Ezekiel
Chapter 16
1 God spoke to me again, saying,
2 Human, make Jerusalem aware of her wrongdoings.
3 Say, God tells Jerusalem: You were born in Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.
4 About your birth: when you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord, cleaned you with water, rubbed you with salt, or wrapped you in cloth.
5 No one felt sorry for you, to do these things for you, to show you kindness; but you were thrown out into the open field, hated, on the day you were born.
6 As I passed by you and saw you covered in your own blood, I told you to live, even though you were in your blood. Yes, I told you to live.
7 I have made you grow like a plant in the field, and you have grown large and become beautiful: your breasts have developed, and your hair has grown long, when before you were naked and had nothing.
8 When I saw you, I noticed it was time for love. I covered you with my cloak and hid your nudity. I promised you and made an agreement with you, says God, and you became mine.
9 I washed you with water; yes, I completely cleaned your blood off you, and I put oil on you.
10 I dressed you in embroidered clothes, and put shoes of fine leather on you, and wrapped you in fine linen, and draped you in silk.
11 I also gave you jewelry, put bracelets on your wrists, and a necklace around your neck.
12 I placed a jewel on your forehead, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
13 You were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were fine linen, silk, and embroidered fabric; you ate the best flour, honey, and oil: and you were very beautiful, growing into a powerful kingdom.
14 People everywhere talked about your beauty because it was perfect, thanks to the splendor I gave you, says God.
15 You trusted in your beauty and became a prostitute because of your fame, offering yourself to everyone who passed by.
16 You took your clothes to decorate your worship sites with different colors, and you acted like a prostitute there. Such things should not happen, nor should it continue.
17 You took the beautiful jewelry I gave you, made from my gold and silver, and made male idols to worship as gods.
18 You took your embroidered clothes and covered them with it, and you put my oil and incense in front of them.
19 I gave you good food to eat, like fine flour, oil, and honey, but you offered it to others as a sweet smell, says God.
20 You also took your sons and daughters, whom you had for me, and gave them to be eaten. Is this small thing part of your unfaithfulness?
21 You killed my children and made them pass through fire.
22 In all the wrong things you did and your unfaithfulness, you forgot your childhood days when you were naked and dirty.
23 After all your bad behavior, (oh, how terrible for you! says God;)
24 You have also made yourself a prominent place and set up a shrine on every street.
25 You have set up your worship places at every street corner, and made your beauty something disgraceful. You offered yourself to everyone who walked by, multiplying your unfaithfulness.
26 You also slept with the Egyptians, your large-bodied neighbors, and made your unfaithfulness worse, making me angry.
27 Look, I have reached out my hand against you, reduced your daily food, and handed you over to those who dislike you, the Philistines’ women, who are embarrassed by your bad behavior.
28 You also acted like a prostitute with the Assyrians, because you were never satisfied; indeed, you acted like a prostitute with them, and still you were not satisfied.
29 You also increased your unfaithfulness in Canaan and towards Chaldea; still, you were not satisfied.
30 How weak is your heart, says God, when you do all these things like a bossy prostitute.
31 You build your high spots at the top of every road and make your worship places on every street, yet you are not like a prostitute because you refuse payment.
32 Like a wife who cheats, who chooses others over her husband!
33 You give gifts to all prostitutes, but you give your presents to all your lovers and pay them to come to you from everywhere for your prostitution.
34 You are different from other women in your wrongdoing because no one follows you in it. You pay others instead of being paid, so you are opposite.
35 So, prostitute, listen to God’s message.
36 God says: Because you showed your dirtiness and were seen naked in your acts with your lovers, with all your disgusting idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them;
37 So, I will bring together all your lovers, the ones you enjoyed, and those you loved and hated. I’ll have them surround you and show them your nakedness, so they can see you completely exposed.
38 I will judge you like women who cheat in marriage and kill are judged; and I will punish you with bloody anger and jealousy.
39 I will let them capture you, and they will destroy your important places and tear down your worship sites. They will take off your clothes, steal your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and empty.
40 A group will also attack you, throw stones at you, and stab you with their swords.
41 They will burn your houses with fire, judge you in front of many women: I will make you stop being a prostitute, and you won’t pay for it anymore.
42 I will calm my anger towards you, and my jealousy will leave you. I will be peaceful and not angry with you anymore.
43 Because you did not remember your youth and made me unhappy with all this, I will make you pay for your actions, says God. And you will not do this shameful thing on top of all your other wrongs.
44 Look, everyone who speaks in sayings will say this about you: “Like the mother, so is her daughter.”
45 You are your mother’s daughter, hating your husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who also hated their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.
46 Your older sister is Samaria, with her daughters who live to your north; and your younger sister who lives to your south is Sodom, with her daughters.
47 You didn’t follow their ways or do their terrible things: but you acted as if that was nothing and became even more corrupt than them in all you do.
48 I am alive, says God. Your sister city, Sodom, and her daughters didn’t do what you and your daughters have done.
49 Look, the sin of your sister Sodom was pride, plenty of food, and too much free time, and her and her daughters had this, but they didn’t help the poor and those in need.
50 They were proud and did terrible things before me; so I removed them as I thought best.
51 Samaria hasn’t done even half of your sins; but you have done many more evil things than they did, and you made your sisters seem right by all the evil things you did.
52 You who judged your sisters must now face your own shame because the sins you did are worse than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, feel ashamed and bear your shame for making your sisters seem just by comparison.
53 When I restore the fortunes of Sodom and its towns, and of Samaria and its towns, I will also restore the fortunes of your captives among them.
54 So you can feel your own shame and be embarrassed by all that you have done, because you have been a comfort to them.
55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, go back to what they used to be, and Samaria and her daughters go back to what they used to be, then you and your daughters will also go back to what you used to be.
56 You did not talk about your sister city Sodom when you were proud.
57 Before your evil ways were exposed, like when you shamed the girls of Syria and everyone around them, including the girls of the Philistines who all look down on you.
58 You have carried your wickedness and your disgusting acts, says God.
59 God says, “I will treat you as you have acted, since you ignored the promise and broke the agreement.”
60 Even so, I will remember my promise to you from when you were young, and I will make with you a forever promise.
61 Then you will remember your actions and feel ashamed when you accept your older and younger sisters: I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your agreement.
62 I will make my promise with you; and you will understand that I am God.
63 So you will remember and feel ashamed, and never speak again because of your shame, when I forgive you for all you have done, says God.