Ezekiel 16
1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
2 Son of man, make clear to Jerusalem her disgusting ways,
Son of man, testify to Jerusalem [of] her iniquities;
3 And say, This is what the Lord has said to Jerusalem: Your start and your birth was from the land of the Canaanite; an Amorite was your father and your mother was a Hittite.
and thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord to Jerusalem; Thy root and thy birth are of the land of Chanaan: thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Chettite.
4 As for your birth, on the day of your birth your cord was not cut and you were not washed in water to make you clean; you were not salted or folded in linen bands.
And [as for] thy birth in the day wherein thou wast born, thou didst not bind thy breasts, and thou wast not washed in water, neither wast thou salted with salt, neither wast thou swathed in swaddling-bands.
5 No eye had pity on you to do any of these things to you or to be kind to you; but you were put out into the open country, because your life was hated at the time of your birth.
Nor did mine eye pity thee, to do for thee one of all these things, to feel at all for thee; but thou wast cast out on the face of the field, because of the deformity of thy person, in the day wherein thou wast born.
6 And when I went past you and saw you stretched out in your blood, I said to you, Though you are stretched out in your blood, have life;
And I passed by to thee, and saw thee polluted in thy blood; and I said to thee, [Let there be] life out of thy blood:
7 And be increased in number like the buds of the field; and you were increased and became great, and you came to the time of love: your breasts were formed and your hair was long; but you were uncovered and without clothing.
increase; I have made thee as the springing grass of the field. So thou didst increase and grow, and didst enter into great cities: thy breasts were set, and thy hair grew, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
8 Now when I went past you, looking at you, I saw that your time was the time of love; and I put my skirts over you, covering your unclothed body: and I gave you my oath and made an agreement with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.
And I passed by thee and saw thee, and, behold, [it was] thy time and a time of resting; and I spread my wings over thee, and covered thy shame, and swear to thee: and I entered into covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and thou becamest mine.
9 Then I had you washed with water, washing away all your blood and rubbing you with oil.
And I washed thee in water, and washed thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with oil.
10 And I had you clothed with needlework, and put leather shoes on your feet, folding fair linen about you and covering you with silk.
And I clothed thee with embroidered [garments], and clothed thee beneath with purple, and girded thee with fine linen, and clothed thee with silk,
11 And I made you fair with ornaments and put jewels on your hands and a chain on your neck.
and decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thine hands, and a necklace on thy neck.
12 And I put a ring in your nose and ear-rings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
And I put a pendant on thy nostril, and rings in thine ears, and a crown of glory on thine head.
13 So you were made beautiful with gold and silver; and your clothing was of the best linen and silk and needlework; your food was the best meal and honey and oil: and you were very beautiful.
So thou wast adorned with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and variegated work: thou didst eat fine flour, and oil, and honey, and didst become extremely beautiful.
14 You were so beautiful that the story of you went out into all nations; you were completely beautiful because of my glory which I had put on you, says the Lord.
And thy name went forth among the nations for thy beauty: because it was perfected with elegance, [and] in the comeliness which I put upon thee, saith the Lord.
15 But you put your faith in the fact that you were beautiful, acting like a loose woman because you were widely talked of, and offering your cheap love to everyone who went by, whoever it might be.
Thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst go a-whoring because of thy renown, and didst pour out thy fornication on every passer by.
16 And you took your robes and made high places for yourself ornamented with every colour, acting like a loose woman on them, without shame or fear.
And thou didst take of thy garments, and madest to thyself idols of needlework, and didst go a-whoring after them; therefore thou shalt never come in, nor shall [the like] take place.
17 And you took the fair jewels, my silver and gold which I had given to you, and made for yourself male images, acting like a loose woman with them;
And thou tookest thy fair ornaments of my gold and of my silver, of what I gave thee, and thou madest to thyself male images, and thou didst commit whoredom with them.
18 And you took your robes of needlework for their clothing, and put my oil and my perfume before them.
And thou didst take thy variegated apparel and didst clothe them, and thou didst set before them mine oil and mine incense.
19 And my bread which I gave you, the best meal and oil and honey which I gave you for your food, you put it before them for a sweet smell, says the Lord.
And [thou tookest] my bread which I gave thee, ([yea] I fed thee with fine flour and oil and honey) and didst set them before them for a sweet-smelling savour: yea, it was so, saith the Lord.
20 And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,
And thou tookest thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou borest, and didst sacrifice [these] to them to be destroyed. Thou didst go a-whoring as [if that were] little,
21 That you put my children to death and gave them up to go through the fire to them?
and didst slay thy children, and gavest them up in offering them to them for an expiation.
22 And in all your disgusting and false behaviour you had no memory of your early days, when you were uncovered and without clothing, stretched out in your blood.
This is beyond all thy fornication, and thou didst not remember thine infancy, when thou wast naked and bare, [and] didst live [though] defiled in thy blood.
23 And it came about, after all your evil-doing, says the Lord,
And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, saith the Lord,
24 That you made for yourself an arched room in every open place.
that thou didst build thyself a house of fornication, and didst make thyself a public place in every street;
25 You put up your high places at the top of every street, and made the grace of your form a disgusting thing, opening your feet to everyone who went by, increasing your loose ways.
and on the head of every way thou didst set up thy fornications, and didst defile thy beauty, and didst open thy feet to every passer by, and didst multiply thy fornication.
26 And you went with the Egyptians, your neighbours, great of flesh; increasing your loose ways, moving me to wrath.
And thou didst go a-whoring after the children of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh; and didst go a-whoring, often to provoke me to anger.
27 Now, then, my hand is stretched out against you, cutting down your fixed amount, and I have given you up to the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines who are shamed by your loose ways.
And if I stretch out my hand against thee, then will I abolish thy statutes, and deliver [thee] up to the wills of them that hate thee, [even to] the daughters of the Philistines that turned thee aside from the way wherein thou sinned.
28 And you went with the Assyrians, because of your desire which was without measure; you were acting like a loose woman with them, and still you had not enough.
And thou didst go a-whoring to the daughters of Assur, and not even thus wast thou satisfied; yea, thou didst go a-whoring, and wast not satisfied.
29 And you went on in your loose ways, even as far as the land of Chaldaea, and still you had not enough.
And thou didst multiply thy covenants with the land of the Chaldeans; and not even with these wast thou satisfied.
30 How feeble is your heart, says the Lord, seeing that you do all these things, the work of a loose and overruling woman;
Why should I make a covenant with thy daughter, saith the Lord, while thou doest all these things, the works of a harlot? and thou hast gone a-whoring in a threefold degree with thy daughters.
31 For you have made your arched room at the top of every street, and your high place in every open place; though you were not like a loose woman in getting together your payment.
Thou hast built a house of harlotry in every top of a way, and hast set up thine high place in every street; and thou didst become as a harlot gathering hires.
32 The untrue wife who takes strange lovers in place of her husband!
An adulteress resembles thee, taking rewards of her husband.
33 They give payment to all loose women: but you give rewards to your lovers, offering them payment so that they may come to you on every side for your cheap love.
She has even given rewards to all that went a-whoring after her, and thou hast given rewards to all thy lovers, yea, thou didst load them with rewards, that they should come to thee from every side for thy fornication.
34 And in your loose behaviour you are different from other women, for no one goes after you to make love to you: and because you give payment and no payment is given to you, in this you are different from them.
And there has happened in thee perverseness in thy fornication beyond [other] women, and they have committed fornication with thee, in that thou givest hires over and above, and hires were not given to thee; and [thus] perverseness happened in thee.
35 For this cause, O loose woman, give ear to the voice of the Lord:
Therefore, harlot, hear the word of the Lord:
36 This is what the Lord has said: Because your unclean behaviour was let loose and your body uncovered in your loose ways with your lovers and with your disgusting images, and for the blood of your children which you gave to them;
Thus saith the Lord, Because thou hast poured forth thy money, therefore thy shame shall be discovered in thy harlotry with thy lovers, and [with] regard to all the imaginations of thine iniquities, and for the blood of thy children which thou hast given to them.
37 For this cause I will get together all your lovers with whom you have taken your pleasure, and all those to whom you have given your love, with all those who were hated by you; I will even make them come together against you on every side, and I will have you uncovered before them so that they may see your shame.
Therefore, behold, I [will] gather all thy lovers with whom thou hast consorted, and all whom thou hast loved, with all whom thou didst hate; and I will gather them against thee round about, and will expose thy wickedness to them, and they shall see all thy shame.
38 And you will be judged by me as women are judged who have been untrue to their husbands and have taken life; and I will let loose against you passion and bitter feeling.
And I will be avenged on thee with the vengeance of an adulteress, and I will bring upon thee blood of fury and jealousy.
39 I will give you into their hands, and your arched room will be overturned and your high places broken down; they will take your clothing off you and take away your fair jewels: and when they have done, you will be uncovered and shamed.
And I will deliver thee into their hands, and they shall break down thy house of harlotry, and destroy thine high place; and they shall strip thee of thy garments, and shall take thy proud ornaments, and leave thee naked and bare.
40 And they will get together a meeting against you, stoning you with stones and wounding you with their swords.
And they shall bring multitudes upon thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and pierce thee with their swords.
41 And they will have you burned with fire, sending punishments on you before the eyes of great numbers of women; and I will put an end to your loose ways, and you will no longer give payment.
And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and shall execute vengeance on thee in the sight of many women: and I will turn thee back from harlotry, and I will no more give [thee] rewards.
42 And the heat of my wrath against you will have an end, and my bitter feeling will be turned away from you, and I will be quiet and will be angry no longer.
So will I slacken my fury against thee, and my jealousy shall be removed from thee, and I will rest, and be no more careful [for thee].
43 Because you have not kept in mind the days when you were young, but have been troubling me with all these things; for this reason I will make the punishment of your ways come on your head, says the Lord, because you have done this evil thing in addition to all your disgusting acts.
Because thou didst not remember thine infancy, and thou didst grieve me in all these things; therefore, behold, I have recompensed thy ways upon thine head, saith the Lord: for thus hast thou wrought ungodliness above all thine [other] iniquities.
44 See, in every common saying about you it will be said, As the mother is, so is her daughter.
These are all the things they have spoken against thee in a proverb, saying,
45 You are the daughter of your mother whose soul is turned in disgust from her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters who were turned in disgust from their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
As is the mother, so is thy mother's daughter: thou art she that has rejected her husband and her children; and the sisters of thy sisters have rejected their husbands and their children: your mother was a Chettite, and [your] father an Amorite.
46 Your older sister is Samaria, living at your left hand, she and her daughters: and your younger sister, living at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
Your elder sister who dwells on thy left hand is Samaria, she and her daughters: and thy younger sister, that dwells on the right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
47 Still you have not gone in their ways or done the disgusting things which they have done; but, as if that was only a little thing, you have gone deeper in evil than they in all your ways.
Yet notwithstanding thou hast not walked in their ways, neither hast thou done according to their iniquities within a little, but thou hast exceeded them in all thy ways.
48 By my life, says the Lord, Sodom your sister never did, she or her daughters, what you and your daughters have done.
[As] I live, saith the Lord, this Sodom and her daughters have not done as thou and thy daughters have done.
49 Truly, this was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, a full measure of food, and the comforts of wealth in peace, were seen in her and her daughters, and she gave no help to the poor or to those in need.
Moreover this was the sin of thy sister Sodom, pride: she and her daughters lived in pleasure, in fullness of bread [and] in abundance: this belonged to her and her daughters, and they helped not the hand of the poor and needy.
50 They were full of pride and did what was disgusting to me: and so I took them away as you have seen.
And they boasted, and wrought iniquities before me: so I cut them off as I saw [fit].
51 And Samaria has not done half your sins; but you have made the number of your disgusting acts greater than theirs, making your sisters seem more upright than you by all the disgusting things which you have done.
Also Samaria has not sinned according to half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine iniquities beyond them, and thou hast justified thy sisters in all thine iniquities which thou hast committed.
52 And you yourself will be put to shame, in that you have given the decision for your sisters; through your sins, which are more disgusting than theirs, they are more upright than you: truly, you will be shamed and made low, for you have made your sisters seem upright.
Thou therefore bear thy punishment, for that thou hast corrupted thy sisters by thy sins which thou hast committed beyond them; and thou hast made them [appear] more righteous than thyself: thou therefore be ashamed, and bear thy dishonour, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.
53 And I will let their fate be changed, the fate of Sodom and her daughters, and the fate of Samaria and her daughters, and your fate with theirs.
And I will turn their captivity, [even] the captivity of Sodom and her daughters; and I will turn the captivity of Samaria and her daughters; and I will turn thy captivity in the midst of them:
54 So that you will be shamed and made low because of all you have done, when I have mercy on you.
that thou mayest bear thy punishment, and be dishonoured for all that thou hast done in provoking me to anger.
55 And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will go back to their first condition, and Samaria and her daughters will go back to their first condition, and you and your daughters will go back to your first condition.
And thy sister Sodom and her daughters shall be restored as they were at the beginning, and thou and thy daughters shall be restored as ye were at the beginning.
56 Was not your sister Sodom an oath in your mouth in the day of your pride,
And surely thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the days of thy pride:
57 Before your shame was uncovered? Now you have become like her a word of shame to the daughters of Edom and all who are round about you, the daughters of the Philistines who put shame on you round about.
before thy wickedness was discovered, even now thou art the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all that are round about her, [even] of the daughters of the Philistines that compass thee round about.
58 The reward of your evil designs and your disgusting ways has come on you, says the Lord.
[As for] thine ungodliness and thine iniquities, thou hast borne them, saith the Lord.
59 For this is what the Lord has said: I will do to you as you have done, you who, putting the oath on one side, have let the agreement be broken.
Thus saith the Lord; I will even do to thee as thou hast done, as thou hast dealt shamefully in these things to transgress my covenant.
60 But still I will keep in mind the agreement made with you in the days when you were young, and I will make with you an eternal agreement.
And I will remember my covenant [made] with thee in the days of thine infancy, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant.
61 Then at the memory of your ways you will be overcome with shame, when I take your sisters, the older and the younger, and give them to you for daughters, but not by your agreement.
Then thou shalt remember thy way, and shalt be utterly dishonoured when thou receivest thine elder sisters with thy younger ones: and I will give them to thee for building up, but not by thy covenant.
62 And I will make my agreement with you; and you will be certain that I am the Lord:
And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord:
63 So that, at the memory of these things, you may be at a loss, never opening your mouth because of your shame; when you have my forgiveness for all you have done, says the Lord.
that thou mayest remember, and be ashamed, and mayest no more be able to open thy mouth for thy shame, when I am reconciled to thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord.
