Judgment on Persistent Unfaithfulness

¹² The word of the Lord came again to me, saying: ¹³ “Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its ^(A)supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. ^14 (B)Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves ^(C)by their righteousness,” says the Lord God.

¹⁵ “If I cause ^(D)wild beasts to pass through the land, and they ^[a]empty it, and make it so desolate that no man may pass through because of the beasts, ¹⁶ even ^(E)though these three men were ^[b]in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters; only they would be delivered, and the land would be ^(F)desolate.

¹⁷ “Or if ^(G)I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I ^(H)cut off man and beast from it, ¹⁸ even ^(I)though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered.

¹⁹ “Or if I send ^(J)a pestilence into that land and ^(K)pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, ²⁰ even ^(L)though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord God, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.”

²¹ For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when ^(M)I send My four ^[c]severe judgments on Jerusalem—the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it? ^22 (N)Yet behold, there shall be left in it a remnant who will be ^(O)brought out, both sons and daughters; surely they will come out to you, and ^(P)you will see their ways and their doings. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster that I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it. ²³ And they will comfort you, when you see their ways and their doings; and you shall know that I have done nothing ^(Q)without cause that I have done in it,” says the Lord God.

The Outcast Vine

15 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³ Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? ⁴ Instead, ^(R)it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work? ⁵ Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

⁶ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁷ and ^(S)I will set My face against them. ^(T)They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. ^(U)Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. ⁸ Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord God.”

God’s Love for Jerusalem

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(V)cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your ^[d]birth ^(W)and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; ^(X)your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your nativity, ^(Y)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were ^[e]loathed on the day you were born.

⁶ “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7 (Z)I made you ^[f]thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; ^(AA)so I spread ^[g]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I ^(AB)swore an oath to you and entered into a ^(AC)covenant with you, and ^(AD)you became Mine,” says the Lord God.

⁹ “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of ^[h]badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with ornaments, ^(AE)put bracelets on your wrists, ^(AF)and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ^[i]jewel in your nose, 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, silk, and embroidered cloth. ^(AG)You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly ^(AH)beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. ^14 (AI)Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s Harlotry

^15 (AJ)“But you trusted in your own beauty, ^(AK)played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. ^16 (AL)You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored ^[j]high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. ¹⁷ You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(AM)My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as ^[k]sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.

^20 (AN)“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, ²¹ that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the ^(AO)fire? ²² And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your ^(AP)youth, ^(AQ)when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

²³ “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God— ²⁴ that ^(AR)you also built for yourself a shrine, and ^(AS)made a ^[l]high place for yourself in every street. ²⁵ You built your high places ^(AT)at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. ²⁶ You also committed harlotry with ^(AU)the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to ^(AV)provoke Me to anger.

²⁷ “Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ^[m]allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, ^(AW)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ²⁸ You also played the harlot with the ^(AX)Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹ Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, ^(AY)Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.

³⁰ “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.

Jerusalem’s Adultery

^31 (AZ)“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your ^[n]high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned ^(BA)payment. ³² You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. ³³ Men make payment to all harlots, but ^(BB)you made your payments to all your lovers, and ^[o]hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. ³⁴ You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”

Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her

³⁵ ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! ³⁶ Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of ^(BC)the blood of your children which you gave to them, ³⁷ surely, therefore, ^(BD)I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ And I will judge you as ^(BE)women who break wedlock or ^(BF)shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down ^(BG)your ^[p]high places. ^(BH)They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

^40 (BI)“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, ^(BJ)and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹ They shall ^(BK)burn your houses with fire, and ^(BL)execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you ^(BM)cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.

¹⁸ For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because of ^(A)its weakness and unprofitableness, ¹⁹ for ^(B)the law made nothing ^[a]perfect; on the other hand, there is the bringing in of ^(C)a better hope, through which ^(D)we draw near to God.

Greatness of the New Priest

²⁰ And inasmuch as He was not made priest without an oath ²¹ (for they have become priests without an oath, but He with an oath by Him who said to Him:

²² by so much more Jesus has become a ^[c]surety of a ^(F)better covenant.

²³ Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. ²⁴ But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore He is also ^(G)able to save ^[d]to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives ^(H)to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For such a High Priest was fitting for us, ^(I)who is holy, ^[e]harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, ^(J)and has become higher than the heavens; ²⁷ who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His ^(K)own sins and then for the people’s, for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints the Son who has been perfected forever.

Joy in Forgiveness of Israel’s Sins