Ezekiel 16
1 And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,
Another message from the Lord came to me, saying,
2 'Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and thou hast said:
“Son of man, challenge Jerusalem over her disgusting practices.
3 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.
Tell Jerusalem that this is what the Lord God says to her: You really are a Canaanite, both by your birth and parentage. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.
4 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.
On the day you were born your cord was not cut, and you weren't washed to clean you up, you weren't rubbed with salt, and you weren't wrapped in cloths.
5 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!
No one looked on you with love to do anything like this for you; no one showed any kind of care for you. No, you were thrown away in a field, abandoned and despised from the day you were born.
6 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.
But I passed by and saw you kicking, covered in your own blood. As you were lying there in your blood I told you, ‘I want you to live!’ I said to you right there, ‘I want you to live!’
7 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!
I help you to grow like a plant in the field. You grew up into a beautiful young woman. Your breasts developed and your body hair grew, and you were completely naked.
8 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.
When I passed by again, I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for lovemaking. So I spread my robe over you and covered up your naked body. I committed myself to you and made a solemn agreement with you, and made you mine, declares the Lord God.
9 And I do wash thee with water, And I wash away thy blood from off thee, And I anoint thee with perfume.
Then I washed you with water, cleaned off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
10 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.
I put a beautifully embroidered dress on you and gave you fine leather sandals. I clothed you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
11 And I adorn thee with adornments, And I give bracelets for thy hands, And a chain for thy neck.
I gave you jewelry—I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
12 And I give a ring for thy nose, And rings for thine ears, And a crown of beauty on thy head.
I put a ring in your nose and earrings on your ears, and placed a beautiful crown on your head.
13 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.
You wore gold and silver jewelry, and your clothes were made of the finest linen, expensive fabric, and embroidered cloth. You ate bread made with the best flour, and honey and olive oil. You grew even more beautiful and became a queen.
14 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.
You were famous around the world because of your beauty, for I used my majestic power to make you so wonderful, declares the Lord God.
15 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.
You were so proud of your beauty that you were unfaithful to me. You thought that because you were so famous you could prostitute yourself and sleep with anyone who passed by. They took your beautiful body for themselves.
16 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!
You made yourself colorful pagan shrines out of the clothes I'd given you, and there you acted as a prostitute. Things like this have never happened before, and they should never happen in the future!
17 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,
You also used the beautiful gold and silver jewelry I gave you to make male idols and you prostituted yourself with them.
18 And dost take the garments of thy embroidery, And thou dost cover them, And My oil and My perfume thou hast set before them.
You used your embroidered clothes to dress them, and you placed before them my olive oil and incense.
19 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.
You presented the food I had given you as an offering for them to accept —bread made from the best flour, olive oil, and honey that I had provided for you to eat. That's exactly what you did, declares the Lord God.
20 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,
You sacrificed your sons and daughters—the children you had for me—offering them as food for idols to eat. Wasn't your prostitution evil enough?
21 That thou dost slaughter My sons, And dost give them up in causing them to pass over to them?
You slaughtered my children, sacrificing them to idols.
22 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!
While you were busy with all your disgusting practices and your prostitution, you forgot about the time when you were young, completely naked and lying there kicking in your own blood.
23 And it cometh to pass, after all thy wickedness, (Woe, woe, to thee — an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah),
Disaster is coming! Disaster is coming on you, declares the Lord God. As well as all the other evil things you did,
24 That thou dost build to thee an arch, And dost make to thee a high place in every broad place.
you built yourself a pagan shrine, a high place of idol worship on every public square in the city.
25 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,
You made yourselves high places of idol worship at the top of every street; you degraded yourself, offering your beautiful body to anyone who passed by, opening your legs for them, becoming more and more promiscuous.
26 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.
You gave yourself as a prostitute to your Egyptian neighbors with their large sexual organs, making me angry as you became even more promiscuous.
27 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.
So I acted to reduce my blessings to you. I let your enemies the Philistines do what they wanted to you. Even they were embarrassed at your immorality.
28 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.
Because you weren't satisfied you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians. But even then you weren't satisfied.
29 And thou dost multiply thy whoredoms On the land of Canaan — toward Chaldea, And even with this thou hast not been satisfied.
So you took your promiscuous behavior to Babylonia, the country of merchants, but even then you weren't satisfied!
30 How weak [is] thy heart, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, In thy doing all these, The work of a domineering whorish woman.
You're really sick-minded to do all this, acting like a prostitute with no shame, declares the Lord God.
31 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.
Actually you weren't even a normal prostitute when you built yourselves pagan shrines at the top of every street and high places of idol worship on every public square—because you refused to be paid for your services!
32 The wife who committeth adultery — Under her husband — doth receive strangers.
You're a wife that loves adultery! You sleep with strangers instead of your husband!
33 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.
Normally all prostitutes are paid, but you were the one giving gifts to all your lovers. You even bribed them to come from all around and have sex with you.
34 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.
So you're the opposite of other prostitutes. No one comes to you asking for sex, and you pay the prostitute's fee instead of receiving it. You're the exact opposite!
35 Therefore, O whore, hear a word of Jehovah,
So, you prostitute, listen to the message from the Lord!
36 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;
This is what the Lord God says: Because you were so crazy with desire you stripped yourself naked and committed adultery with your lovers and with all your disgusting idols, and because you killed your children as sacrifices to those idols,
37 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.
I'm going to bring together all the lovers you went to bed with, whether you loved them or hated them, and I will have them gather from everywhere around and I will strip you as they watch so they will see you totally naked.
38 And I have judged thee — judgments of adulteresses, And of women shedding blood, And have given thee blood, fury, and jealousy.
I will impose on you the punishment for women who commit adultery and those who murder; you will be punished in passionate anger.
39 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.
Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will demolish your pagan shrines and destroy your high places of idol worship. They will strip you of your clothes, remove your beautiful jewelry, and leave you stark naked.
40 And have caused an assembly to come up against thee, And stoned thee with stones, And thrust thee through with their swords,
They will come with a mob to attack you. They will stone you and chop you into pieces with their swords.
41 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.
They will burn down your houses and punish you while many women watch. I will stop your prostitution, and you won't ever pay your lovers again.
42 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.
Then I will finish being jealous and furious with you. I will calm down and won't be angry any more.
43 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.
Since you didn't remember how I looked after you when you were young, but made me angry with all the things that you did, I will make sure you experience the results of what you've done, declares the Lord God. For this immorality was in addition to all the other disgusting things you did, wasn't it?
44 Lo, every one using a simile, Doth use a simile concerning thee, saying: As the mother — her daughter!
Everyone who likes to use proverbs will quote this one about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45 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.
You are the daughter of your mother who detested her husband and children. You are just like her! You are the sister of your sisters, just like them who detested their husbands and children. In fact your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.
46 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.
Your older sister was Samaria, who lived north of you with her daughters. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived south of you with her daughters.
47 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.
You didn't just follow their ways and do the same disgusting things they did, you very quickly became even worse than them.
48 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.
As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters didn't ever do what you and your daughters have done.
49 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.
The sins of your sister Sodom were these: She and her daughters were proud, greedy, and lazy. They didn't help the poor and those in need.
50 And they are haughty and do abomination before Me, And I turn them aside when I have seen.
They became arrogant and did disgusting things in my presence. So I got rid of them when I saw this.
51 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.
Samaria didn't sin half as badly as you did. You have done far more disgusting things than they did. In fact, all the revolting things you've done make your sisters look good!
52 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.
Now you're going to have to put up with your shame, since by your disgraceful sins you made them seem far better. Compared to you they look good! Now you too have to put up with your shame and disgrace because you've made your sisters look as if they were good.
53 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,
Even so I'm going to bring Sodom and her daughters back from exile, and Samaria and her daughters too. I will bring you back together with them.
54 So that thou dost bear thy shame, And hast been ashamed of all that thou hast done, In thy comforting them.
In this way you will have to put up with your disgrace and be ashamed of all the bad things you did that made them feel better about themselves.
55 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.
Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will be restored to what they were before. You and your daughters will also be restored to what you were before.
56 And thy sister Sodom hath not been for a report in thy mouth, In the day of thine arrogancy,
Didn't you mock your sister Sodom when you were feeling proud,
57 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.
before you were shown to be so wicked yourselves? Of course now you are mocked by the Edomites and the surrounding nations, as well as by the Philistines. Everyone around you looks down on you.
58 Thy devices and thine abominations, Thou hast borne them, an affirmation of Jehovah.
You will have to experience the consequences of your immorality and your disgusting practices, declares the Lord.
59 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.
This is what the Lord God says: I'm going to punish you according to your sins, because you treated the promise you made with contempt by breaking the agreement.
60 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.
But I won't forget the agreement I made with you when you were young, and I will make an everlasting agreement with you.
61 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.
Then you will remember the way you are meant to live and be ashamed when you meet your older and younger sisters when they return to you. I will give them to you as daughters, even though this was not part of our original agreement.
62 And I — I have established My covenant with thee, And thou hast known that I [am] Jehovah.
This is how I will endorse my agreement with you, and you will know that I am the Lord,
63 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!'
so that you will remember and be ashamed, and won't ever defend your disgraceful behavior when I forgive you for everything you've done, declares the Lord God.”
