Ezekiel 16:31–18:32
31 e“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your 2high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned fpayment. 32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. 33 Men make payment to all harlots, but gyou made your payments to all your lovers, and 3hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. 34 You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”
Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her
35 ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! 36 Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of hthe blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, iI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you as jwomen who break wedlock or kshed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. 39 I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down lyour 4high places. mThey shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40 n“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, oand they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. 41 They shall pburn your houses with fire, and qexecute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you rcease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. 42 So sI will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. 43 Because tyou did not remember the days of your youth, but 5agitated Me with all these things, surely uI will also recompense your 6deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked Than Samaria and Sodom
44 “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ 45 You are your mother’s daughter, 7loathing husband and children; and you are the vsister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; wyour mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46 “Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and xyour younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, yyou became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither zyour sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, afullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and bcommitted abomination before Me; therefore cI took them away as 8I saw fit.
51 “Samaria did not commit dhalf of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and ehave justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done. 52 You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53 f“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back gthe captives of your captivity among them, 54 that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when hyou comforted them. 55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the ireproach of the daughters of 9Syria and all those around her, and of jthe daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. 58 kYou have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord. 59 For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who ldespised mthe oath by breaking the covenant.
60 “Nevertheless I will nremember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish oan everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then pyou will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for qdaughters, rbut not because of My covenant with you. 62 sAnd I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may tremember and be ashamed, uand never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’ ”
17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, pose a riddle, and speak a aparable to the house of Israel, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
b“A great eagle with large wings and long pinions,
Full of feathers of various colors,
Came to Lebanon
And ctook from the cedar the highest branch.
4 He cropped off its topmost young twig
And carried it to a land of trade;
He set it in a city of merchants.
5 Then he took some of the seed of the land
And planted it in da fertile field;
He placed it by abundant waters
And set it elike a willow tree.
6 And it grew and became a spreading vine fof low stature;
Its branches turned toward him,
But its roots were under it.
So it became a vine,
Brought forth branches,
And put forth shoots.
7 “But there was 1another great eagle with large wings and many feathers;
And behold, gthis vine bent its roots toward him,
And stretched its branches toward him,
From the garden terrace where it had been planted,
That he might water it.
8 It was planted in 2good soil by many waters,
To bring forth branches, bear fruit,
And become a majestic vine.” ’
9 “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“Will it thrive?
hWill he not pull up its roots,
Cut off its fruit,
And leave it to wither?
All of its spring leaves will wither,
And no great power or many people
Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots.
Will it thrive?
iWill it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it?
It will wither in the garden terrace where it grew.” ’ ”
11 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 12 “Say now to jthe rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed kthe king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon. 13 lAnd he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, mand put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, 14 that the kingdom might be nbrought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. 15 But ohe rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, pthat they might give him horses and many people. qWill he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?
16 ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely rin the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. 17 sNor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, twhen they heap up a siege mound and build a 3wall to cut off many persons. 18 Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact ugave 4his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape.’ ”
19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely My oath which he despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will recompense on his own head. 20 I will vspread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and wtry him there for the 5treason which he committed against Me. 21 xAll his 6fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be yscattered to every wind; and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”
22 Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest zbranches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs aa tender one, and will bplant it on a high and prominent mountain. 23 cOn the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. dUnder it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. 24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, ehave brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; fI, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”
18 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, 2 “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying:
‘The afathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
3 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.
4 “Behold, all souls are bMine;
The soul of the father
As well as the soul of the son is Mine;
cThe soul who sins shall die.
And does what is lawful and right;
6 dIf he has not eaten 1on the mountains,
Nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor edefiled his neighbor’s wife,
Nor approached fa woman during her impurity;
7 If he has not goppressed anyone,
But has restored to the debtor his hpledge;
Has robbed no one by violence,
But has igiven his …