The Prophet Ezekiel

⭑ Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 16 -

Yahweh gave me another message. He said,

“Son of man, inform the people of Jerusalem about their detestable behavior.

Say to them, ’This is what Yahweh the Lord says to you people of Jerusalem: It is as though you are a woman whose father belonged to the Amor people group and your mother belonged to the Heth people group.

It is as though on the day that you were born, your umbilical cord was not cut, and your body was not washed in water or rubbed with salt and wrapped in strips of cloth, like Israelite babies always are.

No one pitied you or acted kindly toward you by doing those things for you. Instead, it was as though they hated you. As soon as you were born they threw you into a field to die.

Then it was as though I passed by and saw you lying in your own blood and kicking. And while you lay there kicking in your own blood, I said to you, “I want you to remain alive!”

It was as though I caused you to grow up, like plants in the field grow; you grew up and became tall and became like the most precious jewel of all. You developed into a beautiful woman, but you were still completely naked.

When I saw you several years later, it was as though I spread the cloth of my robe over you to symbolize that I would marry you, with the result that you were no longer naked. I solemnly promised that I would marry you and made a marriage agreement with you, and you became my wife.’ That is what Yahweh the Lord says.

And then it was as though I bathed you and washed the blood from you and put ointment on your body.

It was as though I put a fine linen robe on you and gave you expensive clothes. I put an embroidered dress on you and put leather sandals on your feet.

It was as though I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck. Those things all had nice jewels fastened to them.

I put a gold ring in your nose and fastened earrings to your ears and put a beautiful crown on your head.

So it was as though you wore gold and silver ornaments. You had clothes made from fine linen and other expensive fabrics, and an embroidered dress. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were the most beautiful woman and I made you into a queen.

You were very beautiful, with the result that people in other nations heard about you, because they knew that I, Yahweh the Lord, am the one who had caused you to become very beautiful.

But it was as though you forgot that I made you beautiful and started acting promiscuous with every man who came along, and they all enjoyed your beauty.

It was as though you took some of your clothes to make beautifully decorated high places, and that is where you slept with those men. Those things should certainly never occur!

You took the fine gold and silver jewelry that I gave you, and you made male idols for yourself, in order to sleep with them.

You took some of your embroidered clothes to put on those idols, and you burned oil and incense in front of them to honor them.

And the bread that was made from fine flour and the olive oil and honey that I gave to you to eat, you offered to be a fragrant sacrifice to those idols. I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that that is what happened.

And you even took your sons and daughters who were supposed to be committed to me and sacrificed and killed them as though they were less important than your becoming a prostitute.

You slaughtered those who were like my children, and offered them to be sacrifices to these false gods!

All during the time when you were acting like a prostitute and doing other detestable things, you did not think about the time when it was as though you were very young, naked, lying in your own blood and kicking in the field.

So I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that terrible things will happen to you. In addition to all the other wicked things that you did,

you built yourself a tall building in which you worship idols and you built a place to worship idols in every city square.

At the beginning of every street you built a tall building for the worship of idols, and showed people your beautiful body, offering it to sleep with every man who walked by, and so you were known as a prostitute and your fame for your immorality grew every day.

It was as though you had slept with men from Egypt who were eager to sleep with you, men who lived near Israel. You caused me to become very angry because you became more eager to sleep with more and more of them.

So I punished you and caused your enemies to capture some of your country. I enabled your greedy enemies from Philistia to defeat you; and even they were shocked because of your disgraceful behavior.

It was as though you slept with soldiers from Assyria, too, because you always wanted to sleep with more men. And after that, you still were not satisfied.

So you also slept with soldiers from Babylonia, a country full of merchants, but even that did not satisfy you.

I, Yahweh the Lord, declare that when you did all those things, acting like a bold prostitute, you were showing that you could not control your lust and would do anything, no matter how promiscuous, that you wanted to to satisfy your desires.

But when you built the houses on the hills to worship idols in every city square, you were not really like a prostitute because prostitutes charge money. You refused to take money for what you did!

You are like a woman who commits adultery: You prefer to sleep with strangers rather than with your husband.

Prostitutes are paid, but it is as though you give gifts to all your lovers; you bribe them to come to you from everywhere to sleep with you.

So although you act like you are a prostitute, you are actually the opposite of other prostitutes! Instead of them giving any money to you, you give men money to sleep with you!

Judgment on Jerusalem

Therefore, you people of Jerusalem, you, who are like a prostitute, listen to what Yahweh the Lord is saying about you!

He says that what you have done is as though you have lusted for everyone around you and had slept with them and with the male idols you made, so that you even made your own children to be sacrifices to them.

So what I am going to do is as though I will gather those who you think have loved you and those whom you hated. I will gather them around you to attack you, and what I will do is as though I will strip your clothes off you, and they will see you when you are completely naked.

I will punish you like women who commit adultery and who murder people are punished. I will get revenge on you and get rid of you because I am extremely angry with you.

I will allow your enemies who you thought loved you break apart your high places of idol worship and pagan altars. They will strip you naked and keep your clothes and jewelry, and abandon you with nothing to cover yourself with.

They will bring a mob to attack you, and that mob will throw stones at you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

They will burn down your houses and punish you while many women are watching. I will let them do this so that you will learn a lesson for acting so adulterously and for paying people to sleep with you.

Then I will no longer be angry with you. I will stop being jealous because your punishment will satisfy me.

You have forgotten the wonderful things that I did for you in previous years. You have caused me to become extremely angry because of all the evil things that you have done. In addition to all the other detestable things that you did, you committed many sexual sins. So I Yahweh the Lord declare that I will punish you for doing those things.

People who like to quote proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Daughters behave like their mothers behave.’

You are like your mother; it was as though she detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who also despised their husbands and their children. It was as though your father belonged to the Amor people group and your mother belonged to the Heth people group.

And it was as though your older sister was Samaria, and she and her daughters lived to the north of you, and it was as though your younger sister was Sodom, and her daughters lived to the south of you.

You not only imitated all their detestable behavior, but you quickly became more sinful than they were.

I, Yahweh the Lord, solemnly declare that as surely as I am alive, the people who lived in Sodom and other nearby cities never did the detestable things that you people in Jerusalem and other places in Judah have done.

These are the sins of the people who lived in Sodom, who were like your sister people among them: They were prideful and did not think they would ever be punished. They ignored poor and hurting people around them.

The people of Sodom and nearby cities were proud and did detestable things in my presence, so I got rid of them when I saw what they had been doing.

Also, the people of Samaria did not commit half as many sins as you commit. You have done more disgusting things than they have done. You cause the people of Samaria to appear to be good, compared to you.

Your sins are worse than their sins, so they seem to be less wicked than you are. So I will punish you more than I punished them. As a result, you will be ashamed and disgraced.

However, some day I will cause the people of Sodom and Samaria and the cities near to them to prosper again. And I will cause you to prosper again, too.

You will be very ashamed of the wicked things that you have done, and that will cause the people of those cities to be encouraged.

The people of Sodom and Samaria will prosper again, and you and the people in nearby cities will prosper also.

You sneered at the people of Sodom when you were proud,

before it was revealed that you were more wicked than she was. And now the people of Edom and the people of Philistia all insult you and despise you.

And you are being punished for all your immoral behavior and other detestable things that you do. This is what Yahweh is saying to you!

The Covenant Remembered

This is what I, Yahweh the Lord, say: I will continue to punish you like you deserve to be punished, because by rejecting the agreement that I made with you, you have despised that solemn agreement that you promised to obey.

But I will not forget the agreement that I made with you long ago and I will make an agreement with you that will endure forever.

Then you will think about what you have done, and you will be ashamed about those things when you welcome the people of Sodom and Samaria, cities which are like your daughters, but they will not have the same agreement that I will make with you.

I will establish my agreement with you, and you will know that I, Yahweh, have the power to do what I say that I will do.

Then when I have forgiven you for all your sins, you will think about all the sins that you committed and you will be ashamed. You will never again boast about them, because you will be humiliated.” I, Lord Yahweh, have said so!’ This is Lord Yahweh’s declaration.”

Again the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;

and say, ‘The Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.

As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all.

No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.

“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’

I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.

“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord GOD, “and you became mine.

“‘“Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.

I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate.

Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord GOD.

“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.

You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shouldn’t happen, neither shall it be.

You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them.

You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them.

My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so 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 these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

that you have slain my children and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?

In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.

“‘“It has happened after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you!” says the Lord GOD—

“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.

You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.

See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.

You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied.

You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.

“‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord GOD, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute;

in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

“‘“Adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!

People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution.

You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’

Judgment on Jerusalem

“Therefore, prostitute, hear the LORD’s word:

‘The Lord GOD says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them;

therefore see, 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 against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.

I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare.

They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.

They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more.

So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more.

“‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord GOD: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.

“‘“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’

You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes 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.

Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters.

Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

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, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

They were arrogant and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it.

Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.

You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

“‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them;

that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.

Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate.

For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,

before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around.

You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says the LORD.

The Covenant Remembered

“‘For the Lord GOD says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.

I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD;

that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord GOD.’”