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Ezekiel 16
Lexham English Bible

God’s Covenant Grace to Unfaithful and Rebellious Israel

16 And the word of Yahweh came[a] to me, saying,[b] 2 “Son of man,[c] make known to Jerusalem its detestable things, 3 and you must say, ‘Thus says the Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites,[d] your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. 4 And as for your birth, on the day you were born[e] your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not thoroughly washed clean with water,[f] and you were not thoroughly rubbed with salt,[g] and you were not carefully wrapped in strips of cloth.[h] 5 No eye took pity on you[i] to do to you one of these things to show compassion for you, and you were thrown into the open field[j] in their despising of you on the day you were born.[k]

6 “‘And I passed by you, and I saw you kicking about in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, “Live! 7 Grow up;[l] I will make you like a plant of the field.” And you grew up, and you became tall and reached full womanhood.[m] Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare.

8 “‘And I passed by you, and I saw you, and look, your time of lovemaking had come,[n] and so I spread out my hem over you, and I covered your nakedness, and I swore to you, and I entered into[o] a covenant with you,’ declares[p] the Lord Yahweh, ‘and you became mine.[q] 9 And I washed you with water, and I rinsed off your blood from on you, and I anointed you with oil. 10 And I clothed you with beautiful finished cloth, and I put sandals on you of fine leather, and I bound you in fine linen, and I covered you with costly fabric. 11 And I adorned you with ornaments,[r] and I put a bracelet on your arms and a necklace on your neck. 12 And I put an ornamental ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown[s] on your head. 13 And you adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen and costly fabric and beautiful finished cloth; you ate finely milled flour and honey and olive oil, and you became exceedingly beautiful; you were fit to be a queen.[t] 14 And a name went out for you among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect because of my majesty that I bestowed on you,’ declares[u] the Lord Yahweh. 15 ‘And you trusted in your beauty, and you prostituted on account of your name, and you poured out your fornication on every one passing by, saying, “Let it be his.” 16 And you took from your clothes and you made for yourself colorful[v] shrines, and you prostituted on them; this had not happened before,[w] and it will not continue to happen.[x] 17 And you took your beautiful jewelry[y] made from my gold and from my silver that I had given to you, and you made for yourself male images,[z] and you prostituted with them. 18 And you took the clothes of your beautiful finished cloth, and you covered them and my oil and my incense you set before them.[aa] 19 And my bread that I gave to you, finely milled flour and oil and honey with which I fed you, then you set it before them[ab] as a pleasing odor,[ac] and so it was,’ declares[ad] the Lord Yahweh. 20 ‘And you took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne for me, and you sacrificed them to them to be eaten,[ae] as if your whorings were not enough.[af] 21 And you slaughtered my children, and you gave them to be sacrificed to them.[ag] 22 And in all of your detestable things and your fornication you did not remember the days of your childhood when you were naked and bare,[ah] when you were kicking about in your blood.

23 “‘And then after all of your evil! Woe, woe, to you!’ declares[ai] the Lord Yahweh. 24 ‘And then you built for yourself a mound, and you made for yourself a high place in every public square. 25 At the head of every street you built your high place and you disgraced your beauty and you spread your feet for every passerby, and you increased your whoring. 26 And you prostituted with the Egyptians,[aj] your neighbors who were sexually aroused,[ak] and you increased your fornication to provoke me. 27 And look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I reduced your portion, and I gave you into[al] the desire of your haters, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed because of your lewd conduct.[am] 28 And you prostituted with the Assyrians[an] on account of your insatiable lust,[ao] and you prostituted with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 And you increased your fornication to the land of traders,[ap] to Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied. 30 How hot with fever was your heart!’ declares[aq] the Lord Yahweh. ‘When you did[ar] all of these actions of a headstrong female prostitute,[as] 31 when you built[at] your mound at the head of every street and your high place you made on every street, yet[au] you were[av] not like a prostitute, as you were scorning your harlot’s wages. 32 O, adulterous woman! In the place of her husband she received strangers. 33 To all prostitutes they give a fee, but you, you gave your gifts to all of your lovers, and you bribed them to come to you from all around in your whorings! 34 And it was the opposite with you from the other women in your whorings; no one solicited you as a prostitute.[aw] You gave[ax] a harlot’s wages, and a harlot’s wages were not given to you, and so it was just the opposite.

35 “‘Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of Yahweh. 36 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Because of the pouring out of your shame and because your nakedness was revealed in your whoring with your lovers, and on account of all of the idols of your detestable things, and according to the blood of your children whom you gave to them, 37 therefore, look! I am gathering all of your lovers whom you were pleased about,[ay] and all of whom you loved in addition to all of whom you hated, and I will gather them against you from everywhere,[az] and I will uncover your nakedness to them, and they will see all of your nakedness. 38 And I will judge you with the judgment of women committing adultery and shedding blood, and I will give you the blood of rage and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hand, and they will demolish your mound, and they will break down your high places, and they will strip you of your clothes, and they will take your beautiful jewelry,[ba] and they will leave you naked and bare. 40 And they will bring up against you a crowd, and they will stone you with stones,[bb] and they will cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 And they will burn your houses with fire, and they will execute against you judgments before[bc] many women, and I will stop you from prostitution, and also a harlot’s wages you will not give[bd] again. 42 And I will satisfy my rage on you, and my jealousy will turn away from you, and I will be calm, and I will not be angry any longer. 43 Because[be] you did not remember[bf] the days of your childhood and you made me angry with all of these. And in turn I, look, I will return your way upon your head,’ declares[bg] the Lord Yahweh, ‘and did[bh] you not do wickedness[bi] in addition to all of your detestable things? 44 Look! Everyone quoting a proverb[bj] against you, he will quote, saying,[bk] ‘Like her mother is her daughter!’ 45 You are a daughter of your mother who abhorred her husband and her children, and you are a sister of your sisters who abhorred their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. 46 And your elder sister, she is Samaria, and her daughters, who are dwelling on your north, and your younger sister is the one dwelling on your south; she is Sodom and her daughters. 47 And you have not only gone in their ways, but[bl] you also did according to their detestable things. In such a short time[bm] you behaved more corruptly than they in all of your ways. 48 As surely as I live,’[bn] declares[bo] the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do as[bp] you and your daughters did. 49 Look! This was the iniquity of Sodom, your sister: Pride, abundance of food, and prosperous ease[bq] was to her and to her daughters, and she did not sustain the needy and the poor.[br] 50 And they were proud, and they did a detestable thing before me,[bs] and I removed them because[bt] I saw it. 51 And Samaria did not sin according to even half of your sins,[bu] and you caused your detestable things to increase more than they, and you made your sister righteous in comparison with all of your detestable things that you did.[bv] 52 Also,[bw] you bear your disgrace, by which you furnished justification to your sisters[bx] through your sins by which you acted more abominably than they; they were more righteous than you, and also,[by] you be ashamed and bear your disgrace through your making your sister righteous.

53 And I will restore their fortune, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and even the fortunes of your captivity in the midst of them, 54 in order that you may bear your disgrace and you may be put to shame because of all that you did at your consoling them. 55 And as for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters, they will return to their former state, and you and your daughters will return to your former state. 56 And was not Sodom, your sister, a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride 57 before[bz] your evil was uncovered? It was like the time of the scorn of the daughters of Aram and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who are despising you. 58 Your wickedness and your detestable things, you, you must bear them,’ declares[ca] Yahweh. 59 ‘For thus says the Lord Yahweh: And I will do it[cb] to you according to what you have done,[cc] who despised the oath to break covenant. 60 And I, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.[cd] 61 And you will remember your ways, and you will be ashamed when you take your sisters, both the older and the younger,[ce] and I give them to you as daughters, but not on account of your covenant. 62 And I, I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am Yahweh, 63 in order that you will remember, and you will be ashamed, and you will not open your mouth again[cf] because of[cg] your disgrace when I forgive you for all that you have done!’” declares[ch] the Lord Yahweh.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 16:1 Literally “was”
  2. Ezekiel 16:1 Literally “to say”
  3. Ezekiel 16:2 Or “mortal,” or “son of humankind”
  4. Ezekiel 16:3 Hebrew “Canaanite”
  5. Ezekiel 16:4 Literally “on the day of being born you”
  6. Ezekiel 16:4 Literally “with water not you were cleansed for cleansing”
  7. Ezekiel 16:4 Literally “being rubbed with salt you were not rubbed with salt”
  8. Ezekiel 16:4 Literally “being wrapped in strips of cloth not you were wrapped in strips of cloth”
  9. Ezekiel 16:5 Literally “not took pity on you an eye”
  10. Ezekiel 16:5 Literally “to the face of the field”
  11. Ezekiel 16:5 Literally “on the day of being born you”
  12. Ezekiel 16:7 Or “A myriad I have made you”
  13. Ezekiel 16:7 Literally “ornament of ornaments”
  14. Ezekiel 16:8 Literally “your time was the time of lovemaking”
  15. Ezekiel 16:8 Hebrew “in”
  16. Ezekiel 16:8 Literally “declaration of”
  17. Ezekiel 16:8 Literally “and you were to me”
  18. Ezekiel 16:11 Hebrew “ornament”
  19. Ezekiel 16:12 Literally “a crown of splendor”
  20. Ezekiel 16:13 Literally “you could succeed to queenship”
  21. Ezekiel 16:14 Literally “declaration of”
  22. Ezekiel 16:16 Or “gaudy”
  23. Ezekiel 16:16 Literally “Not were happening”
  24. Ezekiel 16:16 Literally “and not it will be”; Hebrew text unclear
  25. Ezekiel 16:17 Literally “the jewelry of splendor”
  26. Ezekiel 16:17 Literally “images of a male”
  27. Ezekiel 16:18 Literally “to the face of them”
  28. Ezekiel 16:19 Literally “to the face of them”
  29. Ezekiel 16:19 Literally “a scent of an incense”
  30. Ezekiel 16:19 Literally “declaration of”
  31. Ezekiel 16:20 Or “consumed”
  32. Ezekiel 16:20 Literally “it was too little from your whorings”
  33. Ezekiel 16:21 Literally “to cause them to cross over to them”
  34. Ezekiel 16:22 Literally “at your being naked and bare”
  35. Ezekiel 16:23 Literally “declaration of”
  36. Ezekiel 16:26 Literally “sons/children of Egypt”
  37. Ezekiel 16:26 Literally “those being great of flesh”
  38. Ezekiel 16:27 Hebrew “in”
  39. Ezekiel 16:27 Literally “your way of life”
  40. Ezekiel 16:28 Literally “sons/children of Assyria”
  41. Ezekiel 16:28 Literally “of no your satisfaction”
  42. Ezekiel 16:29 Hebrew “trader”
  43. Ezekiel 16:30 Literally “declaration of”
  44. Ezekiel 16:30 Literally “at/in you to do”
  45. Ezekiel 16:30 Literally “deeds of a woman prostituting domineering”
  46. Ezekiel 16:31 Literally “at/in building your”
  47. Ezekiel 16:31 Hebrew “and”
  48. Ezekiel 16:31 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  49. Ezekiel 16:34 Literally “and after you not he solicited a prostitute”
  50. Ezekiel 16:34 Literally “And at your giving”
  51. Ezekiel 16:37 Literally “whom you were pleased about them”
  52. Ezekiel 16:37 Literally “all around”
  53. Ezekiel 16:39 Literally “the objects of your splendor”
  54. Ezekiel 16:40 Hebrew “stone”
  55. Ezekiel 16:41 Literally “to the eyes of”
  56. Ezekiel 16:41 Or “pay”
  57. Ezekiel 16:43 Literally “because that”
  58. Ezekiel 16:43 According to the reading tradition (Qere) with BHS
  59. Ezekiel 16:43 Literally “declaration of”
  60. Ezekiel 16:43 According to the reading tradition (Qere); cf. BHS
  61. Ezekiel 16:43 Literally “the wickedness”
  62. Ezekiel 16:44 Literally “proverbing a proverb”
  63. Ezekiel 16:44 Literally “to say”
  64. Ezekiel 16:47 Or “and”
  65. Ezekiel 16:47 Literally “as few little and”
  66. Ezekiel 16:48 Literally “live I”
  67. Ezekiel 16:48 Literally “declaration of”
  68. Ezekiel 16:48 Hebrew “as that”
  69. Ezekiel 16:49 Literally “and ease of granting relief”
  70. Ezekiel 16:49 Literally “And the hand of the needy and the poor not she did take hold of”
  71. Ezekiel 16:50 Literally “to the face of me”
  72. Ezekiel 16:50 Literally “as that”
  73. Ezekiel 16:51 Literally “about/as/like the half of sins your not did she sin”
  74. Ezekiel 16:51 According to the reading tradition (Qere); cf. BHS
  75. Ezekiel 16:52 Or “indeed”
  76. Ezekiel 16:52 Hebrew “sister”
  77. Ezekiel 16:52 Or “indeed”
  78. Ezekiel 16:57 Literally “at not yet”
  79. Ezekiel 16:58 Literally “declaration of”
  80. Ezekiel 16:59 According to the reading tradition (Qere)
  81. Ezekiel 16:59 Literally “as that you have done”
  82. Ezekiel 16:60 Literally “a covenant of eternity”
  83. Ezekiel 16:61 Literally “the older from you to the younger from you”
  84. Ezekiel 16:63 Literally “and not it will be again an opening of mouth”
  85. Ezekiel 16:63 Literally “from the face of”
  86. Ezekiel 16:63 Literally “declaration of”
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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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