Ezekiel 16

Expanded Bible

The Lord’s Kindness to Jerusalem

16 The ·Lord spoke his word [^Lword of the Lord came] to me, saying: ² “·Human [^TSon of man; 2:1], tell Jerusalem about her ·hateful [detestable; abominable] actions. ³ Say, ‘This is what the Lord God says to Jerusalem: Your ·beginnings [origin] and your ·ancestors [^Lbirth] were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. ⁴ On the day you were born, your cord [^Cumbilical cord] was not cut. You were not washed with water to clean you. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in ·cloths [^Tswaddling cloths; Luke 2:7, 12; ^Ctypical care for newborns in the ancient Near East]. ⁵ No ·one felt sorry enough for [^Leye took pity on] you to do any of these things for you. No, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were ·hated [detested; despised] on the day you were born.

⁶ “‘When I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, I said to you ·as you lay in your blood [^Lin your blood], “Live!”^{[a] 7} I made you ·grow [flourish] like a plant in the field. You grew up and ·became tall [or matured; developed] and ·became like a beautiful jewel [or entered puberty; reached womanhood]. Your breasts formed, and your hair grew, but you were naked and ·without clothes [bare; exposed].

⁸ “‘Later when I passed by you and looked at you, ·I saw that [^Tbehold] you were old enough for love. So I spread ·my robe [^Lthe corner of my garment; Deut. 22:30; Ruth 3:9] over you and covered your nakedness. I also ·made a promise [swore; made a vow] to you and entered into an ·agreement [covenant; treaty; Ex. 19:5] with you so that you became mine, says the Lord God.

⁹ “‘Then I bathed you with water, washed all the blood off of you, and ·put oil on you [anointed you with oil/ointment]. ¹⁰ I put ·beautiful clothes made with needlework [embroidered clothing] on you and put sandals of fine leather on your feet. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I put jewelry on you: bracelets on your arms, a ·necklace [chain] around your neck, ¹² a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful ·crown [tiara] on your head. ¹³ So you ·wore [were adorned with] gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen, silk, and ·beautiful needlework [embroidery]. You ate fine flour, honey, and olive oil. You were very beautiful and became ·a queen [royalty]. ¹⁴ Then ·you became famous [your fame spread] among the nations, because you were so beautiful. Your beauty was perfect, because of the ·glory [splendor] I gave you, says the Lord God.

Jerusalem Becomes a Prostitute

¹⁵ “‘But you trusted in your beauty. You used your fame to become a prostitute. You ·had sexual relations with [lavished sexual favors on] anyone who passed by. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes and made your ·places of worship [high places; 6:3] ·colorful [decorated; gaudy]. There you carried on your prostitution. ·These things should not happen; they should never occur [or You went to him and became his; or How could such a thing ever have happened? ^Cthe Hebrew here is obscure]. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful jewelry, made from my gold and silver I had given you, and you made for yourselves male idols so you could be a prostitute with them [2 Kin. 23:7]. ¹⁸ Then you took your ·clothes with beautiful needlework [embroidered clothing] and covered the idols. You gave my oil and incense as an offering to them. ¹⁹ Also, you took the ·bread [food] I gave you, the fine flour, oil, and honey I gave you to eat, and you offered them before the gods as a ·pleasing smell [fragrant incense]. This is what happened, says the Lord God.

²⁰ “‘But your ·sexual sins [acts of prostitution] were not enough for you. You also took your sons and daughters who ·were my children [you bore to me], and you sacrificed them to the idols as food. ²¹ You ·killed [slaughtered] my children and offered them up in fire to the idols [Lev. 18:21; 20:2; Deut. 12:31; 18:10; 2 Kin. 16:3; 21:6; 23:10; Jer. 32:35]. ²² While you did all your ·hateful [detestable; abominable] acts and ·sexual sins [prostitution], you did not remember ·when you were young [^Lthe days of your youth], when you were naked and had no clothes and were ·left [^Lkicking about] in your blood.

²³ “‘·How terrible [^LWoe]! ·How terrible it will be for you [^LWoe to you], says the Lord God. After you did all these evil things, ²⁴ you built yourself a ·place to worship gods [pagan shrine; or chamber; or mound]. You made for yourself a ·place of worship [lofty shrine; pavilion] in every city square. ²⁵ You built a place of worship at the ·beginning [head; corner] of every street. You made your beauty ·hateful [defiled; disgraced; detestable; an abomination], ·offering your body for sex [^Lspreading your legs] to anyone who passed by, ·so your sexual sins became worse and worse [multiplying your promiscuity/prostitution]. ²⁶ You also ·had sexual relations [engaged in prostitution] with the ·Egyptians [^Lsons of Egypt], who were your ·neighbors and partners in sexual sin [or well-endowed neighbors; or lusty neighbors]. Your ·sexual sins [prostitution; promiscuity] became even worse, and ·they caused me to be angry [provoked me to anger]. ²⁷ So then, [^Llook; ^Tbehold] I ·used my power [^Lstretched out my hand] against you and ·took away some of your land [reduced your boundaries; or cut off your rations]. I ·let you be defeated by [^Ldelivered you to the greed/desire of] ·those who hate you [your enemies], the Philistine ·women [^Ldaughters], who were ashamed of your ·evil ways [obscene/lewd behavior; ^Ceven the pagan Philistines were shocked at Israel’s outrageous sins]. ²⁸ Also, you ·had sexual relations [engaged in prostitution] with the Assyrians, because you could not be satisfied. Even though you ·had sexual relations [prostituted yourself] with them, you still were not satisfied. ²⁹ You ·did many more sexual sins [multiplied your prostitution/promiscuity] in ·Babylonia [^LChaldea], the land of ·traders [merchants], but even this did not satisfy you.

³⁰ “‘·Truly your will is weak [or How sick/feverish is your heart; or I am filled with anger against you], says the Lord God. You do all the things a ·stubborn [bold; brazen; shameless] prostitute does. ³¹ You built your ·place to worship gods [pagan shrines; or chambers; or mounds] at the ·beginning [head; corner] of every street, and you made ·places of worship [lofty shrines; pavilions; v. 24] in every city square. But you were not like a prostitute when you ·refused to accept [scorned; scoffed at] payment.

³² “‘You adulterous wife! You ·desire [prefer; receive] strangers instead of your husband. ³³ Men ·pay [or give gifts to] prostitutes, but you ·pay all [give gifts to] your lovers, bribing them to come to you. And they come from all around for ·sexual relations [your prostitution]. ³⁴ So you are ·different from [the opposite of] other prostitutes. No man ·asks [solicited] you to be a prostitute, and you pay money instead of having money paid to you. Yes, you are ·different [the opposite].

The Prostitute Is Judged

³⁵ “‘So, prostitute, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁶ This is what the Lord God says: You ·showed your nakedness [^Lpoured out your lust] and ·uncovered your body [^Lexposed your nakedness] in your ·sexual sins [prostitution; promiscuity] with your lovers and with all your ·hateful [detestable; abominable] idols. You killed your children and offered their blood to your idols. ³⁷ So [^Llook; ^Tbehold] I will gather all your lovers with whom you found pleasure. Yes, I will gather all those you loved and those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can see your nakedness [^Can act of humiliation and shame; Jer. 13:22, 26; Nah. 3:5]. ³⁸ I will punish you as women guilty of adultery or as ·murderers [^Lthose who shed blood] are punished. I will ·put you to death [^Lbring blood upon you; or avenge your bloody deeds] because I am angry and jealous. ³⁹ I will also ·hand you over to your lovers [^Lgive you into their hands]. They will tear down your ·places of worship [pagan shrines; chambers; mounds] and destroy ·other places where you worship gods [your lofty shrines; or pavilions; v. 24]. They will ·tear [strip] off your clothes and take away your beautiful jewelry, leaving you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They will bring a crowd against you to throw stones at you and to cut you into pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn down your houses and will ·punish you [execute judgments] in ·front [the sight of] of many women. I will put an end to your ·sexual sins [prostitution], and you will no longer ·pay [give gifts to] your lovers. ⁴² Then I will ·rest from [exhaust; satisfy] my ·anger [wrath] against you, and ·I will stop being jealous [^Lmy jealousy will turn away from you]. I will be ·quiet [calm] and not angry anymore.

⁴³ “‘Because you didn’t remember ·when you were young [^Lthe days of your youth], but have ·made me angry [enraged me] in all these ways, I will ·repay you for what you have done [^Lbring these ways upon your head], says the Lord God. Didn’t you add ·sexual sins [lewd acts; obscenities] to all your ·other acts which I hate [detestable practices; abominations]?

⁴⁴ “‘Everyone who uses ·wise sayings [proverbs] will say this about you: “·The daughter is like her mother [^LLike mother, like daughter].” ⁴⁵ You are ·like your mother [^Lthe daughter of your mother], who ·hated [detested; loathed] her husband and ·children [sons]. You are ·also like your sisters [^Lthe sister of your sisters], who ·hated [detested; loathed] their husbands and ·children [sons]. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite [v. 3]. ⁴⁶ Your older sister is Samaria, who lived north of you with her daughters; your younger sister is Sodom, who lived south of you with her daughters [Gen. 19; ^CSodom is a symbol of evil in Scripture; Deut. 29:23; 32:32; Is. 1:9–10; 3:9; Jer. 23:14; Lam. 4:6; Matt. 10:15; 11:23–24; Jude 7]. ⁴⁷ You not only ·followed [walked in] their ways and did the ·hateful [detestable; abominable] things they did, but you were ·soon worse [more corrupt/depraved] than they were in all your ways. ⁴⁸ As surely as I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.

⁴⁹ “‘This was the ·sin [iniquity; guilt] of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud and had plenty of food and lived in ·great comfort [secure ease], but she did not ·help [^Lstrengthen the hand of] the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ So Sodom and her daughters were ·proud [haughty] and did ·things I hate [detestable/abominable things] in front of me. So I ·got rid of [removed] them when I saw what they did. ⁵¹ Also, Samaria [^Cthe northern kingdom] did not do half the sins you do; you have done more ·hateful [detestable; abominable] things than they did. So you make your sisters ·look good [appear righteous] because of all the ·hateful [detestable; abominable] things you have done. ⁵² You will ·suffer [bear your] disgrace, because you have ·provided an excuse [^Linterceded with your sins] for your sisters. They ·are better [appear more righteous] than you are. Your sins were even more ·terrible [vile; abominable] than theirs. Feel ashamed and suffer disgrace, because you made your sisters ·look good [appear righteous].

⁵³ “‘But I will ·give back [restore] to Sodom and her daughters ·the good things they once had [their fortunes]. I will give back to Samaria and her daughters ·the good things they once had [their fortunes]. And with them I will also give back ·the good things you once had [your fortunes] ⁵⁴ so you may ·suffer [bear your] disgrace and feel ashamed for all the things you have done. You even gave comfort to your sisters in their sins. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to ·what they were before [their former status]. You and your daughters will also return to ·what you were before [their former status]. ⁵⁶ You ·humiliated [spoke contemptuously about; ^Lmade a byword in your mouth] your sister Sodom ·when you were proud [^Lin the day of your pride/majesty], ⁵⁷ before your ·evil [wickedness] was uncovered [exposed]. And now the Edomite ·women^[b] [^Ldaughters] and their neighbors ·humiliate [scorn] you. Even the Philistine women ·humiliate [scorn] you. Those around you ·hate [despise] you. ⁵⁸ ·This is your punishment [^LYou bear the penalty] for your ·terrible sins [lewdness] and for ·actions that I hate [your detestable practices/abominations], says the Lord.

God Keeps His Promises

⁵⁹ “‘This is what the Lord God says: I will ·do to you what you have done [give you what you deserve]. You ·hated [despised] and broke the ·agreement [covenant; treaty] you ·promised [swore; made an oath] to keep. ⁶⁰ But I will remember my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] I made with you ·when you were young [^Lin the days of your youth], and I will make an ·agreement [covenant; treaty] that will continue forever with you [Jer. 31:31–34]. ⁶¹ Then you will remember ·what you have done [your ways] and feel ashamed when you receive your sisters—both your older and your younger sisters. I will give them to you like daughters, but not because they share in my ·agreement [covenant; treaty] with you. ⁶² I will ·set up my agreement [establish my covenant/treaty] with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. ⁶³ You will remember what you did and feel ashamed. You will not open your mouth again because of your shame, when I ·forgive [make atonement for] you for all the things you have done, says the Lord God.’”