Ezekiel 16
The Lord’s Faithless Bride
Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 a“Son of man, bmake known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an aAmorite and your mother a bHittite. 4 And as for your birth, aon the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, abut you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, bon the day that you were born.
6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ain your blood, I said to you ain your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ain your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 aI made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall band arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet cyou were naked and bare.
8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and aI spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you band entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, cand you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and aanointed you with oil. 10 aI clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 aAnd I adorned you with ornaments and bput bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and 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 and silk and embroidered cloth. aYou ate fine flour and honey and oil. bYou grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And ayour renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
15 a“But you trusted in your beauty band played the whore because of your renown cand lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his. 16 You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be. 17 You also took ayour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and bmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, aand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 aAlso my bread that I gave you—bI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ca pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 aAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and bthese you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember athe days of your youth, bwhen you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.
23 “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), 24 you built yourself aa vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ayou built your lofty place and made byour beauty an abomination, coffering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 aYou also played the whore bwith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, cmultiplying your whoring, dto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you aand diminished your allotted portion band delivered you to the greed of your enemies, cthe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 aYou played the whore also bwith the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land aof Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.
30 “How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, abecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, abut you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and ayou gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore 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 whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, aand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, aI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ball those you hated. cI will gather them against you from every side dand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ethey may see all your nakedness. 38 aAnd I will judge you bas women who commit adultery and cshed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your avaulted chamber and break down byour lofty places. cThey shall strip you of your clothes and take dyour beautiful jewels and leave you enaked and bare. 40 aThey shall bring up a crowd against you, band they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 aAnd they shall bburn your houses and cexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. dI will make you stop playing the whore, and eyou shall also give payment no more. 42 aSo will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. 43 Because you have not remembered athe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, bI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ccommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?
44 “Behold, everyone awho uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of ayour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. bYour mother was a Hittite and byour father an Amorite. 46 And ayour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and byour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 aNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time byou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 aAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister bSodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, aexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and adid an abomination before me. So bI removed them, when I saw it. 51 aSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and bhave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 aBear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. 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 a“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, 54 that you may bear your disgrace aand be ashamed of all that you have done, bbecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, aand Samaria and her daughters shall return bto their former state, aand you and your daughters shall return bto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ain the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become aan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and for bthe daughters of the Philistines, cthose all around who despise you. 58 aYou bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.
The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant
59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you awho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet aI will remember my covenant with you bin the days of your youth, cand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 aThen you will remember your ways band be ashamed when you take cyour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you das daughters, but not on account of the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, aand you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and anever open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway,
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.