. These things should never have happened!t 17 You made idols out of the gold and silver jewelry I gave you, then you sinned by worshiping those idols. 18 You dressed them in the clothes you got from me, and you offered them the olive oil and incense I gave you.

19 I supplied you with fine flour, olive oil, and honey, but you sacrificed it all as offerings to please those idols. I, the [Lord] God, watched this happen.
20 But you did something even worse than that—you sacrificed your own children to those idols! 21 You slaughtered my children, so you could offer them as sacrifices.

22 You were so busy sinning and being a prostitute that you refused to think about the days when you were young and were rolling around naked in your own blood.
23 Now I, the [Lord] God, say you are doomed! Not only did you do these evil things, 24 but you also built places on every street corner 25 where you disgraced yourself by having sex with anyone who walked by. And you did that more and more every day!

26 To make me angry, you even offered yourself to Egyptians, who were always ready to sleep with you.

27 So I punished you by letting those greedy Philistine enemies take over some of your territory. But even they were offended by your repulsive behavior.
28 You couldn't get enough sex, so you chased after Assyrians and slept with them. You still weren't satisfied,

29 so you went after Babylonians. But those merchants could not satisfy you either.
30 I, the [Lord] God, say that you were so disgusting that you would have done anything to get what you wanted.t 31 You had sex on every street corner, and when you finished, you refused to accept money. That's worse than being a prostitute! 32 You are nothing but an unfaithful wife who would rather have sex with strangers than with your own husband. 33 Prostitutes accept money for having sex, but you bribe men from everywhere to have sex with you.

34 You're not like other prostitutes. Men don't ask you for sex—you offer to pay them!

Jerusalem Must Be Punished

The [Lord] said:

39 Then I will hand you over to your lovers, who will tear down the places where you had sex. They will take your clothes and jewelry, leaving you naked and empty-handed.
40 Your lovers and an angry mob will stone you to death; they will cut your dead body into pieces

41 and burn down your houses. Other women will watch these terrible things happen to you. I promise to stop you from being a prostitute and paying your lovers for sex.
42 Only then will I calm down and stop being angry and jealous.

43 You made me furious by doing all these disgusting things and by forgetting how I took care of you when you were young. Then you made things worse by acting like a prostitute. You must be punished! I, the [Lord] God, have spoken.

Jerusalem's Two Sisters

The [Lord] said:

47 You followed their way of life and their wicked customs, and soon you were more repulsive than they were.
48 As surely as I am the living [Lord] God, the people of Sodom and its nearby villages were never as sinful as you. 49 They were arrogant and spoiled; they had everything they needed and still refused to help the poor and needy.

50 They thought they were better than everyone else, and they did things I hate. And so I destroyed them.
51 You people of Jerusalem have sinned twice as much as the people of Samaria. In fact, your evil ways have made both Sodom and Samaria look innocent.

52 So their punishment will seem light compared to yours. You will be disgraced and put to shame because of your disgusting sins.

Jerusalem Will Be Ashamed

The [Lord] said to Jerusalem:

55 When that day comes, you and Sodom and Samaria will once again be well-off, and all nearby villages will be restored.
56 Jerusalem, you were so arrogant that you sneered at Sodom. 57 But now everyone has learned how wicked you really are. The countries of Syria and Philistia, as well as your other neighbors, hate you and make insulting remarks.

58 You must pay for all the vulgar and disgusting things you have done. I, the [Lord], have spoken.

The [Lord] Makes a Promise //to Jerusalem

The [Lord] said: