Ezekiel 16:15–34

¹⁵“But you took advantage of your beauty and fame to sleep with everyone who came along.^{c 16}You used some of your clothes to decorate your places of worship, and just like a prostitute,^d you gave yourself to everyone. ¹⁷You took the silver and gold jewellery that I had given you, used it to make male images, and committed adultery with them. ¹⁸You took the embroidered clothes I gave you and put them on the images, and you offered to the images the olive oil and incense I had given you. ¹⁹I gave you food—the best flour, olive oil, and honey—but you offered it as a sacrifice to win the favour of idols.” This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

²⁰“Then you took the sons and the daughters you had borne me and offered them as sacrifices to idols. Wasn’t it bad enough to be unfaithful to me, ²¹without taking my children and sacrificing them to idols? ²²During your disgusting life as a prostitute you never once remembered your childhood—when you were naked, squirming in your own blood.”

Jerusalem’s Life as a Prostitute

²³The Sovereign Lord said, “You are doomed! Doomed! You did all that evil, and then ²⁴by the side of every road you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. ²⁵You dragged your beauty through the mud. You offered yourself to everyone who came by, and you were more of a prostitute every day. ²⁶You let your lustful neighbours, the Egyptians, go to bed with you, and you used your prostitution to make me angry.

²⁷“Now I have raised my hand to punish you and to take away your share of my blessing. I have handed you over to the Philistines, who hate you and are disgusted with your immoral actions.

²⁸“Because you were not satisfied by the others, you went running after the Assyrians. You were their prostitute, but they didn’t satisfy you either. ²⁹You were also a prostitute for the Babylonians, that nation of merchants, but they didn’t satisfy you either.”

^30e This is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: “You have done all this like a shameless prostitute. ³¹On every street you built places to worship idols and practice prostitution. But you are not out for money like a common prostitute. ³²You are like a woman who commits adultery with strangers instead of loving her husband. ³³A prostitute is paid, but you gave presents to all your lovers and bribed them to come from everywhere to sleep with you. ³⁴You are a special kind of prostitute. No one forced you to become one. You didn’t get paid; you paid them! Yes, you are different.”