Ezekiel 16
16
God’s Love for Jerusalem
1Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, #Is. 58:1; Ezek. 20:4; 22:2cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your birth #Ezek. 21:30and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; #Gen. 15:16; Deut. 7:1; Josh. 24:15; Ezek. 16:45your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4As for your nativity, #Hos. 2:3on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were loathed on the day you were born.
6“And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7#Ex. 1:7; Deut. 1:10I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
8“When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; #Ruth 3:9; Jer. 2:2so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I #Gen. 22:16–18swore an oath to you and entered into a #Ex. 24:6–8covenant with you, and #(Ex. 19:5); Jer. 2:2; Ezek. 20:5; (Hos. 2:19, 20)you became Mine,” says the Lord God.
9“Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11I adorned you with ornaments, #Gen. 24:22, 47; Is. 3:19; Ezek. 23:42put bracelets on your wrists, #Gen. 41:42; Prov. 1:9and a chain on your neck. 12And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. #Deut. 32:13, 14You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly #Ps. 48:2beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14#Ps. 50:2; Lam. 2:15Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.
Jerusalem’s Harlotry
15#Deut. 32:15; Jer. 7:4; Mic. 3:11“But you trusted in your own beauty, #Is. 1:21; 57:8; Jer. 2:20; 3:2, 6, 20; Ezek. 23:11–20; Hos. 1:2played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16#2 Kin. 23:7; Ezek. 7:20; Hos. 2:8You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. 17You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. 18You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. 19Also #Hos. 2:8My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
20#2 Kin. 16:3; Ps. 106:37; Is. 57:5; Jer. 7:31; Ezek. 20:26“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, 21that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the #2 Kin. 17:17; Jer. 19:5; Ezek. 20:31; 23:37fire? 22And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your #Jer. 2:2; Hos. 11:1youth, #Ezek. 16:4–6when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.
23“Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God— 24that #Jer. 11:13; Ezek. 16:31, 39; 20:28, 29you also built for yourself a shrine, and #Ps. 78:58; Is. 57:7; Jer. 2:20; 3:2made a high place for yourself in every street. 25You built your high places #Prov. 9:14at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. 26You also committed harlotry with #Ezek. 16:26; 20:7, 8the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to #Deut. 31:20provoke Me to anger.
27“Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, #2 Chr. 28:18; Is. 9:12; Ezek. 16:57the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28You also played the harlot with the #2 Kin. 16:7, 10–18; 2 Chr. 28:16, 20–23; Jer. 2:18, 36; Ezek. 23:12; Hos. 10:6Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, #Ezek. 23:14–17Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.
30“How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.
Jerusalem’s Adultery
31#Ezek. 16:24, 39“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned #Is. 52:3payment. 32You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. 33Men make payment to all harlots, but #Is. 30:6; 57:9; Ezek. 16:41; Hos. 8:9, 10you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. 34You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”
Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her
35‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! 36Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of #Jer. 2:34; Ezek. 16:20the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37surely, therefore, #Jer. 13:22, 26; Lam. 1:8; Ezek. 23:9, 10, 22, 29; Hos. 2:10; 8:10; Nah. 3:5I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38And I will judge you as #Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22; Ezek. 23:45women who break wedlock or #Gen. 9:6; Ex. 21:12; Ezek. 16:20, 36shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. 39I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down #Ezek. 16:24, 31your high places. #Ezek. 23:26; Hos. 2:3They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40#Ezek. 23:45–47; Hab. 1:6–10“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, #John 8:5, 7and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. 41They shall #Deut. 13:16; 2 Kin. 25:9; Jer. 39:8; 52:13burn your houses with fire, and #Ezek. 5:8; 23:10, 48execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you #Ezek. 23:27cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. 42So #2 Sam. 24:25; Ezek. 5:13; 21:17; Zech. 6:8I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. 43Because #Ps. 78:42; Ezek. 16:22you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely #Ezek. 9:10; 11:21; 22:31I will also recompense your deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
44“Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ 45You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the #Ezek. 23:2–4sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; #Ezek. 16:3your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46“Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and #Deut. 32:32; Is. 1:10your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters. 47You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, #2 Kin. 21:9; Ezek. 5:6, 7you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48“As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither #Is. 3:9; Lam. 4:6; Matt. 10:15; 11:24; Rev. 11:8your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, #Gen. 13:10; Is. 22:13; Amos 6:4–6fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50And they were haughty and #Gen. 13:13; 18:20; 19:5committed abomination before Me; therefore #Gen. 19:24I took them away as I saw fit.
51“Samaria did not commit #Ezek. 23:11half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and #Jer. 3:8–11; Matt. 12:41have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done. 52You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53#Is. 1:9; (Ezek. 16:60)“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back #Jer. 20:16the captives of your captivity among them, 54that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when #Ezek. 14:22you comforted them. 55When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, 57before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the #2 Kin. 16:5; 2 Chr. 28:18; Is. 7:1; Ezek. 5:14, 15; 22:4reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and of #Ezek. 16:27the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. 58#Ezek. 23:49You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord. 59For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who #Ezek. 17:13despised #Deut. 29:12the oath by breaking the covenant.
An Everlasting Covenant
60“Nevertheless I will #Lev. 26:42–45; Ps. 106:45remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish #Is. 55:3; Jer. 32:40; 50:5; Ezek. 37:26an everlasting covenant with you. 61Then #Jer. 50:4, 5; Ezek. 20:43; 36:31you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for #Is. 54:1; 60:4; (Gal. 4:26)daughters, #Jer. 31:31but not because of My covenant with you. 62#Hos. 2:19, 20And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, 63that you may #Ezek. 36:31, 32; Dan. 9:7, 8remember and be ashamed, #Ps. 39:9; (Rom. 3:19)and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’ ”
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Ezekiel 16: NKJV
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The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Ezekiel 16
16
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:
2 "Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.
3 And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your root and your lineage is from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Cethite.
4 And when you were born, on the day of your nativity, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water for health, nor salted with salt, nor wrapped with cloths.
5 No eye took pity on you, so as to do even one of these things to you, out of compassion for you. Instead, you were cast upon the face of the earth, in the abjection of your soul, on the day when you were born.
6 But, passing by you, I saw that you were wallowing in your own blood. And I said to you, when you were in your blood: 'Live.' I tell you that I said to you, in your blood: 'Live.'
7 I multiplied you like the seedling of the field. And you were multiplied and became great, and you advanced and arrived at the ornament of a woman. Your breasts rose up, and your hair grew. And you were naked and full of shame.
8 And I passed by you and saw you. And behold, your time was the time of lovers. And I spread my garment over you, and I covered your disgrace. And I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.
9 And I washed you with water, and I cleansed you of your blood. And I anointed you with oil.
10 And I covered you with embroidery, and I put violet shoes upon you, and I wrapped you in fine linen, and I clothed you with delicate garments.
11 I adorned you with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands and a necklace around your neck.
12 And I put gold upon your face, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.
13 And you were adorned with gold and silver, and you were clothed in fine linen, woven with many colors. You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And you became very beautiful. And you advanced to royal power.
14 And your renown went forth among the Gentiles, because of your beauty. For you were perfected by my beauty, which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God.
15 But, having confidence in your own beauty, you fornicated in your fame. And you presented your fornication to every passer-by, so as to become his.
16 And taking from your garments, you made for yourself exalted things, having sewed together disparate pieces. And you fornicated upon them, in a way that has not been done before, nor will be in the future.
17 And you took your beautiful items, made of my gold and my silver, which I gave to you, and you made for yourself images of men, and you fornicated with them.
18 And you used your multicolored vestments to cover these things. And you placed my oil and my incense before them.
19 And my bread, which I gave to you, the fine flour, and the oil, and the honey, by which I nourished you, you placed in their sight as a sweet fragrance. And so it was done, says the Lord God.
20 And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore for me, and you immolated them to be devoured. Is your fornication a small matter?
21 You have immolated my sons, and you have consecrated and delivered my sons to them.
22 And after all your abominations and fornications, you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and full of shame, wallowing in your own blood.
23 And it happened that, after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you, says the Lord God)
24 you built for yourself a brothel, and you made for yourself a place of prostitution in every street.
25 At the head of every way, you set up a banner of your prostitution. And you caused your beauty to become abominable. And you distributed your feet to every passer-by. And you multiplied your fornications.
26 And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who have large bodies. And you multiplied your fornications, so as to provoke me.
27 Behold, I will extend my hand over you, and I will take away your justification. And I will give you to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way.
28 You also fornicated with the sons of the Assyrians, for you were not yet done. And after you fornicated, even then, you were not satisfied.
29 And you multiplied your fornications in the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans. And even then, you were not satisfied.
30 With what can I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, since you do all these things, the works of a woman who is a shameless prostitute?
31 For you have built your brothel at the head of every way, and you have made your exalted place on every street. And you have not even been like a choosy prostitute, increasing her price,
32 but instead like a woman who is an adulteress, who prefers strangers to her own husband.
33 Wages are given to all prostitutes. But you have given wages to all your lovers, and you have given gifts to them, so that they would enter to you from every side, in order to fornicate with you.
34 And it is done with you, in your fornications, contrary to the custom of women, and even after you, there will be no such fornication. For in as much as you have given payment, and not taken payment, what has been done in you is the contrary."
35 Because of this, O harlot, listen to the word of the Lord.
36 Thus says the Lord God: "Because your money has been poured out, and your disgrace has been uncovered, in your fornications with your lovers and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you gave to them:
37 Behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have united, and all those whom you have loved, together with all those whom you have hated. And I will gather them together against you on every side. And I will uncover your disgrace before them, and they will see all your indecency.
38 And I will judge you with the judgment of adulteresses and of those who shed blood. And I will give you over to blood, in fury and in zeal.
39 And I will deliver you into their hands. And they will destroy your brothel and demolish your place of prostitution. And they will strip you of your vestments. And they will take away the ornaments of your beauty. And they will leave you behind, naked and full of disgrace.
40 And they will lead over you a multitude. And they will stone you with stones, and massacre you with their swords.
41 And they will burn up your houses with fire, and they will carry out judgments against you in the sight of many women. And you will cease from fornication, and no longer give payment.
42 And my indignation will be quieted in you. And my zeal will be taken from you. And I will rest, and no longer be angry.
43 For you have not remembered the days of your youth, and you have provoked me in all these things. Because of this, I also have delivered all your ways upon your head, says the Lord God, but I have not acted in accord with your wickedness in all your abominations.
44 Behold, all who speak a common proverb will take this up against you, saying: 'Like the mother, so also is her daughter.'
45 You are your mother's daughter, for she cast away her husband and her children. And you are the sister of your sisters, for they cast away their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Cethite, and your father was an Amorite.
46 And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters are those who live to your left. But your younger sister, who lives to your right, is Sodom and her daughters.
47 But neither have you walked in their ways. For you have done only a little less compared to their wickedness. You have acted almost more wickedly, in all your ways, than they have acted.
48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom herself, and her daughters, have not done as you and your daughters have done.
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: arrogance, indulgence in bread and abundance, and the idleness of her and her daughters; and they did not reach out their hand to the needy and the poor.
50 And they were exalted, and they committed abominations before me. And so I took them away, just as you have seen.
51 But Samaria has not committed even half of your sins. For you have exceeded them in your wickedness, and you have justified your sisters by all your abominations, which you have wrought.
52 Therefore, you also bear your shame, for you have exceeded your sisters with your sins, acting more wickedly than they did. So they have been justified above you. By this also, you are confounded, and you bear your disgrace, for you have justified your sisters.
53 But I will convert and restore them, by converting Sodom with her daughters, and by converting Samaria and her daughters. And I will convert your return in their midst.
54 So may you bear your disgrace and be confounded over all that you have done, consoling them.
55 And your sister Sodom and her daughters will return to their ancient state. And Samaria and her daughters will return to their ancient state. And you and your daughters will be returned to your ancient state.
56 Your sister Sodom was not heard from your mouth, then, in the day of your pride,
57 before your malice was revealed, as it is at this time, with the reproach of the daughters of Syria and of all the daughters of Palestine, who surround you, who encircle you on every side.
58 You have borne your wickedness and your disgrace, says the Lord God."
59 For thus says the Lord God: "I will act toward you, just as you have despised the oath, so that you would make void the covenant.
60 And I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth. And I will raise up for you an everlasting covenant.
61 And you shall remember your ways and be confounded, when you will have received your sisters, your elder with your younger. And I will give them to you as daughters, but not by your covenant.
62 And I will raise up my covenant with you. And you shall know that I am the Lord.
63 So may you remember and be confounded. And it will no longer be for you to open your mouth, because of your shame, when I will have been pacified toward you over all that you have done, says the Lord God."
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