Ezekiel 16:1-62, Ezekiel 20:1-44 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Ezekiel 16:1-62

Jerusalem Plays the Harlot

Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, 2 “Son of man, ^amake known to Jerusalem her abominations 3 and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh 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, ^aon 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 had pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ¹^aopen field, for your soul was abhorred on the day you were born.
6 “Then I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood. So I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Indeed I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 I ^amade you ¹numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall, and came into the age for fine ornaments; 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, ¹you were at the time for love; so I ^aspread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^bswore to you and ^centered into a covenant with you so that you ^dbecame Mine,” declares Lord Yahweh. 9 “Then I washed you with water, rinsed your blood off from you, and ^aanointed you with oil. 10 I also clothed you with ^aembroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 11 I also adorned you with ornaments and put ^abracelets on your hands and a ^bnecklace around your neck. 12 I also put a ^aring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a ^bsplendid crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with ^agold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^broyalty. 14 Then your ^aname went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^bperfect because of My majesty which I set on you,” declares Lord Yahweh.
15 “But you ^atrusted in your beauty and ^bplayed the harlot because of your name, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by ¹who might be willing. 16 You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and played the harlot on them, ¹which should never come about nor happen. 17 You also took your splendid ¹^ajewelry made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. 18 Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them and gave My oil and My incense before them. 19 Also ^aMy bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I had you eat, you gave before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares Lord Yahweh. 20 “Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to ^aMe, and ^bsacrificed them to ¹idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? 21 You slaughtered ^aMy children and gave them up to ¹idols by ^bcausing them to pass through the fire. 22 Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of ^ayour youth, when you were naked and bare—you were squirming in your blood!
23 “Now it happened after all your evil—‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares Lord Yahweh— 24 that you built yourself a ^ashrine and made yourself a ^bhigh place in every square. 25 You built yourself a high place at the head of ^aevery street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. 26 You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your ¹lustful neighbors, and you multiplied your harlotry to ^aprovoke Me to anger. 27 Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut off your rations. And I gave you up to the desire of those who hate you, the ^adaughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. 28 Moreover, you played the harlot with the ^aAssyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. 29 You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”
30 “How ^alanguishing is your heart,” declares Lord Yahweh, “while you do all these things, the actions of a ¹^bbold-faced harlot. 31 When you built your shrine at the head of every way and made your high place in every square, in ^adisdaining your earnings, you were not like a harlot. 32 You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! 33 ¹Men give gifts to all harlots, but you ^agive your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from all around for your harlotries. 34 Thus you are the opposite of those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot ¹as you do, because you give away your earnings and no earnings are given to you; thus you are the opposite.”
35 Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Yahweh. 36 Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your abominable ^aidols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to ¹idols, 37 therefore, behold, I will ^agather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you ^bhated. So I will gather them against you from all around and ^cuncover your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness. 38 Thus I will ^ajudge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ^bwrath and jealousy. 39 I will also give you into ¹the hands of your lovers, and they will pull down your shrines, tear down your high places, ^astrip you of your clothing, take away your ²splendid jewelry, and will leave you naked and bare. 40 They will bring up an ^aassembly against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will ^aburn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will ^bmake you cease from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer give ¹your earnings to your lovers. 42 So I ^awill ¹cause My wrath against you to be at rest, and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be quiet, and I will ^bnot be provoked anymore. 43 Because you have ^anot remembered the days of your youth but ¹have ^benraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will ^cbring your way down on your own head,” declares Lord Yahweh, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.
44 “Behold, everyone who quotes ^aproverbs will quote this proverb concerning you, saying, ‘¹Like mother, ¹like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the ^asister of your sisters, who ^bloathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Now your ^aolder sister is Samaria, who lives ¹north of you with her ²daughters; and your younger sister, who lives ³south of you, is ^bSodom with her daughters. 47 Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were ^atoo little, you acted ^bmore corruptly in all your ways than they. 48 As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “Sodom your sister and her daughters have ^anot done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had ^alofty pride, ^babundant food, and ^cquiet ease, but she did not strengthen the hand of the ^dafflicted and needy. 50 Then they were haughty and committed ^aabominations before Me. So I ^bremoved them ¹when I saw it. 51 Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus you have made your sisters appear ^arighteous by all your abominations which you have done. 52 Also bear your dishonor in that you have ¹made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted ^amore abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your dishonor, in that you made your sisters appear righteous.
53 “Nevertheless, I will ¹return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and ²along with them ³your own captivity, 54 in order that you may bear your dishonor and feel ^adishonor for all that you have done when you become ^ba comfort to them. 55 Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, ¹will 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 in your mouth in your day of lofty pride, 57 before your ^awickedness was uncovered, ¹so now you have become the ^breproach of the daughters of ²Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines—those all around you who despise you. 58 You have ^aborne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations,” declares Yahweh. 59 For thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have ^adespised the oath by breaking the covenant.

Yahweh’s Everlasting Covenant

60 “Nevertheless, I Myself will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an ^aeverlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will ^aremember your ways and feel dishonor 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 Thus I will ^aestablish My covenant with you, and you shall ^bknow that I am Yahweh,

Ezekiel 20:1-44

The Abominations of the Fathers of Israel

Now it happened in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth of the month, that ¹some of the ^aelders of Israel came to inquire of Yahweh and sat before me. 2 And the word of Yahweh came to me saying, 3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Do you come to inquire of Me? As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “^aI will not be inquired of by you.”’ 4 Will you judge them, will you judge them, son of man? ^aMake them know the abominations of their fathers 5 and say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day when I ^achose Israel and ¹swore to the seed of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, ^bI am Yahweh your God, 6 on that day I swore to them, ^ato bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had ¹selected for them, ^bflowing with milk and honey, which is ^cthe glory of all lands. 7 I said to them, ‘^aCast away, each of you, the detestable things of his eyes, and ^bdo not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; ^cI am Yahweh your God.’ 8 But they ^arebelled against Me and were not willing to listen to Me; each one did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the ^bidols of Egypt.
Then I said I would ^cpour out My wrath on them, to ¹spend My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. 9 But I acted ^afor the sake of My name, that it should ^bnot be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 10 So I took them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the ^awilderness. 11 I gave them My ^astatutes and made them know My judgments, ^bwhich, if a man does them, he will live by them. 12 And I also gave them My sabbaths to be a ^asign between Me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh who sanctifies them. 13 But the house of Israel ^arebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes, and they rejected My judgments, ^bwhich, if a man does them, he will live by them; and My ^csabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I said I would ^dpour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to completely destroy them. 14 But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out. 15 Also ^aI swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands, 16 because they rejected My judgments, and as for My statutes, they did not walk in them; they even profaned My sabbaths, for their ^aheart continually walked after their idols. 17 Yet My eye had pity on them rather than bringing them to ruin, and I did not make of them a ^acomplete destruction in the wilderness.
18 “I said to their ¹^achildren in the wilderness, ‘^bDo not walk in the statutes of your fathers and do not keep their judgments and do not defile yourselves with their idols. 19 ^aI am Yahweh your God; ^bwalk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them. 20 ^aKeep My sabbaths holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am Yahweh your God.’ 21 But the ^achildren rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to do My judgments, which, if a man does them, he will live by them; they profaned My sabbaths. So I said I would pour out My wrath on them, to spend My anger against them in the wilderness. 22 But I ^aturned back My hand and acted ^bfor the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 23 Also I swore to them in the wilderness that I would ^ascatter them among the nations and ¹disperse them among the lands 24 because they had not done My judgments, but had rejected My statutes and had profaned My sabbaths, and ^atheir eyes were going after the idols of their fathers. 25 And I also gave them statutes that were ^anot good and judgments by which they could not live; 26 and I pronounced them ^aunclean because of their gifts, in that they ^bcaused all ¹their firstborn to pass through the fire so that I might make them desolate, in order that they might ^cknow that I am Yahweh.”’
27 “Therefore, son of man, ^aspeak to the house of Israel and say to them, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Yet in this your fathers have ^bblasphemed Me by ^cacting unfaithfully against Me. 28 Indeed, I ^abrought them into the land which I swore to give to them, and they saw every ^bhigh hill and every leafy tree, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they gave the provocation of their offering. There also they made their soothing aroma, and there they poured out their drink offerings. 29 Then I said to them, ‘What is the high place to which you are going?’ So its name is called ¹Bamah to this day.”’ 30 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Will you defile yourselves in the way of your ^afathers and play the harlot after their detestable things? 31 ¹And when you offer your gifts, when you ^acause your sons to pass through the fire, you are defiling yourselves with all your idols to this day. And shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will not be inquired of by you. 32 And what ^acomes upon your spirit will not happen, when you say: ‘We will be like the nations, like the families of the lands, ^bto minister to wood and stone.’

Yahweh Judges His People

33 “As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “surely with a strong hand and with an ^aoutstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be ^bking over you. 34 And I will ^abring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a strong hand and with an outstretched arm and with ^bwrath poured out; 35 and I will bring you into the ^awilderness of the peoples, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 36 As I ^aentered into judgment with your fathers in the ^bwilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you,” declares Lord Yahweh. 37 “And I will make you ^apass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant; 38 and I will ^apurge from you the rebels and those who transgress against Me; I will bring them out of the land where they sojourn, but they will ^bnot enter the ¹land of Israel. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh.
39 “As for you, O house of Israel,” thus says Lord Yahweh, “^aGo, serve everyone his idols; ¹but after this you will surely listen to Me, and My holy name you will ^bprofane no longer with your gifts and with your idols. 40 For on My holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel,” declares Lord Yahweh, “there the whole house of Israel, ^aall of them, will serve Me in the land; there I will ^baccept them, and there I will ¹seek your contributions and the choicest of your gifts, with all your holy things. 41 ¹As a soothing aroma I will accept you when I ^abring you out from the peoples and gather you from the lands where you are scattered; and I will prove Myself ^bholy among you in the sight of the nations. 42 And ^ayou will know that I am Yahweh, ^bwhen I bring you onto the ground of Israel, into the ^cland which I swore to give to your fathers. 43 And there you will ^aremember your ways and all your deeds with which you have defiled yourselves; and you will ^bloathe yourselves to your own faces for all the evil things that you have done. 44 Then ^ayou will know that I am Yahweh when I have dealt with you ^bfor My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds, O house of Israel,” declares Lord Yahweh.’”