Thematic Bible
Thematic Bible
High places » The jews » Condemned for building
And after all your wickedness -- "Woe, woe to you! says the Lord God -- " You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passerby and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry. read more.
You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord!
You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord!
High places » Licentious practices at
You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passerby and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry. You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. read more.
Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations?
Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations?
Idolatry » The jews » Followed the assyrians in
You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot,
And Aholah played the harlot when she was Mine, and she was foolishly fond of her lovers and doted on the Assyrians her neighbors, Who were clothed with blue, governors and deputies, all of them attractive young men, horsemen riding upon horses. And she bestowed her harlotries upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them; and on whomever she doted, with all their idols she defiled herself.
Lasciviousness » Figurative
But you trusted in and relied on your own beauty and were unfaithful to God and played the harlot [in idolatry] because of your renown, and you poured out your fornications upon anyone who passed by [as you worshiped the idols of every nation which prevailed over you] and your beauty was his. And you took some of your garments and made for yourself gaily decorated high places or shrines and played the harlot on them -- "things which should not come and that which should not take place. You did also take your fair jewels and beautiful vessels of My gold and My silver which I had given you and made for yourself images of men, and you played the harlot with them; read more.
And you took your embroidered garments and covered them and set My oil and My incense before them. My bread also which I gave you -- "fine flour and oil and honey with which I fed you -- "you have even set it before the idols for a sweet odor. Thus it was, says the Lord God. Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed them [to your idols] to be destroyed. Were your harlotries too little, That you have slain My children and delivered them up, in setting them apart and causing them to pass through the fire for [your idols]? And in all your abominations and idolatrous whoredoms you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, rolling about in your natal blood. And after all your wickedness -- "Woe, woe to you! says the Lord God -- " You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passerby and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry. You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations? Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you: As is the mother, so is her daughter. You are your [spiritual] mother's daughter who loathed her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwelt in the north and at your left hand; and your younger sister who dwelt in the south and at your right hand is Sodom and her daughters. Yet you were not satisfied to walk after their ways or to do after their abominations, but very soon you were more corrupt in all your ways than they were [for your sin, as those taught of God, is far blacker than theirs]. As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit. Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins, but you have multiplied your [idolatrous] abominations more than they and have seemed to justify your sisters [Samaria and Sodom] in all their wickedness by all the abominable things which you have done -- "you even make them appear righteous in comparison with you. Take upon you and bear your own shame and disgrace [in your punishment], you also who called in question and judged your sisters, for you have virtually absolved them by your sins in which you behaved more abominably than they; they are more right than you. Yes, be ashamed and confounded and bear your shame and disgrace, you also, for you have seemed to justify your sisters and make them appear righteous. I will restore them again from their captivity, restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in the midst of them [in the day of the Lord], That you [Judah], amid your shame and disgrace, may be compelled to recognize your wickedness and be thoroughly ashamed and confounded at all you have done, becoming [converted and bringing] consolation and comfort to [your sisters.] And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. For was your sister Sodom not mentioned by you [except] as a byword in the day of your pride, Before your own wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become like her, an object of reproach and a byword for the daughters of Syria and of Edom and for all who are round about them and for the daughters of the Philistines -- "those round about who despise you. You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your [idolatrous] abominations, says the Lord. Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant;
And you took your embroidered garments and covered them and set My oil and My incense before them. My bread also which I gave you -- "fine flour and oil and honey with which I fed you -- "you have even set it before the idols for a sweet odor. Thus it was, says the Lord God. Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you have borne to Me, and you have sacrificed them [to your idols] to be destroyed. Were your harlotries too little, That you have slain My children and delivered them up, in setting them apart and causing them to pass through the fire for [your idols]? And in all your abominations and idolatrous whoredoms you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, rolling about in your natal blood. And after all your wickedness -- "Woe, woe to you! says the Lord God -- " You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passerby and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry. You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations? Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you: As is the mother, so is her daughter. You are your [spiritual] mother's daughter who loathed her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwelt in the north and at your left hand; and your younger sister who dwelt in the south and at your right hand is Sodom and her daughters. Yet you were not satisfied to walk after their ways or to do after their abominations, but very soon you were more corrupt in all your ways than they were [for your sin, as those taught of God, is far blacker than theirs]. As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters'; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit. Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins, but you have multiplied your [idolatrous] abominations more than they and have seemed to justify your sisters [Samaria and Sodom] in all their wickedness by all the abominable things which you have done -- "you even make them appear righteous in comparison with you. Take upon you and bear your own shame and disgrace [in your punishment], you also who called in question and judged your sisters, for you have virtually absolved them by your sins in which you behaved more abominably than they; they are more right than you. Yes, be ashamed and confounded and bear your shame and disgrace, you also, for you have seemed to justify your sisters and make them appear righteous. I will restore them again from their captivity, restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in the midst of them [in the day of the Lord], That you [Judah], amid your shame and disgrace, may be compelled to recognize your wickedness and be thoroughly ashamed and confounded at all you have done, becoming [converted and bringing] consolation and comfort to [your sisters.] And your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate; then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. For was your sister Sodom not mentioned by you [except] as a byword in the day of your pride, Before your own wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become like her, an object of reproach and a byword for the daughters of Syria and of Edom and for all who are round about them and for the daughters of the Philistines -- "those round about who despise you. You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your [idolatrous] abominations, says the Lord. Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant;
Lukewarmness » Figurative
O Ephraim, what shall I do with you?
O Judah, what shall I do with you?
For your [wavering] loyalty and kindness are [transient] like the morning cloud
And like the dew that goes away early.
“They bend their tongue like their bow;
[Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land;
For they proceed from evil to evil,
And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the Lord.
Their heart is divided (faithless);
Now they must bear their guilt and punishment.
The Lord will break down [the horns of] their altars;
He will destroy their idolatrous pillars.
You have not gone up into the gaps or breaches, nor built the wall around the house of Israel that it might stand in the battle on the day of the Lord.
“How weakened by longing and lust is your heart (mind),” says the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold and brazen prostitute.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘These people say, “The time has not come that the Lord’s house (temple) should be rebuilt.”’”
Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins? Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you. You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it. read more.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared. Go up to the hill country and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it]. You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it]. Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce. And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hill country, upon the grain, the fresh wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all the [wearisome] toil of [men's] hands.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared. Go up to the hill country and bring lumber and rebuild [My] house, and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, says the Lord [by accepting it as done for My glory and by displaying My glory in it]. You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it]. Therefore the heavens above you [for your sake] withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its produce. And I have called for a drought upon the land and the hill country, upon the grain, the fresh wine, the oil, upon what the ground brings forth, upon men and cattle, and upon all the [wearisome] toil of [men's] hands.
And now, I pray you, consider what will happen from this day onward. Since the time before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the Lord, how have you fared? Through all that time [the harvests have not fulfilled expectations, for] when one has gone expecting to find a heap [of sheaves] of twenty measures, there were but ten; when he has gone to the wine vat to draw out fifty bucketfuls from the press, there were only twenty.
I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!
Whoredom » The reward for whoredom
My son, be attentive to my Wisdom [godly Wisdom learned by actual and costly experience], and incline your ear to my understanding [of what is becoming and prudent for you], That you may exercise proper discrimination and discretion and your lips may guard and keep knowledge and the wise answer [to temptation]. For the lips of a loose woman drip honey as a honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil; read more.
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation], Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy, Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God] -- " And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me. [The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation and the community.
But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged and devouring sword. Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold of Sheol (Hades, the place of the dead). She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them. Now therefore, my sons, listen to me, and depart not from the words of my mouth. Let your way in life be far from her, and come not near the door of her house [avoid the very scenes of temptation], Lest you give your honor to others and your years to those without mercy, Lest strangers [and false teachings] take their fill of your strength and wealth and your labors go to the house of an alien [from God] -- " And you groan and mourn when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed, And you say, How I hated instruction and discipline, and my heart despised reproof! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers nor submitted and consented to those who instructed me. [The extent and boldness of] my sin involved almost all evil [in the estimation] of the congregation and the community.
‘Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not fall to prostitution and become full of wickedness.
Harlotry and wine and new wine take away the heart and the mind and the spiritual understanding. My people [habitually] ask counsel of their [senseless] wood [idols], and their staff [of wood] gives them oracles and instructs them. For the spirit of harlotry has led them astray and they have played the harlot, withdrawing themselves from subjection to their God.
All because of the multitude of the harlotries [of Nineveh], the well-favored harlot, the mistress of deadly charms who betrays and sells nations through her whoredoms [idolatry] and peoples through her enchantments. Behold, I am against you, says the Lord of hosts, and I will lift up your skirts over your face, and I will let the nations look on your nakedness [O Nineveh] and the kingdoms on your shame. I will cast abominable things at you and make you filthy, treat you with contempt, and make you a gazingstock. read more.
And all who look on you will shrink and flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will pity and bemoan her? Where [then] shall I seek comforters for you?
And all who look on you will shrink and flee from you and say, Nineveh is laid waste; who will pity and bemoan her? Where [then] shall I seek comforters for you?
For on account of a harlot a man is brought to a piece of bread, and the adulteress stalks and snares [as with a hook] the precious life [of a man]. Can a man take fire in his bosom and his clothes not be burned? Can one go upon hot coals and his feet not be burned?
That is to say, If a man puts away his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, will he return to her again? [Of course not!] Would not that land [where such a thing happened] be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot [against Me] with many lovers -- "yet would you now return to Me? says the Lord [or do you even think to return to Me?] Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see. Where have you not been adulterously lain with? By the wayside you have sat waiting for lovers [eager for idolatry], like an Arabian [desert tribesman who waits to plunder] in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your vile harlotry and your wickedness (unfaithfulness and disobedience to God). Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no spring rain. Yet you have the brow of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed.
And after all your wickedness -- "Woe, woe to you! says the Lord God -- " You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street. At every crossway you built your high place [for idol worship] and have made your beauty an abomination [abhorrent, loathsome, extremely disgusting, and detestable]; and you have made your body available to every passerby and multiplied your [idolatry and spiritual] harlotry. read more.
You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations? Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you: As is the mother, so is her daughter.
You have also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your neighbors, [by adopting their idolatries] whose worship is thoroughly sensuous, and you have multiplied your harlotry to provoke Me to anger. Behold therefore, I have stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ordinary allowance of food, and delivered you over to the will of those who hate and despise you, the daughters of the Philistines, who turned away in shame from your despicable policy and lewd behavior [for they are faithful to their gods]! You played the harlot also with the Assyrians because you were unsatiable; yes, you played the harlot with them, and yet you were not satisfied. Moreover, you multiplied your harlotry with the land of trade, with Chaldea, and yet even with this you were not satisfied. How weak and spent with longing and lust is your heart and mind, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of a bold, domineering harlot, In that you build your vaulted place (brothel) at the head of every street and make your high place at every crossing. But you were not like a harlot because you scorned pay. Rather, you were as an adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! Men give gifts to all harlots, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, bribing [the nations to ally themselves with you], that they may come to you on every side for your harlotries (your idolatrous unfaithfulnesses to God). And you are different [the reverse] from other women in your harlotries, in that nobody follows you to lure you into harlotry and in that you give hire when no hire is given you; and so you are different. Therefore, O harlot [Israel], hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God: Because your brass [coins and gifts] and your filthiness were emptied out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all the [filthy] idols of your abominations, and the blood of your children that you gave to them, Therefore behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved with all those whom you have hated; I will even gather them [the allies you have courted] against you on every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness [making you, Israel, an object of loathing and of mockery, a spectacle among the nations]. And I the Lord will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will bring upon you the blood of [your divine Husband's] wrath and jealousy. And I will also give you into the hand of those [your enemies], and they shall throw down your vaulted place (brothel) and shall demolish your high places [of idolatry]; they shall strip you of your clothes and shall take your splendid jewels and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and hew down and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you before the eyes of many women spectators [the nations]. And I will cause you to cease playing the harlot, and you also shall give hire no more. So will I make My wrath toward you to rest and My jealousy shall depart from you [My adulterous wife], and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not [earnestly] remembered the days of your youth but have enraged Me with all these things, therefore behold, I also will bring your deeds down on your own head, says the Lord God. Did you not commit this lewdness above and in addition to all your other abominations? Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you: As is the mother, so is her daughter.