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Ezekiel 16
New American Standard Bible

God’s Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

16 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, (A)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, ‘This is what the Lord [a]God says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your birth, (B)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. 5 No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the [b](C)open field, [c]for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

6 “When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I (D)made you [d]very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

8 “Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, [e]you were at the time for love; so I (E)spread My [f]garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also (F)swore an oath to you and (G)entered into a covenant with you so that you (H)became Mine,” declares the Lord God. 9 “Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and (I)anointed you with oil. 10 I also clothed you with (J)colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of [g]fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with jewelry, put (K)bracelets on your wrists, and a (L)necklace around your neck. 12 I also put a (M)ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a (N)beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with (O)gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to (P)royalty. 14 Then your (Q)fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was (R)perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,” declares the Lord God.

15 “But you (S)trusted in your beauty and (T)became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your [h]obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting. 16 You took some of your clothes, made for yourself [i]high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen. 17 You also took your beautiful [j](U)jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them. 18 Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them. 19 Also (V)My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, [k]you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord God. 20 “Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to (W)Me and (X)sacrificed them to [l]idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter? 21 You slaughtered (Y)My children and offered them to [m]idols by (Z)making them pass through the fire. 22 And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of (AA)your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

23 “Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God), 24 that you built yourself a (AB)shrine and made yourself a (AC)high place in every public square. 25 You built yourself a high place at the beginning of (AD)every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice. 26 You also committed prostitution with the Egyptians, your [n]lustful neighbors, and multiplied your obscene practice to (AE)provoke Me to anger. 27 So behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut back your rations. And I turned you over to the desire of those who hate you, the (AF)daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your outrageous conduct. 28 Moreover, you committed prostitution with the (AG)Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you committed prostitution with them and still were not satisfied. 29 You also multiplied your obscene practice with the land of merchants, Chaldea; yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

30 “How (AH)feverish is your heart,” declares the Lord God, “while you do all these things, the action of a [o](AI)bold prostitute! 31 When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in (AJ)spurning a prostitute’s fee, you were not like a prostitute. 32 You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you (AK)give your gifts to all your lovers and lavish favors on them so that they will come to you from every direction for your obscene practices. 34 So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute’s fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite.”

35 Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord. 36 This is what the Lord God says: “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable (AL)idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to [p]idols, 37 therefore, behold, I am going to (AM)gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you (AN)hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and (AO)expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness. 38 So I will (AP)judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of (AQ)wrath and jealousy. 39 I will also hand you over to [q]your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, (AR)strip you of your clothing, take away your [r]jewels, and will leave you naked and bare. 40 They will [s]incite a (AS)crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 And they will (AT)burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. Then I will (AU)put an end to your prostitution, and you will also no longer pay [t]your lovers. 42 So I (AV)will satisfy My fury against you and My jealousy will leave you, and I will be pacified and (AW)no longer be angry. 43 Since you have (AX)not remembered the days of your youth but [u]have (AY)caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will (AZ)bring your conduct down on your own head,” declares the Lord God, “so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.

44 “Behold, everyone who quotes (BA)proverbs will quote this proverb about you, saying, ‘Like [v]mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the (BB)sister of your sisters, who (BC)loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Now your (BD)older sister is Samaria, who lives [w]north of you with her [x]daughters; and your younger sister, who lives [y]south of you, is (BE)Sodom with her [z]daughters. 47 Yet you have not merely walked in their ways and [aa]committed their abominations; but, as if that were (BF)too little, you also acted (BG)more corruptly in all your conduct than they. 48 As I live,” declares the Lord God, “Sodom, your sister and her daughters have (BH)not done as you and your daughters have done! 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had (BI)arrogance, (BJ)plenty of food, and (BK)carefree ease, but she did not [ab]help the (BL)poor and needy. 50 So they were haughty and committed (BM)abominations before Me. Therefore I (BN)removed them [ac]when I saw it. 51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. So you have made your sisters appear (BO)innocent by all your abominations which you have committed. 52 Also, bear your disgrace in that you have [ad]made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted (BP)more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear innocent.

53 “Nevertheless, I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and [ae]along with them your own fortunes, 54 so that you will bear your disgrace and feel (BQ)ashamed for all that you have done when you become (BR)a consolation to them. 55 Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, [af]will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. 56 As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride, 57 before your (BS)wickedness was uncovered, [ag]so now you have become the (BT)disgrace of the daughters of [ah]Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines—those surrounding you who despise you. 58 You have (BU)suffered the penalty of your outrageous sin and abominations,” the Lord declares. 59 For this is what the Lord God says: “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have (BV)despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

The Covenant Remembered

60 “Nevertheless, I will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an (BW)everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will (BX)remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. 62 So I will (BY)establish My covenant with you, and you shall (BZ)know that I am the Lord, 63 so that you may (CA)remember and be ashamed, and (CB)not open your mouth again because of your disgrace, when I have [ai](CC)forgiven you for all that you have done,” the Lord God declares.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 16:3 Heb YHWH, usually rendered Lord, and so throughout the ch
  2. Ezekiel 16:5 Lit face of the field
  3. Ezekiel 16:5 Lit in the loathing of your soul
  4. Ezekiel 16:7 Lit a myriad
  5. Ezekiel 16:8 Lit your time was
  6. Ezekiel 16:8 Lit hem (of a garment)
  7. Ezekiel 16:10 Meaning of the Heb uncertain
  8. Ezekiel 16:15 I.e., idolatrous practices with nations
  9. Ezekiel 16:16 I.e., pagan altars
  10. Ezekiel 16:17 Lit articles of beauty
  11. Ezekiel 16:19 Lit and you...offer it
  12. Ezekiel 16:20 Lit them
  13. Ezekiel 16:21 Lit them
  14. Ezekiel 16:26 Lit great of flesh
  15. Ezekiel 16:30 Lit mighty
  16. Ezekiel 16:36 Lit them
  17. Ezekiel 16:39 Lit their hands, and they
  18. Ezekiel 16:39 Lit articles of beauty
  19. Ezekiel 16:40 Lit bring up an assembly
  20. Ezekiel 16:41 Lit a prostitute’s fee
  21. Ezekiel 16:43 As in ancient versions; MT tremble at
  22. Ezekiel 16:44 Lit her mother, her daughter
  23. Ezekiel 16:46 Lit on your left
  24. Ezekiel 16:46 I.e., surrounding villages; so through v 55
  25. Ezekiel 16:46 Lit from your right
  26. Ezekiel 16:46 I.e., surrounding villages; so through v 55
  27. Ezekiel 16:47 Lit acted in their
  28. Ezekiel 16:49 Lit grasp the hand of
  29. Ezekiel 16:50 Some mss and ancient versions as you have seen
  30. Ezekiel 16:52 Lit mediated for
  31. Ezekiel 16:53 Lit in their midst
  32. Ezekiel 16:55 Heb includes will return...state after Sodom also
  33. Ezekiel 16:57 Lit as at the time of
  34. Ezekiel 16:57 As in many mss and one ancient version; MT Aram
  35. Ezekiel 16:63 Or made atonement for
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Ezekiel 16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

God’s Faithless Bride

16 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 Mortal, make known to Jerusalem her abominations(A) 3 and say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.(B) 4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in cloths.(C) 5 No eye pitied you to do any of these things for you out of compassion for you, but you were thrown out in the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born.(D)

6 I passed by you and saw you flailing about in your blood. As you lay in your blood, I said to you, “Live!(E) 7 and grow up[a] like a plant of the field.” You grew up and became tall and arrived at full womanhood;[b] your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.(F)

8 I passed by you again and looked on you; you were at the age for love. I spread the edge of my cloak over you and covered your nakedness: I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.(G) 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off the blood from you and anointed you with oil. 10 I clothed you with embroidered cloth and with sandals of fine leather; I bound you in fine linen and covered you with rich fabric.[c] 11 I adorned you with ornaments: I put bracelets on your arms, a chain on your neck,(H) 12 a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. 13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, rich fabric,[d] and embroidered cloth. You had choice flour and honey and oil for food. You grew exceedingly beautiful, fit to be a queen.(I) 14 Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my splendor that I had bestowed on you, says the Lord God.

15 But you trusted in your beauty and prostituted yourself because of your fame and lavished your prostitutions on any passer-by.[e](J) 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful high places and on them prostituted yourself; nothing like this has ever been or ever shall be.[f](K) 17 You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and my silver that I had given you and made for yourself male images and with them prostituted yourself,(L) 18 and you took your embroidered garments to cover them and set my oil and my incense before them. 19 Also my bread that I gave you—I fed you with choice flour and oil and honey—you set it before them as a pleasing odor, and so it was, says the Lord God. 20 You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. As if your prostitutions were not enough!(M) 21 You slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering to them.(N) 22 And in all your abominations and your prostitutions you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, flailing about in your blood.(O)

23 After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! says the Lord God), 24 you built yourself a platform and made yourself a lofty place in every square;(P) 25 at the head of every street you built your lofty place and prostituted your beauty, offering yourself[g] to every passer-by and multiplying your prostitution.(Q) 26 You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors,[h] multiplying your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.(R) 27 Therefore I stretched out my hand against you, reduced your rations, and gave you up to the will of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.(S) 28 You prostituted yourself with the Assyrians because you were insatiable; you prostituted yourself with them, and still you were not satisfied.(T) 29 You multiplied your prostitution with Chaldea, the land of merchants, and even with this you were not satisfied.(U)

30 How sick is your heart,[i] says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your platform at the head of every street and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a prostitute because you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Gifts are given to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your prostitutions.(V) 34 So you were different from other women in your prostitutions: no one solicited you to prostitute yourself, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; 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 prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them,(W) 37 therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated; I will gather them against you from all around and will uncover your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness.(X) 38 I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged and bring blood upon you in wrath and jealousy.(Y) 39 I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall throw down your platform and break down your lofty places; they shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful objects and leave you naked and bare.(Z) 40 They shall bring up a mob against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.(AA) 41 They shall burn your houses and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; I will stop you from prostituting yourself, and you shall also make no more payments.(AB) 42 So I will satisfy my fury on you, and my jealousy shall turn away from you; I will be calm and will be angry no longer. 43 Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have enraged me with all these things, therefore I have returned your deeds upon your head, says the Lord God.

Have you not committed lewdness beyond all your abominations?(AC) 44 See, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you, “Like mother, like daughter.”(AD) 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children, and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your big sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; your little sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.(AE) 47 You not only followed their ways and acted according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.(AF) 48 As I live, says the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.(AG) 49 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease but did not aid the poor and needy.(AH) 50 They were haughty and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.(AI) 51 Samaria has not committed half your sins; you have committed more abominations than they and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.(AJ) 52 Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have brought about for your sisters a more favorable judgment; 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 I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes along with theirs,(AK) 54 in order that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them.(AL) 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state; Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you are a mockery to the daughters of Edom[j] and all her neighbors and to the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you.(AM) 58 You must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord.(AN)

An Everlasting Covenant

59 Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant,(AO) 60 yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.(AP) 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of my[k] covenant with you.(AQ) 62 I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord,(AR) 63 in order that you may remember and be confounded and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God.(AS)

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Footnotes

  1. 16.7 Gk Syr: Heb Live! I made you a myriad
  2. 16.7 Cn: Heb ornament of ornaments
  3. 16.10 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  4. 16.13 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  5. 16.15 Heb adds Let it be his
  6. 16.16 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  7. 16.25 Heb spreading your legs
  8. 16.26 Heb large-membered neighbors
  9. 16.30 Or How furious I am with you
  10. 16.57 Heb mss Syr: MT Aram
  11. 16.61 Heb lacks my
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New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.