Ezekiel 16:8-63

8“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, 1you were at the time for love; so I 2spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also 3swore to you and 4entered into a covenant with you so that you 5became Mine,” declares the Lord God. 9“Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you and 6anointed you with oil. 10I also clothed you with 7embroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11I adorned you with ornaments, put 8bracelets on your hands and a 9necklace around your neck. 12I also put a 10ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a 11beautiful crown on your head. 13Thus you were adorned with 12gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to 13royalty. 14Then your 14fame went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was 15perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

15“But you 16trusted in your beauty and 17played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by 18who might be willing. 16You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, 19which should never come about nor happen. 17You also took your beautiful 2021jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. 18Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. 19Also 22My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, 23you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God. 20“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to 24Me and 25sacrificed them to 26idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? 21You slaughtered 27My children and offered them up to 28idols by 29causing them to pass through the fire. 22Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of 30your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

23“Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God), 24that you built yourself a 31shrine and made yourself a 32high place in every square. 25You built yourself a high place at the top of 33every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. 26You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your 34lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to 35make Me angry. 27Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and diminished your rations. And I delivered you up to the desire of those who hate you, the 36daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd conduct. 28Moreover, you played the harlot with the 37Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

30“How 38languishing is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the actions of a 3940bold-faced harlot. 31When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in 41disdaining money, you were not like a harlot. 32You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 3342Men give gifts to all harlots, but you 43give your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from every direction for your harlotries. 34Thus you are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot 44as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different.”

35Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. 36Thus says the Lord God, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your detestable 45idols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to 46idols, 37therefore, behold, I will 47gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you 48hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and 49expose your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness. 38Thus I will 50judge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of 51wrath and jealousy. 39I will also give you into 52the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, 53strip you of your clothing, take away your 54jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. 40They will 55incite a 56crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41They will 57burn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will 58stop you from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer pay 59your lovers. 42So I 60will calm My fury against you and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be pacified and angry 61no more. 43Because you have 62not remembered the days of your youth but 63have 64enraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will 65bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.

44“Behold, everyone who quotes 66proverbs will quote this proverb concerning you, saying, ‘67Like mother, 68like daughter.’ 45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the 69sister of your sisters, who 70loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46Now your 71older sister is Samaria, who lives 72north of you with her 73daughters; and your younger sister, who lives 74south of you, is 75Sodom with her 76daughters. 47Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were 77too little, you acted 78more corruptly in all your conduct than they. 48As I live,” declares the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have 79not done as you and your daughters have done. 49Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had 80arrogance, 81abundant food and 82careless ease, but she did not 83help the 84poor and needy. 50Thus they were haughty and committed 85abominations before Me. Therefore I 86removed them 87when I saw it. 51Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus you have made your sisters appear 88righteous by all your abominations which you have committed. 52Also bear your disgrace in that you have 89made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted 90more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear righteous.

53“Nevertheless, I will restore their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and 91along with them 92your own captivity, 54in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel 93ashamed for all that you have done when you become 94a consolation to them. 55Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, 95will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. 56As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride, 57before your 96wickedness was uncovered, 97so now you have become the 98reproach of the daughters of 99Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines--those surrounding you who despise you. 58You have 100borne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations,” the Lord declares. 59For thus says the Lord God, “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have 101despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

60“Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an 102everlasting covenant with you. 61Then you will 103remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. 62Thus I will 104establish My covenant with you, and you shall 105know that I am the Lord, 63so that you may 106remember and be ashamed and 107never open your mouth anymore because of your humiliation, when I have 108forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares.