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15 “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.

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25 On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.

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20 “Long ago I broke the yoke that oppressed you
    and tore away the chains of your slavery,
but still you said,
    ‘I will not serve you.’
On every hill and under every green tree,
    you have prostituted yourselves by bowing down to idols.

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You have put pagan symbols
    on your doorposts and behind your doors.
You have left me
    and climbed into bed with these detestable gods.
You have committed yourselves to them.
    You love to look at their naked bodies.

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They became prostitutes in Egypt. Even as young girls, they allowed men to fondle their breasts.

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But don’t be fooled by those who promise you safety simply because the Lord’s Temple is here. They chant, “The Lord’s Temple is here! The Lord’s Temple is here!”

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Hosea’s Wife and Children

When the Lord first began speaking to Israel through Hosea, he said to him, “Go and marry a prostitute,[a] so that some of her children will be conceived in prostitution. This will illustrate how Israel has acted like a prostitute by turning against the Lord and worshiping other gods.”

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Footnotes

  1. 1:2 Or a promiscuous woman.

For when she left Egypt, she did not leave her spirit of prostitution behind. She was still as lewd as in her youth, when the Egyptians slept with her, fondled her breasts, and used her as a prostitute.

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Unfaithful Jerusalem

21 See how Jerusalem, once so faithful,
    has become a prostitute.
Once the home of justice and righteousness,
    she is now filled with murderers.

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A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.”

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Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones.

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11 On that day you will no longer need to be ashamed,
    for you will no longer be rebels against me.
I will remove all proud and arrogant people from among you.
    There will be no more haughtiness on my holy mountain.

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11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes;
    you priests teach God’s laws only for a price;
you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid.
    Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord.
“No harm can come to us,” you say,
    “for the Lord is here among us.”

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10 They will eat and still be hungry.
    They will play the prostitute and gain nothing from it,
for they have deserted the Lord

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13 When I tell righteous people that they will live, but then they sin, expecting their past righteousness to save them, then none of their righteous acts will be remembered. I will destroy them for their sins.

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that mighty gateway to the sea, the trading center of the world. Give Tyre this message from the Sovereign Lord:

“You boasted, O Tyre,
    ‘My beauty is perfect!’

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11 “Yet even though Oholibah saw what had happened to Oholah, her sister, she followed right in her footsteps. And she was even more depraved, abandoning herself to her lust and prostitution. 12 She fawned over all the Assyrian officers—those captains and commanders in handsome uniforms, those charioteers driving their horses—all of them attractive young men. 13 I saw the way she was going, defiling herself just like her older sister.

14 “Then she carried her prostitution even further. She fell in love with pictures that were painted on a wall—pictures of Babylonian[a] military officers, outfitted in striking red uniforms. 15 Handsome belts encircled their waists, and flowing turbans crowned their heads. They were dressed like chariot officers from the land of Babylonia.[b] 16 When she saw these paintings, she longed to give herself to them, so she sent messengers to Babylonia to invite them to come to her. 17 So they came and committed adultery with her, defiling her in the bed of love. After being defiled, however, she rejected them in disgust.

18 “In the same way, I became disgusted with Oholibah and rejected her, just as I had rejected her sister, because she flaunted herself before them and gave herself to satisfy their lusts. 19 Yet she turned to even greater prostitution, remembering her youth when she was a prostitute in Egypt. 20 She lusted after lovers with genitals as large as a donkey’s and emissions like those of a horse. 21 And so, Oholibah, you relived your former days as a young girl in Egypt, when you first allowed your breasts to be fondled.

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Footnotes

  1. 23:14 Or Chaldean.
  2. 23:15 Or Chaldea; also in 23:16.

“But they rebelled against me and would not listen. They did not get rid of the vile images they were obsessed with, or forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I threatened to pour out my fury on them to satisfy my anger while they were still in Egypt.

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36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,[a] and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods, 37 this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.

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Footnotes

  1. 16:36 The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.

“If a man divorces a woman
    and she goes and marries someone else,
he will not take her back again,
    for that would surely corrupt the land.
But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers,
    so why are you trying to come back to me?”
    says the Lord.

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God’s Stubborn People

48 “Listen to me, O family of Jacob,
    you who are called by the name of Israel
    and born into the family of Judah.
Listen, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord
    and call on the God of Israel.
You don’t keep your promises,

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35 Instead, they mingled among the pagans
    and adopted their evil customs.

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He rebuilt the pagan shrines his father, Hezekiah, had destroyed. He constructed altars for Baal and set up an Asherah pole, just as King Ahab of Israel had done. He also bowed before all the powers of the heavens and worshiped them.

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This disaster came upon the people of Israel because they worshiped other gods. They sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them safely out of Egypt and had rescued them from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.

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28 So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people,[a] “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”

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Footnotes

  1. 12:28 Hebrew to them.

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