Jezekiel 16

1 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, testify to Jerusalem [of] her iniquities;

'Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and thou hast said:

3 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.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity [Are] of the land of the Canaanite, Thy father the Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite.

4 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.

As to thy nativity, in the day thou wast born, Thou — thy navel hath not been cut, And in water thou wast not washed for ease, And thou hast not been salted at all, And thou hast not been swaddled at all.

5 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.

No eye hath had pity on thee, to do to thee any of these, To have compassion on thee, And thou art cast on the face of the field, With loathing of thy person. In the day thou hast been born — thou!

6 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:

And I do pass over by thee, And I see thee trodden down in thy blood, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live, And I say to thee in thy blood, Live.

7 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.

A myriad — as the shoot of the field I have made thee, And thou art multiplied, and art great, And comest in with an excellent adornment, Breasts have been formed, and thy hair hath grown — And thou, naked and bare!

8 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.

And I pass over by thee, and I see thee, And lo, thy time [is] a time of loves, And I spread My skirt over thee, And I cover thy nakedness, And I swear to thee, and come in to a covenant with thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And thou dost become Mine.

9 And I washed thee in water, and washed thy blood from thee, and anointed thee with oil.

And I do wash thee with water, And I wash away thy blood from off thee, And I anoint thee with perfume.

10 And I clothed thee with embroidered [garments], and clothed thee beneath with purple, and girded thee with fine linen, and clothed thee with silk,

And I clothe thee with embroidery, And I shoe thee with badger's skin, And I gird thee with fine linen, And I cover thee with figured silk.

11 and decked thee also with ornaments, and put bracelets on thine hands, and a necklace on thy neck.

And I adorn thee with adornments, And I give bracelets for thy hands, And a chain for thy neck.

12 And I put a pendant on thy nostril, and rings in thine ears, and a crown of glory on thine head.

And I give a ring for thy nose, And rings for thine ears, And a crown of beauty on thy head.

13 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.

And thou dost put on gold and silver, And thy clothing [is] fine linen, And figured silk and embroidery, Fine flour, and honey, and oil thou hast eaten, And thou art very very beautiful, And dost go prosperously to the kingdom.

14 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.

And go forth doth thy name among nations, Because of thy beauty — for it [is] complete, In My honour that I have set upon thee, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

15 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.

And thou dost trust in thy beauty, And goest a-whoring because of thy renown, And dost pour out thy whoredoms On every passer by — to him it is.

16 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.

And thou dost take of thy garments, And dost make to thee spotted high-places, And dost go a-whoring upon them, They are not coming in — nor shall it be!

17 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.

And thou dost take thy beauteous vessels Of My gold and My silver that I gave to thee, And dost make to thee images of a male, And dost go a-whoring with them,

18 And thou didst take thy variegated apparel and didst clothe them, and thou didst set before them mine oil and mine incense.

And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them.

19 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.

And My bread, that I gave to thee, Fine flour, and oil, and honey, that I caused thee to eat. Thou hast even set it before them, For a sweet fragrance — thus it is, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.

20 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,

And thou dost take thy sons and thy daughters Whom thou hast born to Me, And dost sacrifice them to them for food. Is it a little thing because of thy whoredoms,

21 and didst slay thy children, and gavest them up in offering them to them for an expiation.

That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them?

22 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.

And with all thine abominations and thy whoredoms, Thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, When thou wast naked and bare, Trodden down in thy blood thou wast!

23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, saith the Lord,

And it cometh to pass, after all thy wickedness, (Woe, woe, to thee — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah),

24 that thou didst build thyself a house of fornication, and didst make thyself a public place in every street;

That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place.

25 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.

At every head of the way thou hast built thy high place, And thou dost make thy beauty abominable, And dost open wide thy feet to every passer by, And dost multiply thy whoredoms,

26 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.

And dost go a-whoring unto sons of Egypt, Thy neighbours — great of appetite! And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms, To provoke Me to anger.

27 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.

And lo, I have stretched out My hand against thee, And I diminish thy portion, And give thee to the desire of those hating thee, The daughters of the Philistines, Who are ashamed of thy wicked way.

28 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.

And thou goest a-whoring unto sons of Asshur, Without thy being satisfied, And thou dost go a-whoring with them, And also — thou hast not been satisfied.

29 And thou didst multiply thy covenants with the land of the Chaldeans; and not even with these wast thou satisfied.

And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan — toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied.

30 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.

How weak [is] thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman.

31 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.

In thy building thine arch at the head of every way, Thy high place thou hast made in every broad place, And — hast not been as a whore deriding a gift.

32 An adulteress resembles thee, taking rewards of her husband.

The wife who committeth adultery — Under her husband — doth receive strangers.

33 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.

To all whores they give a gift, And — thou hast given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And dost bribe them to come in unto thee, From round about — in thy whoredoms.

34 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.

And the contrary is in thee from women in thy whoredoms, That after thee none doth go a-whoring; And in thy giving a gift, And a gift hath not been given to thee; And thou art become contrary.

35 Therefore, harlot, hear the word of the Lord:

Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah,

36 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.

Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Because of thy brass being poured forth, And thy nakedness is revealed in thy whoredoms near thy lovers, And near all the idols of thy abominations, And according to the blood of thy sons, Whom thou hast given to them;

37 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.

Therefore, lo, I am assembling all thy lovers, To whom thou hast been sweet, And all whom thou hast loved, Besides all whom thou hast hated; And I have assembled them by thee round about, And have revealed thy nakedness to them, And they have seen all thy nakedness.

38 And I will be avenged on thee with the vengeance of an adulteress, and I will bring upon thee blood of fury and jealousy.

And I have judged thee — judgments of adulteresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy.

39 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.

And I have given thee into their hand, And they have thrown down thine arch, And they have broken down thy high places, And they have stript thee of thy garments, And they have taken thy beauteous vessels, And they have left thee naked and bare.

40 And they shall bring multitudes upon thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and pierce thee with their swords.

And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords,

41 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.

And burnt thy houses with fire, And done in thee judgments before the eyes of many women, And I have caused thee to cease from going a-whoring, And also a gift thou givest no more.

42 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].

And I have caused My fury against thee to rest, And My jealousy hath turned aside from thee, And I have been quiet, and I am not angry any more.

43 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.

Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, And dost give trouble to Me in all these, Lo, even I also thy way at first gave up, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, And I did not this thought for all thine abominations.

44 These are all the things they have spoken against thee in a proverb, saying,

Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother — her daughter!

45 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.

Thy mother's daughter thou [art], Loathing her husband and her sons, And thy sisters' sister thou [art], Who loathed their husbands and their sons, Your mother [is] a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

46 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.

And thine elder sister [is] Samaria, she and her daughters, Who is dwelling at thy left hand, And thy younger sister, who is dwelling on thy right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.

47 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.

And — in their ways thou hast not walked, And according to their abominations done, As a little thing it hath been loathed, And thou dost more corruptly than they in all thy ways.

48 [As] I live, saith the Lord, this Sodom and her daughters have not done as thou and thy daughters have done.

I live — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, Sodom thy sister hath not done — she and her daughters — As thou hast done — thou and thy daughters.

49 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.

Lo, this hath been the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Arrogancy, fulness of bread, and quiet ease, Have been to her and to her daughters, And the hand of the afflicted and needy She hath not strengthened.

50 And they boasted, and wrought iniquities before me: so I cut them off as I saw [fit].

And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.

51 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.

As to Samaria, as the half of thy sins — she hath not sinned, And thou dost multiply thine abominations more than they, And dost justify thy sisters by all thy abominations that thou hast done.

52 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.

Thou also — bear thy shame, That thou hast adjudged to thy sisters, Because of thy sins that thou hast done more abominably than they, They are more righteous than thou, And thou, also, be ashamed and bear thy shame, In thy justifying thy sisters.

53 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:

And I have turned back [to] their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of thy captives in their midst,

54 that thou mayest bear thy punishment, and be dishonoured for all that thou hast done in provoking me to anger.

So that thou dost bear thy shame, And hast been ashamed of all that thou hast done, In thy comforting them.

55 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.

And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, Do turn back to their former state, And Samaria and her daughters Do turn back to their former state, And thou and thy daughters do turn back to your former state.

56 And surely thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the days of thy pride:

And thy sister Sodom hath not been for a report in thy mouth, In the day of thine arrogancy,

57 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.

Before thy wickedness is revealed, As [at] the time of the reproach of the daughters of Aram, And of all her neighbours, the daughters of the Philistines, Who are despising thee round about.

58 [As for] thine ungodliness and thine iniquities, thou hast borne them, saith the Lord.

Thy devices and thine abominations, Thou hast borne them, an affirmation of Jehovah.

59 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.

For thus said the Lord Jehovah: I have dealt with thee as thou hast done, In that thou hast despised an oath — to break covenant.

60 And I will remember my covenant [made] with thee in the days of thine infancy, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant.

And I — I have remembered My covenant with thee, In the days of thy youth, And I have established for thee a covenant age-during.

61 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.

And thou hast remembered thy ways, And thou hast been ashamed, In thy receiving thy sisters — Thine elder with thy younger, And I have given them to thee for daughters, And not by thy covenant.

62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord:

And I — I have established My covenant with thee, And thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.

63 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.

So that thou dost remember, And thou hast been ashamed, And there is not to thee any more an opening of the mouth because of thy shame, In My receiving atonement for thee, For all that thou hast done, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah!'