Jerusalem Will Not Be Spared

¹² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^13 (A)“Son of man, when a land sins against me ^(B)by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and ^(C)break its supply^[a] of bread and send famine upon it, and ^(D)cut off from it man and beast, ^14 (E)even if these three men, ^(F)Noah, ^(G)Daniel, and ^(H)Job, were in it, ^(I)they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord God.

^15 (J)“If I cause wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ravage it, ^(K)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, ^(L)as I live, declares the Lord God, they would deliver neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be delivered, but ^(M)the land would be desolate.

¹⁷ “Or ^(N)if I bring a sword upon that land and say, Let a sword pass through the land, ^(O)and I cut off from it man and beast, ^18 (P)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 ^(Q)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 ^(R)when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, ^(S)sword, ^(T)famine, ^(U)wild beasts, and ^(V)pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast! ²² But behold, ^(W)some survivors will be left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out; behold, when they come out to you, and ^(X)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 (Y)“Son of man, how does ^(Z)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 ^(AA)a peg from it to hang any vessel on it? ^4 (AB)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 (AC)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: ^(AD)Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, ^(AE)which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ^7 (AF)And I will set my face against them. Though ^(AG)they escape from the fire, the fire shall yet consume them, ^(AH)and you will know that I am the Lord, ^(AI)when I set my face against them. ^8 (AJ)And I will make the land desolate, because ^(AK)they have acted faithlessly, declares the Lord God.”

The Lord's Faithless Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (AL)“Son of man, ^(AM)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 ^(AN)Amorite and your mother a ^(AO)Hittite. ⁴ And as for your birth, ^(AP)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, ^(AQ)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^(AR)on the day that you were born.

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

⁸ “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(AY)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(AZ)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(BA)and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(BB)anointed you with oil. ^10 (BC)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^{[b] 11 (BD)}And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(BE)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. ^(BF)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(BG)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴ And ^(BH)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 (BI)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(BJ)and played the whore^[c] because of your renown ^(BK)and lavished your whorings^[d] on any passerby; your beauty^[e] 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.^{[f] 17} You also took ^(BL)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(BM)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸ And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(BN)and set my oil and my incense before them. ^19 (BO)Also my bread that I gave you—^(BP)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(BQ)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ^20 (BR)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(BS)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 ^(BT)the days of your youth, ^(BU)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 ^(BV)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵ At the head of every street ^(BW)you built your lofty place and made ^(BX)your beauty an abomination, ^(BY)offering yourself^[g] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. ^26 (BZ)You also played the whore ^(CA)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^(CB)multiplying your whoring, ^(CC)to provoke me to anger. ²⁷ Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^(CD)and diminished your allotted portion ^(CE)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^(CF)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ^28 (CG)You played the whore also ^(CH)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 ^(CI)of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

³⁰ “How sick is your heart,^[h] 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, ^(CJ)because you scorned payment. ³² Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! ³³ Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^(CK)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 ^(CL)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, ^(CM)and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, ³⁷ therefore, behold, ^(CN)I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^(CO)all those you hated. ^(CP)I will gather them against you from every side ^(CQ)and will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^(CR)they may see all your nakedness. ^38 (CS)And I will judge you ^(CT)as women who commit adultery and ^(CU)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 ^(CV)vaulted chamber and break down ^(CW)your lofty places. ^(CX)They shall strip you of your clothes and take ^(CY)your beautiful jewels and leave you ^(CZ)naked and bare. ^40 (DA)They shall bring up a crowd against you, ^(DB)and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ^41 (DC)And they shall ^(DD)burn your houses and ^(DE)execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^(DF)I will make you stop playing the whore, and ^(DG)you shall also give payment no more.

¹⁸ For on the one hand, a former commandment is set aside ^(A)because of its weakness and uselessness ¹⁹ (for ^(B)the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, ^(C)a better hope is introduced, through which ^(D)we draw near to God.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, ²¹ but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

²² This makes Jesus the guarantor of ^(F)a better covenant.

²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues ^(G)forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost^{[a] (H)}those who draw near to God ^(I)through him, since he always lives ^(J)to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, ^(K)holy, innocent, unstained, ^(L)separated from sinners, and ^(M)exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, ^(N)first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this ^(O)once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men ^(P)in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made ^(Q)perfect forever.

Give Thanks to the Lord, for He Is Good