Ezekiel 16

1 The Lord’s word came to me. 2 “Son of man, testify to Jerusalem about her lawless deeds.” 3 “Tell Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Your roots and birth are from Canaan. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.’” 4 “On the day you were born, your breasts were not bound, you were not washed with water or rubbed with salt, and you were not wrapped in cloths.” [c] 5 “My eye did not spare you enough to do any of these things for you or to feel anything for you. Because of the crookedness of your soul, you were thrown out into the open field on the day you were born.” [d] 6 “I passed by and saw you polluted in your blood. I told you, ‘From your blood comes life.’” 7 “Grow! I made you spring up like grass in a field. You grew and developed and entered great cities. Your breasts formed and your hair grew, though you were still naked and bare.” 8 “I passed by again and saw that your time had come, a time for rest. I spread my wings over you and covered your nakedness. I swore an oath and entered a covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.” [e] 9 “I washed you with water, cleansed the blood from you, and anointed you with oil.” 10 “I dressed you in embroidered clothing, put blue sandals on your feet, wrapped you in fine linen, and clothed you in silk.” 11 “I adorned you with jewelry, placing bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck.” 12 “I put a pendant in your nose, rings in your ears, and a glorious crown on your head.” 13 “You were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothing was fine linen, silk, and colorful embroidery. You ate fine flour, oil, and honey and became exceedingly beautiful.” 14 “Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, which was perfected by the splendor I placed on you, says the Lord.” 15 “But you trusted in your beauty and went whoring because of your fame, pouring out your whoring on everyone who passed by—a thing that should never be.” 16 “You took some of your clothing and made embroidered idols for yourself, then went whoring after them. Nothing like this should ever have happened.” 17 “You took the beautiful ornaments made from the gold and silver I gave you, made male images for yourself, and committed whoring with them.” 18 “You dressed them in your colorful clothing and placed my oil and incense before them.” 19 “You also placed before them as a pleasing smell the bread I gave you—the fine flour, oil, and honey I fed you. This is what happened, says the Lord.” 20 “You took the sons and daughters you bore and sacrificed them to those images to be destroyed. Was your whoring such a small thing” 21 “that you also slaughtered your children and gave them up to those images as an offering to turn away harm?” 22 “Throughout all your whoring, you did not remember your infancy, when you were naked and bare and lived polluted in your blood.” 23 “After all your wickedness, says the Lord,” [f] 24 “you built yourself a place for whoring and made a public place in every street.” 25 “At the head of every road you set up your whoring, defiled your beauty, opened yourself to everyone passing by, and multiplied your whoring.” 26 “You went whoring after your well-endowed Egyptian neighbors and multiplied your whoring to provoke me to anger.” 27 “But if I stretch out my hand against you, I will abolish your practices and hand you over to the desires of those who hate you—the daughters of the Philistines, who turned you from the way in which you were ungodly.” 28 “You went whoring after the daughters of Assyria, yet even then you were not satisfied. You went whoring and were still not satisfied.” 29 “You multiplied your covenants with the land of the Chaldeans, yet even with them you were not satisfied.” [g] 30 “How could I make a covenant with your daughter, says the Lord, while you do all these things—the work of a prostitute—and went whoring three times over with your daughters?” 31 “You built a place for whoring at the head of every road and set up your high place in every street. You became like a prostitute collecting her payments.” [a] 32 “The adulterous wife is like you; she takes payments from her own husband.” [b] 33 “She gave payments to all who went whoring after her, and you gave payments to all your lovers, pressing them to come to you from every side for your whoring.” 34 “Your whoring was the reverse of other women’s. Others did not pay you; you paid them. In this way you became perverse.” 35 “Therefore, prostitute, hear the Lord’s word.” 36 “This is what the Lord says: Because you poured out your money, your shame will be exposed in your whoring with your lovers, in all the devisings of your lawless deeds, and because of the blood of the children you gave them.” 37 “Look, I will gather all the lovers with whom you joined yourself—all whom you loved and all whom you hated. I will gather them against you from every side, expose your wickedness to them, and let them see all your shame.” 38 “I will punish you with the punishment of an adulteress and of a woman who sheds blood, and I will bring furious, jealous bloodshed against you.” 39 “I will hand you over to them. They will tear down your place for whoring, destroy your high place, strip off your clothing, take your splendid ornaments, and leave you naked and bare.” 40 “They will bring crowds against you, stone you, and pierce you with their swords.” 41 “They will burn your houses and execute punishment against you before many women. I will stop you from whoring, and you will no longer give payment.” 42 “Then my fury against you will subside, my jealousy will leave you, and I will rest and no longer be concerned about you.” 43 “Because you did not remember your infancy and grieved me through all these things, look, I have brought your conduct back on your own head, says the Lord. You practiced ungodliness beyond all your other lawless deeds.” 44 “This is all they say against you in a proverb: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’” 45 “You are your mother’s daughter, who rejected her husband and her children, and the sister of your sisters, who rejected their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.” 46 “Your older sister, who lives to your left, is Samaria with her daughters. Your younger sister, who lives to your right, is Sodom with her daughters.” 47 “You did not merely follow their ways and lawless deeds for a little while; you surpassed them in all your ways.” 48 “As I live, says the Lord, Sodom and her daughters did not do what you and your daughters have done.” 49 “This was your sister Sodom’s lawless deed: pride. She and her daughters lived in luxury, with plenty of bread and abundance of wine, but they did not help the poor and needy.” 50 “They boasted and committed lawless deeds before me, so I removed them when I saw what they had done.” 51 “Samaria did not commit even half your sins. You multiplied lawless deeds beyond your sisters and made them appear righteous by comparison with everything you did.” 52 “Now bear your punishment. You corrupted your sisters by sinning more lawlessly than they did, making them appear more righteous than you. Be ashamed and bear your dishonor because you made your sisters appear righteous.” 53 “I will restore Sodom and her daughters and Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore you among them.” 54 “Then you will bear your punishment and be dishonored for everything you did to provoke me.” 55 “Your sisters Sodom and Samaria and their daughters will be restored as they were at first, and you and your daughters will also be restored as you were at first.” 56 “In the days of your pride, you would not even mention your sister Sodom.” 57 “That was before your wickedness was exposed. Now the daughters of Syria, the surrounding peoples, and the daughters of the Philistines who encircle you hold you in contempt.” 58 “You have borne the consequences of your ungodliness and lawless deeds, says the Lord.” 59 “This is what the Lord says: I will do to you as you have done, because you despised these things and broke my covenant.” 60 “Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in your infancy and establish an everlasting covenant with you.” 61 “Then you will remember your conduct and be completely ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you for restoration, though not because of your covenant.” 62 “I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord.” 63 “Then you will remember and be ashamed. You will no longer be able to open your mouth because of your shame when I make atonement for you for everything you have done, says the Lord.”