Ezekiel 16:1-34

Contemporary English Version

Jerusalem Is Unfaithful

16 The Lord said:

² Ezekiel, son of man, remind the people of Jerusalem of their disgusting sins ³ and tell them that I, the Lord God, am saying:

Jerusalem, you were born in the country where Canaanites lived. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.^{[a] 4} When you were born, no one cut you loose from your mother or washed your body. No one rubbed your skin with salt and olive oil,^[b] and wrapped you in warm blankets. ⁵ Not one person loved you enough to do any of these things, and no one even felt sorry for you. You were despised, thrown into a field, and forgotten.

⁶ I saw you lying there, rolling around in your own blood, and I couldn't let you die. ⁷ I took care of you, like someone caring for a tender, young plant. You grew up to be a beautiful young woman with mature breasts and hair, but you were still naked.

⁸ When I saw you again, you were old enough to have sex. So I covered your naked body with my own robe.^[c] Then I solemnly promised that you would belong to me and that I, the Lord God, would take care of you.

⁹ I washed the blood off you and rubbed your skin with olive oil. ¹⁰ I gave you the finest clothes and the most expensive robes,^[d] as well as sandals made from the best leather. ¹¹ I gave you bracelets, a necklace, ¹² a ring for your nose, some earrings, and a beautiful crown. ¹³ Your jewelry was gold and silver, and your clothes were made of only the finest material and embroidered linen. Your bread was baked from fine flour, and you ate honey and olive oil. You were as beautiful as a queen, ¹⁴ and everyone on earth knew it. I, the Lord God, had helped you become a lovely young woman.

¹⁵ You learned that you were attractive enough to have any man you wanted, so you offered yourself to every passerby.^{[e] 16} You made shrines for yourself and decorated them with some of your clothes. That's where you took your visitors to have sex with them. These things should never have happened!^{[f] 17} You made idols out of the gold and silver jewelry I gave you, then you sinned by worshiping those idols. ¹⁸ You dressed them in the clothes you got from me, and you offered them the olive oil and incense I gave you. ¹⁹ I supplied you with fine flour, olive oil, and honey, but you sacrificed it all as offerings to please those idols. I, the Lord God, watched this happen.

²⁰ But you did something even worse than that—you sacrificed your own children to those idols! ²¹ You slaughtered my children, so you could offer them as sacrifices. ²² You were so busy sinning and being a prostitute that you refused to think about the days when you were young and were rolling around naked in your own blood.

²³ Now I, the Lord God, say you are doomed! Not only did you do these evil things, ²⁴ but you also built places on every street corner ²⁵ where you disgraced yourself by having sex with anyone who walked by. And you did that more and more every day! ²⁶ To make me angry, you even offered yourself to Egyptians, who were always ready to sleep with you.

²⁷ So I punished you by letting those greedy Philistine enemies take over some of your territory. But even they were offended by your repulsive behavior.

²⁸ You couldn't get enough sex, so you chased after Assyrians and slept with them. You still weren't satisfied, ²⁹ so you went after Babylonians. But those merchants could not satisfy you either.

³⁰ I, the Lord God, say that you were so disgusting that you would have done anything to get what you wanted.^{[g] 31} You had sex on every street corner, and when you finished, you refused to accept money. That's worse than being a prostitute! ³² You are nothing but an unfaithful wife who would rather have sex with strangers than with your own husband. ³³ Prostitutes accept money for having sex, but you bribe men from everywhere to have sex with you. ³⁴ You're not like other prostitutes. Men don't ask you for sex—you offer to pay them!