Ezekiel 16:1-43

1The Lord gave this message to me:

2‘Son of man, warn Jerusalem's people about the disgusting things that they do.

3Say to them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says to Jerusalem's people: You were born in the land of Canaan. That is where you came from. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.

4They did not take proper care of you on the day that you were born. They did not wash you properly. They did not cut your cord. They did not put salt or oil on your skin. They did not put cloths around you.

5Nobody was kind enough to do any of these things for you. Instead, they threw you out into a field. Nobody loved you on the day that you were born.

6Then I saw you as I went that way. You were lying there on the ground in your blood. You were trying to move. While you lay there, I said to you, ‘Stay alive.’

7I made you grow well, like the plants in a field. You became tall and beautiful, like a bright jewel. Your breasts grew and your hair became long. But you still had no clothes to cover your bare body.

8Later, I saw you again as I went that way. I saw that you had become a woman who was old enough to marry. So I covered your bare body with my coat. I promised to marry you. I made a covenant with you so that you became my wife. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

9Then I washed your body with water. I washed away the blood and I put sweet oil on your body.

10I put a beautiful dress on you. I put the best leather shoes on your feet. I dressed you with clothes made from linen and other expensive cloths.

11I put beautiful jewels on you. I put rings on your hands and a necklace around your neck.

12I put a gold ring in your nose. I put rings in your ears. And I put a beautiful crown on your head.

13I used gold and silver to make you beautiful. I gave you expensive clothes that were made of linen and other pretty cloth. I gave you good food to eat, flour, honey and olive oil. You became a very beautiful woman. You even became a queen.

14The people of other nations heard news about your beauty. That was because of all the good things that I had given you to make you very beautiful. That is what the Almighty Lord says.

15But you trusted your beauty to give you what you wanted. Because you were famous, you lived like a prostitute. You had sex with any man that you liked. They all enjoyed your beautiful body.

16You used some of your clothes to give honour to idols. You made their altars beautiful. You had sex with those men there on your beautiful cloths. Those things should never happen!

17You took your beautiful gold and silver rings and your jewels. You used them to make images of male idols for yourself. You worshipped them instead of me.

18You put your beautiful clothes on them. You gave them my oil and my incense as an offering.

19You also offered to those idols the food that I had given to you, the good flour, the olive oil and the honey. You wanted to please your idols with sweet smells. Yes, that is what happened! That is what the Almighty Lord says.

20You also offered your sons and your daughters as sacrifices to those idols. They were my children too! But you offered them as food to your idols. Like a prostitute, you were not faithful to me.

21But you did an even worse thing. You killed my children. You offered them as sacrifices to idols!

22You forgot what you were like when I first found you. At that time you had no clothes to cover your bare body. You lay on the ground in your own blood. You did not remember this. Instead, you chose to do disgusting things and live as a prostitute.

23Terrible trouble will come to you! That is what the Almighty Lord says. You did even more wicked things than these.

24In the public places of every town you built huts to worship your idols.

25You built these high places at the end of every street. There you made your beauty a disgusting thing. You offered your body to anyone who went past. Everyone knew that you were a prostitute.

26You had sex with the Egyptians, who lived near to you. They were ready to have sex with you at any time. So you lived as a prostitute more and more and you made me very angry.

27So I decided to punish you. I took from you things that belonged to you. I gave your enemies, the Philistines, power over you. Even they were ashamed because of the disgusting things that you were doing.

28You has sex with the Assyrians, too. You wanted more and more sex! You sold yourself to them, but you still wanted more

29You also had sex with the traders from Babylon. Like a prostitute, you sold yourself to more and more people. But they could still not make you happy.

30The Almighty Lord says this: Your mind no longer knows what is right. You do disgusting things, like a prostitute who is not ashamed.

31You built places to worship your idols on every street. You offered yourself to people, like a prostitute. But you did not want them to pay you anything, as a prostitute would do.

32You are like a wife who is not faithful. You want to have sex with strangers more than with your own husband!

33Prostitutes receive money when they have sex with someone. Instead, you give gifts to all the men who have sex with you. You pay them to come from many different places to have sex with you.

34Those men did not come and ask you to have sex with them. So you are different from other prostitutes. You paid money to those men. They did not pay money to you. So you are very different from those other women!

35So listen to Lord's message, you prostitute!

36This is what the Almighty Lord says: You wanted to have sex with many men. You offered your bare body to them, like a prostitute. You have worshipped disgusting idols. You have killed your own children as sacrifices to those idols.

37So listen to me! I will bring all those men that you had sex with. You liked some of them and you hated others. I will bring all of them to stand around you. Then I will remove all your clothes and they will all see your completely bare body.

38I will punish you as you deserve, because you are an adulteress and a murderer. I am very angry with you because you have not been faithful to me. So my punishment will destroy you.

39I will put you under the power of those men that you gave yourself to. They will destroy the places that you built for your idols. They will remove all your clothes. They will take your beautiful jewels. Then they will leave you with nothing, completely bare.

40They will bring a crowd of people to attack you. They will throw stones at you. They will cut you in pieces with their swords.

41They will use fire to destroy your houses. Many women will watch while those people punish you. I will stop you from having sex as a prostitute. You will no longer pay men to have sex with you.

42I will continue to punish you until I am no longer angry with you. I will not be upset or angry any more.

43The Almighty Lord says this: I am punishing you as you deserve for all the things that you have done. You have forgotten how I helped you when you were young. You have done many disgusting things and you have also lived like a prostitute.