Ezekiel 16

Chapter 16.

16 ¹ The word of our Father came to me: ² "Son of man, make Jerusalem confront her detestable practices,

³ and say: This is what the Sovereign Father says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut, you were not washed with water to make you clean, you were not rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths. ¹ 1 v4 Newborns in that world were rubbed with salt and wrapped tightly to protect and strengthen them — this child was given none of that care. ⁵ No one looked on you with pity to do any of these things for you out of compassion; instead you were thrown out into the open field, despised on the day you were born.

⁶ Then I passed by you and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" Yes, as you lay in your blood I said to you, "Live!" ² 2 v6 When no one else wanted her, our Father spoke life over the abandoned child — his love, not her worth, is where the story begins. ⁷ I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and became tall and came to full beauty; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.

⁸ When I passed by you again and looked on you, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I gave you my solemn pledge and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Father, and you became mine. ³ 3 v8 Spreading one's garment over someone was an ancient betrothal gesture, claiming them as a spouse — the same act Ruth requests of Boaz in Ruth 3:9.

⁹ Then I washed you with water, rinsed the blood from you, and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you with embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather; I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with costly fabric. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck. ¹² I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

¹³ So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen, costly fabric, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You grew more and more beautiful and rose to be a queen. ¹⁴ Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, for it was made perfect by the splendor I had given you, declares the Sovereign Father.

¹⁵ But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to play the prostitute. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty became theirs. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful high places, and on them you played the prostitute. Such things should never happen — never! ⁴ 4 v16 'High places' were elevated outdoor shrines used for idol worship throughout Canaan and Israel.

¹⁷ You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver that I had given you, and you made for yourself male images, and with them you played the prostitute. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹ The food I gave you — the fine flour, oil, and honey I fed you — you set before them as a pleasing aroma. So it was, declares the Sovereign Father.

²⁰ And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and you sacrificed them to the idols as food. Was your prostitution not enough? ²¹ You slaughtered my children and gave them up, passing them through the fire to the idols.

²² In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.

²³ And after all your wickedness — how terrible, how terrible for you! declares the Sovereign Father — ²⁴ you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty platform in every public square. ²⁵ On every street corner you built your lofty platform and degraded your beauty, offering yourself to everyone who passed by and multiplying your prostitution. ²⁶ You played the prostitute with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your prostitution to provoke me to anger.

²⁷ So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory. I handed you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct. ²⁸ You played the prostitute with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; you played the prostitute with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹ So you multiplied your prostitution as far as the land of Babylon, the land of merchants, yet even with this you were not satisfied.

³⁰ How weak your heart is, declares the Sovereign Father, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute! ³¹ When you built your mound on every street corner and made your platform in every square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you refused payment.

³² You adulterous wife! You take strangers instead of your own husband. ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side for your prostitution. ³⁴ So in your prostitution you were the opposite of other women: no one chased after you for your favors. You paid out, but no one paid you; you were the very opposite.

The Father Sentences His Wayward Bride

³⁵ Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of our Father! ³⁶ This is what the Sovereign Father says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols and the blood of your children that you gave to them, ³⁷ therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and strip you bare before them, and they will see all your nakedness. ³⁸ I will sentence you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are sentenced, and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

³⁹ I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and demolish your lofty platforms. They will strip you of your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn down your houses and execute judgment on you in front of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.

⁴² Then my wrath against you will subside, and my jealousy will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.

⁴³ Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your own head what you have done, declares the Sovereign Father. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?

⁴⁴ Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: 'Like mother, like daughter.'

⁴⁵ You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. ⁴⁷ You not only followed their ways and imitated their detestable practices; in all your ways you soon became more corrupt than they were.

⁴⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Father, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

⁴⁹ Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and did detestable things before me. So I removed them when I saw it.

⁵¹ Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your detestable practices beyond theirs, and you have made your sisters appear righteous by all the things you have done. ⁵² Bear your disgrace, for you have given your sisters an excuse. Because your sins were more detestable than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

⁵³ Yet I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your fortunes along with them, ⁵⁴ so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort.

⁵⁵ Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. ⁵⁶ You would not even mention your sister Sodom in your days of pride, ⁵⁷ before your own wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors, and by the daughters of the Philistines — all those around you who despise you. ⁵⁸ You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares our Father.

The Father Restores His Everlasting Covenant

⁵⁹ This is what the Sovereign Father says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you despised my solemn oath by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁵ 5 v60 Even after every betrayal, our Father will not let the relationship end — he binds himself in an everlasting covenant, the same faithful love that reaches its fullness in Jesus. ⁶¹ Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those older and those younger than you. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you.

⁶² So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am your Father. ⁶³ Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed, and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Sovereign Father.