Ezekiel 16:23-43

New King James Version

²³“Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God— ²⁴that ^(A)you also built for yourself a shrine, and ^(B)made a ^[a]high place for yourself in every street. ²⁵You built your high places ^(C)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. ²⁶You also committed harlotry with ^(D)the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to ^(E)provoke Me to anger.

²⁷“Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ^[b]allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, ^(F)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ²⁸You also played the harlot with the ^(G)Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, ^(H)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^(I)“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your ^[c]high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned ^(J)payment. ³²You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. ³³Men make payment to all harlots, but ^(K)you made your payments to all your lovers, and ^[d]hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. ³⁴You 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! ³⁶Thus 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 ^(L)the blood of your children which you gave to them, ³⁷surely, therefore, ^(M)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. ³⁸And I will judge you as ^(N)women who break wedlock or ^(O)shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. ³⁹I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down ^(P)your ^[e]high places. ^(Q)They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

⁴⁰^(R)“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, ^(S)and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹They shall ^(T)burn your houses with fire, and ^(U)execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you ^(V)cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. ⁴²So ^(W)I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. ⁴³Because ^(X)you did not remember the days of your youth, but ^[f]agitated Me with all these things, surely ^(Y)I will also recompense your ^[g]deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.