Ezekiel 16:1-63, Ezekiel 23:1-49 - LSB - Legacy Standard Bible

Ezekiel 16:1-63

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, 63 so that you may ^aremember and be ashamed and ^bnever open your mouth anymore because of your dishonor, when I have ^catoned for you for all that you have done,” declares Lord Yahweh.

Ezekiel 23:1-49

The Harlotries of Oholah and Oholibah

The word of Yahweh came to me again, saying, 2 “Son of man, there were ^atwo women, the daughters of one mother; 3 and they played the harlot in Egypt. They ^aplayed the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed, and there their virgin bosom was handled. 4 Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
5 “Oholah played the harlot ¹while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the ^aAssyrians, her neighbors, 6 who were clothed in purple, ^agovernors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. 7 She gave her harlotries to them, all of them the choicest ¹men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she ^adefiled herself. 8 She did not forsake her harlotries ^afrom the time in Egypt; for in her youth ¹men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their harlotry on her. 9 Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her ^alovers, into the hand of the ¹Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 They ^auncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they killed her with the sword. Thus she became a despised name among women, and they executed judgments on her.
11 “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was ^amore corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister. 12 She lusted after the ¹^aAssyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable choice men. 13 And I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took ¹the same way. 14 So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men ^aportrayed on the wall, images of the ^bChaldeans portrayed with vermilion, 15 girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, in the likeness of the ¹Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16 ¹And she saw them and ^alusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17 So the ¹^aBabylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. Then she became defiled by them, and her soul became disgusted with them. 18 And she ^auncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then My soul became ^bdisgusted with her, as My soul had become disgusted with her ^csister. 19 Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt. 20 She ^alusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses. 21 Thus you ¹longed for the ^alewdness of your youth, when ²the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.
22 “Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will arouse your lovers against you, those with whom your soul was disgusted, and I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the ¹^aBabylonians and all the ^bChaldeans, ^cPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the ²^dAssyrians with them; desirable choice men, governors and officials, all of them, officers and ³men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 They will come against you with weapons, ^achariots and ¹wagons, and with an assembly of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with large shield and shield and helmet; and I will give the ^bjudgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will set My ^ajealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your ¹survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your ^bsons and your daughters; and your ¹survivors will be consumed by the fire. 26 They will also ^astrip you of your clothes and take away your ^bbeautiful jewelry. 27 Thus ^aI will make your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’ 28 For thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you ^ahate, into the hand of those with whom your soul was disgusted. 29 They will ^adeal with you in hatred, take all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries. 30 These things will be done to you because you have ^aplayed the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give ^aher cup into your hand.’ 32 Thus says Lord Yahweh,

‘You will ^adrink your sister’s cup,

Which is deep and wide.

¹You will be ^blaughed at and held in derision;

It contains much.

You will be filled with ^adrunkenness and sorrow,

The cup of horror and desolation,

The cup of your sister Samaria.

You will ^adrink it and drain it.

Then you will gnaw its fragments

And tear your breasts;

for I have spoken,’ declares Lord Yahweh. 35 Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because you have ^aforgotten Me and ^bcast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.’”
36 Moreover, Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, will you ^ajudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then ^bdeclare to them their abominations. 37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, ^awhom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to ¹them as food. 38 Again, they have done this to Me: they have ^adefiled My sanctuary on the same day and have ^bprofaned My sabbaths. 39 For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My ^asanctuary on the same day to profane it; and behold, thus they did within My house.
40 “Furthermore, ¹they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came—for whom you bathed, ^apainted your eyes, and ^bdecorated yourselves with ornaments; 41 and you sat on a splendid ^acouch with a ^btable arranged before it on which you had set My ^cincense and My ^coil. 42 The sound of a multitude ^aat ease was with her; and ^bdrunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the ¹common sort. And they put ^cbracelets on ²the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 “Then I said concerning her who was ^aworn out by adulteries, ‘¹Will they now commit harlotry with her when she is thus?’ 44 ¹But they went in to her as they would go in to a harlot. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women. 45 But they, righteous men, will ^ajudge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
46 “For thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Bring up an assembly against them and give them over to ^aterror and plunder. 47 The assembly will ^astone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and their daughters and ^bburn their houses with fire. 48 Thus I will make lewdness cease from the land, that all women may be chastised and not commit ¹lewdness as you have done. 49 Your lewdness ¹will be ^arequited upon you, and you will bear the sin of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am Lord Yahweh.’”