Warning Against the Adulteress

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

14 Then certain of the ^(A)elders of Israel came to me ^(B)and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^3 (C)“Son of man, these men have taken their idols into their hearts, and set ^(D)the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. ^(E)Should I indeed let myself be consulted by them? ⁴ Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, ^(F)I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols, ^5 (G)that I may lay hold of the hearts of the house of Israel, ^(H)who are all estranged from me through their idols.

⁶ “Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: ^(I)Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations. ⁷ For any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who sojourn in Israel, ^(J)who separates himself from me, taking his idols into his heart and putting the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to a prophet to consult me through him, ^(K)I the Lord will answer him myself. ⁸ And ^(L)I will set my face against that man; I ^(M)will make him a sign and a byword ^(N)and cut him off from the midst of my people, ^(O)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ⁹ And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, ^(P)I, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel. ¹⁰ And they shall bear their punishment^[a]—the punishment of the prophet and the punishment of the inquirer shall be alike— ¹¹ that the house of Israel may no more go astray from me, nor ^(Q)defile themselves anymore with all their transgressions, ^(R)but that they may be my people and I may be their God, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

¹² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^13 (S)“Son of man, when a land sins against me ^(T)by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and ^(U)break its supply^[b] of bread and send famine upon it, and ^(V)cut off from it man and beast, ^14 (W)even if these three men, ^(X)Noah, ^(Y)Daniel, and ^(Z)Job, were in it, ^(AA)they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

^15 (AB)“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, ^(AC)and it be made desolate, so that no one may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even if these three men were in it, ^(AD)as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but ^(AE)the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ “Or ^(AF)if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, ^(AG)and I cut off from it man and beast, ^18 (AH)though these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or ^(AI)if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out my wrath upon it with blood, to cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither son nor daughter. They would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness.

²¹ “For thus says the Lord God: How much more ^(AJ)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(AK)sword, ^(AL)famine, ^(AM)wild beasts, and ^(AN)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²² But behold, ^(AO)some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and ^(AP)you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, for all that I have brought upon it. ²³ They will console you, when you see their ways and their deeds, and you shall know that I have not done without cause all that I have done in it, declares the Lord God.”

Jerusalem, a Useless Vine

15 And the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (AQ)“Son of man, how does ^(AR)the wood of the vine surpass any wood, the vine branch that is among the trees of the forest? ³ Is wood taken from it to make anything? Do people take ^(AS)a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? ^4 (AT)Behold, it is given to the fire for fuel. When the fire has consumed both ends of it, and the middle of it is charred, is it useful for anything? ^5 (AU)Behold, when it was whole, it was used for nothing. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it ever be used for anything! ⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(AV)Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, ^(AW)which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^7 (AX)And I will set my face against them. Though ^(AY)they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, ^(AZ)and you will know that I am the Lord, ^(BA)when I set my face against them. ^8 (BB)And I will make the land desolate, because ^(BC)they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

The Lord's Faithless Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (BD)“Son of man, ^(BE)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³ and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an ^(BF)Amorite and your mother a ^(BG)Hittite. ⁴ And as for your birth, ^(BH)on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, ^(BI)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^(BJ)on the day that you were born.

⁶ “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ^(BK)in your blood, I said to you ^(BL)in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ^(BM)in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7 (BN)I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall ^(BO)and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet ^(BP)you were naked and bare.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(BQ)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(BR)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(BS)and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(BT)anointed you with oil. ^10 (BU)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^{[c] 11 (BV)}And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(BW)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³ Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^(BX)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(BY)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ And ^(BZ)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

^15 (CA)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(CB)and played the whore^[d] because of your renown ^(CC)and lavished your whorings^[e] on any passerby; your beauty^[f] became his. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^{[g] 17} You also took ^(CD)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(CE)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(CF)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (CG)Also my bread that I gave you—^(CH)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(CI)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (CJ)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(CK)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹ that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²² And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^(CL)the days of your youth, ^(CM)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

²³ “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), ²⁴ you built yourself ^(CN)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵ At the head of every street ^(CO)you built your lofty place and made ^(CP)your beauty an abomination, ^(CQ)offering yourself^[h] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. ^26 (CR)You also played the whore ^(CS)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^(CT)multiplying your whoring, ^(CU)to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^(CV)and diminished your allotted portion ^(CW)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^(CX)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ^28 (CY)You played the whore also ^(CZ)with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. ²⁹ You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land ^(DA)of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

³⁰ “How sick is your heart,^[i] declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, ³¹ building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, ^(DB)because you scorned payment. ³² Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^(DC)but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. ³⁴ So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and ^(DD)you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

³⁵ “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: ³⁶ Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, ^(DE)and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, ³⁷ therefore, behold, ^(DF)I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^(DG)all those you hated. ^(DH)I will gather them against you from every side ^(DI)and will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^(DJ)they may see all your nakedness. ^38 (DK)And I will judge you ^(DL)as women who commit adultery and ^(DM)shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. ³⁹ And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your ^(DN)vaulted chamber and break down ^(DO)your lofty places. ^(DP)They shall strip you of your clothes and take ^(DQ)your beautiful jewels and leave you ^(DR)naked and bare. ^40 (DS)They shall bring up a crowd against you, ^(DT)and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ^41 (DU)And they shall ^(DV)burn your houses and ^(DW)execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^(DX)I will make you stop playing the whore, and ^(DY)you shall also give payment no more. ^42 (DZ)So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. ⁴³ Because you have not remembered ^(EA)the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^(EB)I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^(EC)committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

⁴⁴ “Behold, everyone ^(ED)who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of ^(EE)your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^(EF)Your mother was a Hittite and ^(EG)your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ And ^(EH)your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^(EI)your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. ^47 (EJ)Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^(EK)you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. ^48 (EL)As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^(EM)Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, ^(EN)excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and ^(EO)did an abomination before me. So ^(EP)I removed them, when I saw it. ^51 (EQ)Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^(ER)have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. ^52 (ES)Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

^53 (ET)“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, ⁵⁴ that you may bear your disgrace ^(EU)and be ashamed of all that you have done, ^(EV)becoming a consolation to them. ⁵⁵ As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^(EW)and Samaria and her daughters shall return ^(EX)to their former state, ^(EY)and you and your daughters shall return ^(EZ)to your former state. ⁵⁶ Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^(FA)in the day of your pride, ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^(FB)an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria^[j] and all those around her, and for ^(FC)the daughters of the Philistines, ^(FD)those all around who despise you. ^58 (FE)You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.

The Lord's Everlasting Covenant

⁵⁹ “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you ^(FF)who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, ⁶⁰ yet ^(FG)I will remember my covenant with you ^(FH)in the days of your youth, ^(FI)and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. ^61 (FJ)Then you will remember your ways ^(FK)and be ashamed when you take ^(FL)your sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^(FM)as daughters, but not on account of^[k] the covenant with you. ⁶² I will establish my covenant with you, ^(FN)and you shall know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ that you may remember and be confounded, and ^(FO)never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Greeting

^1 (A)The elder to the beloved Gaius, ^(B)whom I love in truth.

² Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, as it goes well with your soul. ³ For ^(C)I rejoiced greatly when the brothers^[a] came and testified to your truth, as indeed you are walking in the truth. ⁴ I have no greater joy than to hear that ^(D)my children are walking in the truth.

Support and Opposition

⁵ Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for ^(E)these brothers, ^(F)strangers as they are, ⁶ who testified to your love before the church. You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner ^(G)worthy of God. ⁷ For they have gone out for the sake of ^(H)the name, ^(I)accepting nothing from the Gentiles. ⁸ Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

⁹ I have written something to the church, but Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. ¹⁰ So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church.

¹¹ Beloved, ^(J)do not imitate evil but imitate good. ^(K)Whoever does good is from God; ^(L)whoever does evil has not seen God. ¹² Demetrius ^(M)has received a good testimony from everyone, and from the truth itself. We also add our testimony, and ^(N)you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greetings

^13 (O)I had much to write to you, but I would rather not write with pen and ink. ¹⁴ I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face.

¹⁵ Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends, ^(P)each by name.