Ezekiel 16:35-63

Good News Translation

God's Judgment on Jerusalem

³⁵ Now then, Jerusalem, you whore! Hear what the Lord is saying.

³⁶ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “You stripped off your clothes, and like a prostitute, you gave yourself to your lovers and to all your disgusting idols, and you killed your children as sacrifices to idols. ³⁷ Because of this I will bring all your former lovers together—the ones you liked and the ones you hated. I will bring them around you in a circle, and then I will strip off your clothes and let them see you naked. ³⁸ I will condemn you for adultery and murder, and in my anger and fury I will punish you with death. ³⁹ I will put you in their power, and they will tear down the places where you engage in prostitution and worship idols. They will take away your clothes and jewels and leave you completely naked.

⁴⁰ “They will stir up a crowd to stone you, and they will cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn your houses down and let crowds of women see your punishment. I will make you stop being a prostitute and make you stop giving gifts to your lovers. ⁴² Then my anger will be over, and I will be calm. I will not be angry or jealous any more. ⁴³ You have forgotten how I treated you when you were young, and you have made me angry by all the things you did. That is why I have made you pay for them all. Why did you add sexual immorality to all the other disgusting things you did?” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

⁴⁴ The Lord said, “People will use this proverb about you, Jerusalem: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You really are your mother's daughter. She detested her husband and her children. You are like your sisters, who hated their husbands and their children. You and your sister cities had a Hittite mother and an Amorite^[a] father.

⁴⁶ “Your older sister, with her villages, is Samaria, in the north. Your younger sister, with her villages, is Sodom, in the south. ⁴⁷ Were you satisfied to follow in their footsteps and copy their disgusting actions? No, in only a little while you were acting worse than they were in everything you did.

⁴⁸ “As surely as I am the living God,” the Sovereign Lord says, “your sister Sodom and her villages never did the evil that you and your villages have done. ⁴⁹ She and her daughters were proud because they had plenty to eat and lived in peace and quiet, but they did not take care of the poor and the underprivileged. ⁵⁰ They were proud and stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.

⁵¹ “Samaria did not sin half as much as you have. You have acted more disgustingly than she ever did. Your corruption makes your sisters look innocent by comparison. ⁵² And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure.”

Sodom and Samaria Will Be Restored

⁵³ The Lord said to Jerusalem, “I will make them prosperous again—Sodom and her villages and Samaria and her villages. Yes, I will make you prosperous too. ⁵⁴ You will be ashamed of yourself, and your disgrace will show your sisters how well-off they are. ⁵⁵ They will become prosperous again, and you and your villages will also be restored. ⁵⁶ Didn't you joke about Sodom in those days when you were proud ⁵⁷ and before the evil you did had been exposed? Now you are just like her—a joke to the Edomites, the Philistines, and your other neighbors who hate you. ⁵⁸ You must suffer for the obscene, disgusting things you have done.” The Lord has spoken.

A Covenant That Lasts Forever

⁵⁹ The Sovereign Lord says, “I will treat you the way you deserve, because you ignored your promises and broke the covenant. ⁶⁰ But I will honor the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will make a covenant with you that will last forever. ⁶¹ You will remember how you have acted, and be ashamed of it when you get your older sister and your younger sister back. I will let them be like daughters to you, even though this was not part of my covenant with you. ⁶² I will renew my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. ⁶³ I will forgive all the wrongs you have done, but you will remember them and be too ashamed to open your mouth.” The Sovereign Lord has spoken.