Isaiah 1:21
New King James Version
The Degenerate City
21 (A)How the faithful city has become a [a]harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now (B)murderers.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 1:21 Unfaithful
Revelation 11:8
New King James Version
8 And their dead bodies will lie in the street of (A)the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, (B)where also [a]our Lord was crucified.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Revelation 11:8 NU, M their
Revelation 11:2
New King James Version
2 But leave out (A)the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, (B)for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will (C)tread the holy city underfoot for (D)forty-two months.
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Hebrews 12:22
New King James Version
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
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Acts 7:52
New King James Version
52 (A)Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of (B)the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers,
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Luke 13:34
New King James Version
Jesus Laments over Jerusalem(A)
34 (B)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing!
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Zephaniah 3:1-3
New King James Version
The Wickedness of Jerusalem
3 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted,
To the oppressing city!
2 She has not obeyed His voice,
She has not received correction;
She has not trusted in the Lord,
She has not drawn near to her God.
3 (A)Her princes in her midst are roaring lions;
Her judges are (B)evening wolves
That leave not a bone till morning.
Micah 3:2-3
New King James Version
2 You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from [a]My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
3 Who also (A)eat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
(B)Like flesh in the caldron.”
Footnotes
- Micah 3:2 Lit. them
Hosea 11:12
New King James Version
God’s Charge Against Ephraim
12 “Ephraim has encircled Me with lies,
And the house of Israel with deceit;
But Judah still walks with God,
Even with the [a]Holy One who is faithful.
Footnotes
- Hosea 11:12 Or holy ones
Ezekiel 22:1-23
New King James Version
Sins of Jerusalem
22 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Now, son of man, (A)will you judge, will you judge (B)the bloody city? Yes, show her all her abominations! 3 Then say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “The city sheds (C)blood in her own midst, that her time may come; and she makes idols within herself to defile herself. 4 You have become guilty by the blood which you have (D)shed, and have defiled yourself with the idols which you have made. You have caused your days to draw near, and have come to the end of your years; (E)therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all countries. 5 Those near and those far from you will mock you as [a]infamous and full of tumult.
6 “Look, (F)the princes of Israel: each one has used his [b]power to shed blood in you. 7 In you they have (G)made light of father and mother; in your midst they have (H)oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the [c]fatherless and the widow. 8 You have despised My holy things and (I)profaned My Sabbaths. 9 In you are (J)men who slander to cause bloodshed; (K)in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. 10 In you men (L)uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are (M)set apart during their impurity. 11 One commits abomination (N)with his neighbor’s wife; (O)another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s (P)daughter. 12 In you (Q)they take bribes to shed blood; (R)you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and (S)have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.
13 “Behold, therefore, I (T)beat My fists at the dishonest profit which you have made, and at the bloodshed which has been in your midst. 14 (U)Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I shall deal with you? (V)I, the Lord, have spoken, and will do it. 15 (W)I will scatter you among the nations, disperse you throughout the countries, and (X)remove your filthiness completely from you. 16 You shall defile yourself in the sight of the nations; then (Y)you shall know that I am the Lord.” ’ ”
Israel in the Furnace
17 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 18 “Son of man, (Z)the house of Israel has become dross to Me; they are all bronze, tin, iron, and lead, in the midst of a (AA)furnace; they have become dross from silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to (AB)melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. 21 Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst. 22 As silver is melted in the midst of a furnace, so shall you be melted in its midst; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have (AC)poured out My fury on you.’ ”
Israel’s Wicked Leaders
23 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ezekiel 22:5 Lit. defiled of name
- Ezekiel 22:6 Lit. arm
- Ezekiel 22:7 Lit. orphan
Ezekiel 16
New King James Version
God’s Love for Jerusalem
16 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, (A)cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your [a]birth (B)and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; (C)your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4 As for your nativity, (D)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 [b]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 (E)I made you [c]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; (F)so I spread [d]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I (G)swore an oath to you and entered into a (H)covenant with you, and (I)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 [e]badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I adorned you with ornaments, (J)put bracelets on your wrists, (K)and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a [f]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. (L)You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly (M)beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. 14 (N)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 (O)“But you trusted in your own beauty, (P)played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. 16 (Q)You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored [g]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 (R)My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as [h]sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
20 (S)“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 (T)fire? 22 And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your (U)youth, (V)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 (W)you also built for yourself a shrine, and (X)made a [i]high place for yourself in every street. 25 You built your high places (Y)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 (Z)the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to (AA)provoke Me to anger.
27 “Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your [j]allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, (AB)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 You also played the harlot with the (AC)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, (AD)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 (AE)“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your [k]high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned (AF)payment. 32 You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. 33 Men make payment to all harlots, but (AG)you made your payments to all your lovers, and [l]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 (AH)the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37 surely, therefore, (AI)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 (AJ)women who break wedlock or (AK)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 (AL)your [m]high places. (AM)They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40 (AN)“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, (AO)and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. 41 They shall (AP)burn your houses with fire, and (AQ)execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you (AR)cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. 42 So (AS)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. 43 Because (AT)you did not remember the days of your youth, but [n]agitated Me with all these things, surely (AU)I will also recompense your [o]deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
44 “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ 45 You are your mother’s daughter, [p]loathing husband and children; and you are the (AV)sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; (AW)your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46 “Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and (AX)your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, (AY)you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48 “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither (AZ)your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, (BA)fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty and (BB)committed abomination before Me; therefore (BC)I took them away as [q]I saw fit.
51 “Samaria did not commit (BD)half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and (BE)have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done. 52 You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53 (BF)“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back (BG)the captives of your captivity among them, 54 that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when (BH)you comforted them. 55 When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the (BI)reproach of the daughters of [r]Syria and all those around her, and of (BJ)the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. 58 (BK)You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord. 59 For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who (BL)despised (BM)the oath by breaking the covenant.
An Everlasting Covenant
60 “Nevertheless I will (BN)remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish (BO)an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then (BP)you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for (BQ)daughters, (BR)but not because of My covenant with you. 62 (BS)And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may (BT)remember and be ashamed, (BU)and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’ ”
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Ezekiel 16:3 origin and your birth
- Ezekiel 16:5 abhorred
- Ezekiel 16:7 Lit. a myriad
- Ezekiel 16:8 Or the corner of My garment
- Ezekiel 16:10 Or dolphin or dugong
- Ezekiel 16:12 Lit. ring
- Ezekiel 16:16 Places for pagan worship
- Ezekiel 16:19 Or a sweet aroma
- Ezekiel 16:24 Place for pagan worship
- Ezekiel 16:27 Allowance of food
- Ezekiel 16:31 Place for pagan worship
- Ezekiel 16:33 Or bribed
- Ezekiel 16:39 Places for pagan worship
- Ezekiel 16:43 So with LXX, Syr., Tg., Vg.; MT were agitated with Me
- Ezekiel 16:43 Lit. way
- Ezekiel 16:45 Or despising
- Ezekiel 16:50 Vg. you saw; LXX he saw; Tg. as was revealed to Me
- Ezekiel 16:57 Heb. Aram; so with MT, LXX, Tg., Vg.; many Heb. mss., Syr. Edom
Lamentations 1:8-9
New King James Version
8 (A)Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become [a]vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because (B)they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She (C)did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”
Footnotes
- Lamentations 1:8 LXX, Vg. moved or removed
Jeremiah 3:1
New King James Version
Israel Is Shameless
3 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife,
And she goes from him
And becomes another man’s,
(A)May he return to her again?’
Would not that (B)land be greatly polluted?
But you have (C)played the harlot with many lovers;
(D)Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
Jeremiah 2:20-21
New King James Version
20 “For of old I have (A)broken your yoke and burst your bonds;
And (B)you said, ‘I will not [a]transgress,’
When (C)on every high hill and under every green tree
You lay down, (D)playing the harlot.
21 Yet I had (E)planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into (F)the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
Footnotes
- Jeremiah 2:20 Kt. serve
Isaiah 57:3-9
New King James Version
3 “But come here,
(A)You sons of the sorceress,
You offspring of the adulterer and the harlot!
4 Whom do you ridicule?
Against whom do you make a wide mouth
And stick out the tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
Offspring of falsehood,
5 Inflaming yourselves with gods (B)under every green tree,
(C)Slaying the children in the valleys,
Under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth (D)stones of the stream
Is your portion;
They, they, are your lot!
Even to them you have poured a drink offering,
You have offered a grain offering.
Should I receive comfort in (E)these?
7 “On(F) a lofty and high mountain
You have set (G)your bed;
Even there you went up
To offer sacrifice.
8 Also behind the doors and their posts
You have set up your remembrance;
For you have uncovered yourself to those other than Me,
And have gone up to them;
You have enlarged your bed
And [a]made a covenant with them;
(H)You have loved their bed,
Where you saw their [b]nudity.
9 (I)You went to the king with ointment,
And increased your perfumes;
You sent your (J)messengers far off,
And even descended to Sheol.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 57:8 Lit. cut
- Isaiah 57:8 Lit. hand, a euphemism
Isaiah 48:2
New King James Version
2 For they call themselves (A)after the holy city,
And (B)lean on the God of Israel;
The Lord of hosts is His name:
Isaiah 5:7
New King James Version
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
For righteousness, but behold, [a]a cry for help.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 5:7 wailing
Psalm 48:8
New King James Version
8 As we have heard,
So we have seen
In the city of the Lord of hosts,
In the city of our God:
God will (A)establish it forever. Selah
Psalm 48:1
New King James Version
The Glory of God in Zion
A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.
48 Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised
In the (A)city of our God,
In His holy mountain.
Psalm 46:4
New King James Version
4 There is a (A)river whose streams shall make glad the (B)city of God,
The holy place of the [a]tabernacle of the Most High.
Footnotes
- Psalm 46:4 dwelling places
Nehemiah 11:1
New King James Version
The People Dwelling in Jerusalem
11 Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, (A)the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities.
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2 Chronicles 19:9
New King James Version
9 And he commanded them, saying, “Thus you shall act (A)in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and with a loyal heart:
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2 Samuel 8:15
New King James Version
David’s Administration(A)
15 So David reigned over all Israel; and David administered judgment and justice to all his people.
Read full chapterScripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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