Ezekiel 16:1-63 - God's Covenant Grace To Unfaithful And Rebellious Israel
1 Again the word of LORD came to me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says lord LORD to Jerusalem: Thy birth and thy nativity is from the land of the Canaanite. The Amorite was thy father, and thy mother was a Hittite. 4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou were born thy navel was not cut, nor were thou washed in water to cleanse thee. Thou were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 No eye pitied thee, to do any of these things to thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou were cast out in the open field. For thy person was abhorred, in the day that thou were born.
6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee weltering in thy blood, I said to thee, in thy blood, Live! Yea, I said to thee, in thy blood, Live! 7 I caused thee to multiply as that which grows in the field, and thou increased and grew great. And thou attained to excellent ornament, thy breasts were fashioned, and thy hair was grown. Yet thou were naked and bare.
8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore to thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, says lord LORD, and th 9 Then I washed thee with water. Yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. 10 I also clothed thee with embroidered work, and shod thee with badger skin. And I girded thee around with fine linen, and covered thee with silk. 11 And I decked thee with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 12 And I put a ring upon thy nose, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. 13 Thus thou were decked with gold and silver, and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. Thou ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And thou were very beautiful, and thou prospered to royalty. 14 And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty. For it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put upon thee, says lord LORD.
15 But thou trusted in thy beauty, and played the harlot because of thy renown, and poured out thy whoredoms on everyone who passed by; his it was. 16 And thou took of thy garments, and made high places for thee, decked with various colors, and played the harlot upon them, [things which] should not come, nor should it be. 17 Thou also took thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and made for thee images of men, and played the harlot with them. 18 And thou took thy embroidered garments, and covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 My bread also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and honey, with which I fed thee, thou even set it before them for a sweet savor, and [thus] it was, says lord LORD.
20 Moreover thou have taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou have borne to me, and thou have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Were thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 that thou have slain my children, and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through [the fire] to them? 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou have not remembered the days of thy youth when thou were naked and bare, and were weltering in thy blood.
23 And it has come to pass according to all thy wickedness, (woe, woe to thee! says lord LORD), 24 that thou have built thyself a vaulted place, and have made thee a lofty place in every street. 25 Thou have built thy lofty place at the head of every way, and have made thy beauty an abomination. And have opened thy feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied thy whoredom. 26 Thou have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, great of flesh, and have multiplied thy whoredom, to provoke me to anger.
27 Behold therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thy portion, and delivered thee to the will of those who hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28 Thou have played the harlot also with the Assyrians, because thou were insatiable. Yea, thou have played the harlot with them, and yet thou were not satisfied. 29 Thou have moreover multiplied thy whoredom to the land of traffic, to Chaldea, and yet thou were not satisfied with this.
30 How weak is thy heart, says lord LORD, seeing thou do all these things, the work of an impudent harlot, 31 in that thou build thy vaulted place at the head of every way, and make thy lofty place in every street. And have not [even] been as a harlot, in that thou scorn hire. 32 A wife who commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all harlots, but thou give thy gifts to all thy lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to thee on every side for thy whoredoms. 34 And thou are different from [other] women in thy whoredoms, in that none follows thee to play the harlot. And whereas thou give a wage, and no wage is given to thee, therefore thou are different.
35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of LORD. 36 Thus says lord LORD: Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness uncovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and because of all the idols of thy abominations, and for the blood of thy sons, that thou gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou have taken pleasure, and all those whom thou have loved, with all those whom thou have hated, I will even gather them against thee on every side. And I will uncover th 38 And I will judge thee, as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged. And I will bring upon thee the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thy vaulted place, and break down thy lofty places. And they shall strip thee of thy clothes, and take thy fair jewels, and they shall leave thee naked and bare. 40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. 41 And they shall burn thy houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women. And I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou shall also give no wage any more. 42 So I will cause my wrath toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will no more be angry. 43 Because thou have not remembered the days of thy youth, but have raged against me in all these things, therefore, behold, I also will bring thy way upon thy head, says lord LORD. And thou shall not commit this lewdness with all thi
44 Behold, everyone who uses proverbs shall use [this] proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45 Thou are the daughter of thy mother, who loathes her husband and her sons. And thou are the sister of thy sisters, who loathed their husbands and their sons. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at thy left hand, she and her daughters. And thy younger sister, who dwells at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet thou have not walked in their ways, nor done according to their abominations, but, like [it was] a very little [thing], thou were more corrupt than they in all thy ways.
48 As I live, says lord LORD, Sodom thy sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as thou have done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters, and she did not strengthen the hand of a poor and needy man. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away as I saw [fit]. 51 Neither has Samaria committed half of thy sins, but thou have multiplied thine abominations more than they, and have justified thy sisters by all thine abominations which thou have done. 52 Thou also, bear thou thine own shame, in that thou have given judgment for thy sisters, through thy sins that thou have committed more abominable than they. They are more righteous than thou. Yea, be thou also confounded, and bear
53 And I will turn back again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them, 54 that thou may bear thine own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that thou have done, in that thou are a comfort to them. 55 And thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57 before thy wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who do despite to thee round about. 58 Thou have borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, says LORD.
59 For thus says lord LORD: I will also deal with thee as thou have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. 60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant. 61 Then thou shall remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shall receive thy sisters, thine elder [sisters] and thy younger, and I will give them to thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with thee, and thou shall know that I am LORD, 63 that thou may remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou have done, says lord LORD.