The City Will Not Be Spared

¹² Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹³ “Son of man, if a country sins against Me by ^(A)being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, ^[a]destroy its ^(B)supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life, ¹⁴ even ^(C)though these three men, ^(D)Noah, ^(E)Daniel, and ^(F)Job were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save ^(G)themselves,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ “If I were to cause ^(H)vicious animals to pass through the land and they ^[b]depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the animals, ¹⁶ though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters. ^(I)They alone would be saved, but the country would be desolate. ¹⁷ Or if I were to ^(J)bring a sword on that country and say, ‘A sword is to pass through the country,’ and I ^(K)eliminated human and animal life from it, ¹⁸ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved. ¹⁹ Or if I were to send a ^(L)plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it, ²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live,” declares the Lord God, “they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For this is what the Lord God says: “How much more when ^(M)I send My four ^[c]severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it! ²² Yet, behold, ^[d]survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come out to you, and you will ^(N)see their conduct and actions; then you will be ^(O)comforted for the disaster which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it. ²³ Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done ^(P)without reason whatever I did ^[e]to it,” declares the Lord God.

Jerusalem like a Useless Vine

15 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^[f]how is the wood of the ^(Q)vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³ Can wood be taken from it to make ^[g]anything, or can even a peg be taken from it on which to hang any utensil? ⁴ If it has been put into the ^(R)fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and its middle part has been charred, is it then good for ^[h]anything? ⁵ Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into ^[i]anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into ^[j]anything! ⁶ Therefore, this is what the Lord ^[k]God says: ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁷ and I ^(S)set My face against them. Though they have ^(T)come out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. ⁸ So I will make the land desolate, because they have ^(U)acted unfaithfully,’” declares the Lord God.

God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

16 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(V)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³ and say, ‘This is what the Lord ^[l]God says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your birth, ^(W)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. ⁵ No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ^[m](X)open field, ^[n]for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

⁶ “When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ ⁷ I ^(Y)made you ^[o]very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

⁸ “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, ^[p]you were at the time for love; so I ^(Z)spread My ^[q]garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^(AA)swore an oath to you and ^(AB)entered into a covenant with you so that you ^(AC)became Mine,” declares the Lord God. ⁹ “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and ^(AD)anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I also clothed you with ^(AE)colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of ^[r]fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with jewelry, put ^(AF)bracelets on your wrists, and a ^(AG)necklace around your neck. ¹² I also put a ^(AH)ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a ^(AI)beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ So you were adorned with ^(AJ)gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^(AK)royalty. ¹⁴ Then your ^(AL)fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^(AM)perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁵ “But you ^(AN)trusted in your beauty and ^(AO)became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your ^[s]obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting. ¹⁶ You took some of your clothes, made for yourself ^[t]high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful ^[u](AP)jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them. ¹⁸ Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(AQ)My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, ^[v]you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God. ²⁰ “Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ^(AR)Me and ^(AS)sacrificed them to ^[w]idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter? ²¹ You slaughtered ^(AT)My children and offered them to ^[x]idols by ^(AU)making them pass through the fire. ²² And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of ^(AV)your 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), ²⁴ that you built yourself a ^(AW)shrine and made yourself a ^(AX)high place in every public square. ²⁵ You built yourself a high place at the beginning of ^(AY)every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice. ²⁶ You also committed prostitution with the Egyptians, your ^[y]lustful neighbors, and multiplied your obscene practice to ^(AZ)provoke Me to anger. ²⁷ So behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut back your rations. And I turned you over to the desire of those who hate you, the ^(BA)daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your outrageous conduct. ²⁸ Moreover, you committed prostitution with the ^(BB)Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you committed prostitution with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹ You also multiplied your obscene practice with the land of merchants, Chaldea; yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

³⁰ “How ^(BC)feverish is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the action of a ^[z](BD)bold prostitute! ³¹ When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in ^(BE)spurning a prostitute’s fee, you were not like a prostitute. ³² You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you ^(BF)give your gifts to all your lovers and lavish favors on them so that they will come to you from every direction for your obscene practices. ³⁴ So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute’s fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite.”

³⁵ Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord. ³⁶ This is what the Lord God says: “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable ^(BG)idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to ^[aa]idols, ³⁷ therefore, behold, I am going to ^(BH)gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you ^(BI)hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and ^(BJ)expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ So I will ^(BK)judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ^(BL)wrath and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also hand you over to ^[ab]your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, ^(BM)strip you of your clothing, take away your ^[ac]jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰ They will ^[ad]incite a ^(BN)crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ And they will ^(BO)burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. Then I will ^(BP)put an end to your prostitution, and you will also no longer pay ^[ae]your lovers.

¹⁸ For, on the one hand, there is the nullification of a former commandment ^(A)because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for ^(B)the Law made nothing perfect); on the other hand, there is the introduction of a better ^(C)hope, through which we ^(D)come near to God. ²⁰ And to the extent that it was not without an oath ²¹ (for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through the One who said to Him,

²² by the same extent Jesus also has become the ^[a](H)guarantee of ^(I)a better covenant.

^23 [b]The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing; ^24 [c]Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues ^(J)forever, holds His priesthood permanently. ²⁵ Therefore He is also able to ^(K)save ^[d]forever those who ^(L)come to God through Him, since He always lives to ^(M)make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was fitting for us to have such a ^(N)high priest, ^(O)holy, ^(P)innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and ^(Q)exalted above the heavens; ²⁷ who has no daily need, like those high priests, to ^(R)offer up sacrifices, ^(S)first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because He did this ^(T)once for all time when He ^(U)offered up Himself. ²⁸ For the Law appoints men as high priests ^(V)who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints ^(W)a Son, who has been ^(X)made perfect forever.

Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Help.