Ezekiel 15-18

New King James Version

The Outcast Vine

15 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood, the vine branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³ Is wood taken from it to make any object? Or can men make a peg from it to hang any vessel on? ⁴ Instead, ^(A)it is thrown into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both ends of it, and its middle is burned. Is it useful for any work? ⁵ Indeed, when it was whole, no object could be made from it. How much less will it be useful for any work when the fire has devoured it, and it is burned?

⁶ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁷ and ^(B)I will set My face against them. ^(C)They will go out from one fire, but another fire shall devour them. ^(D)Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I set My face against them. ⁸ Thus I will make the land desolate, because they have persisted in unfaithfulness,’ says the Lord God.”

God’s Love for Jerusalem

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, ^(E)cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: “Your ^[a]birth ^(F)and your nativity are from the land of Canaan; ^(G)your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴ As for your nativity, ^(H)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵ No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you; but you were thrown out into the open field, when you yourself were ^[b]loathed on the day you were born.

⁶ “And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ ^7 (I)I made you ^[c]thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.

⁸ “When I passed by you again and looked upon you, indeed your time was the time of love; ^(J)so I spread ^[d]My wing over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I ^(K)swore an oath to you and entered into a ^(L)covenant with you, and ^(M)you became Mine,” says the Lord God.

⁹ “Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of ^[e]badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I adorned you with ornaments, ^(N)put bracelets on your wrists, ^(O)and a chain on your neck. ¹² And I put a ^[f]jewel in your nose, 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, silk, and embroidered cloth. ^(P)You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly ^(Q)beautiful, and succeeded to royalty. ^14 (R)Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.

Jerusalem’s Harlotry

^15 (S)“But you trusted in your own beauty, ^(T)played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it. ^16 (U)You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored ^[g]high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be. ¹⁷ You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹ Also ^(V)My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as ^[h]sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.

^20 (W)“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter, ²¹ that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the ^(X)fire? ²² And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your ^(Y)youth, ^(Z)when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.

²³ “Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God— ²⁴ that ^(AA)you also built for yourself a shrine, and ^(AB)made a ^[i]high place for yourself in every street. ²⁵ You built your high places ^(AC)at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry. ²⁶ You also committed harlotry with ^(AD)the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to ^(AE)provoke Me to anger.

²⁷ “Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your ^[j]allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, ^(AF)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. ²⁸ You also played the harlot with the ^(AG)Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹ Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, ^(AH)Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.

³⁰ “How degenerate is your heart!” says the Lord God, “seeing you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen harlot.

Jerusalem’s Adultery

^31 (AI)“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your ^[k]high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned ^(AJ)payment. ³² You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband. ³³ Men make payment to all harlots, but ^(AK)you made your payments to all your lovers, and ^[l]hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry. ³⁴ You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”

Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her

³⁵ ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord! ³⁶ Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of ^(AL)the blood of your children which you gave to them, ³⁷ surely, therefore, ^(AM)I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸ And I will judge you as ^(AN)women who break wedlock or ^(AO)shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy. ³⁹ I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down ^(AP)your ^[m]high places. ^(AQ)They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.

^40 (AR)“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, ^(AS)and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. ⁴¹ They shall ^(AT)burn your houses with fire, and ^(AU)execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you ^(AV)cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers. ⁴² So ^(AW)I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more. ⁴³ Because ^(AX)you did not remember the days of your youth, but ^[n]agitated Me with all these things, surely ^(AY)I will also recompense your ^[o]deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.

More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom

⁴⁴ “Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’ ⁴⁵ You are your mother’s daughter, ^[p]loathing husband and children; and you are the ^(AZ)sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; ^(BA)your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶ “Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and ^(BB)your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters. ⁴⁷ You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, ^(BC)you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸ “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither ^(BD)your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, ^(BE)fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ And they were haughty and ^(BF)committed abomination before Me; therefore ^(BG)I took them away as ^[q]I saw fit.

⁵¹ “Samaria did not commit ^(BH)half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and ^(BI)have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done. ⁵² You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.

^53 (BJ)“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back ^(BK)the captives of your captivity among them, ⁵⁴ that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when ^(BL)you comforted them. ⁵⁵ When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state. ⁵⁶ For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride, ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the ^(BM)reproach of the daughters of ^[r]Syria and all those around her, and of ^(BN)the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. ^58 (BO)You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord. ⁵⁹ For thus says the Lord God: “I will deal with you as you have done, who ^(BP)despised ^(BQ)the oath by breaking the covenant.

An Everlasting Covenant

⁶⁰ “Nevertheless I will ^(BR)remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish ^(BS)an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then ^(BT)you will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for ^(BU)daughters, ^(BV)but not because of My covenant with you. ^62 (BW)And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ that you may ^(BX)remember and be ashamed, ^(BY)and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord God.’ ”

The Eagles and the Vine

17 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, pose a riddle, and speak a ^(BZ)parable to the house of Israel, ³ and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

⁹ “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord God:

¹¹ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹² “Say now to ^(CI)the rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed ^(CJ)the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon. ^13 (CK)And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, ^(CL)and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be ^(CM)brought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵ But ^(CN)he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, ^(CO)that they might give him horses and many people. ^(CP)Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?

¹⁶ ‘As I live,’ says the Lord God, ‘surely ^(CQ)in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die. ^17 (CR)Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, ^(CS)when they heap up a siege mound and build a ^[u]wall to cut off many persons. ¹⁸ Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact ^(CT)gave^[v] his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape.’ ”

¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: “As I live, surely My oath which he despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will recompense on his own head. ²⁰ I will ^(CU)spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and ^(CV)try him there for the ^[w]treason which he committed against Me. ^21 (CW)All his ^[x]fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be ^(CX)scattered to every wind; and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Israel Exalted at Last^(CY)

²² Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest ^(CZ)branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs ^(DA)a tender one, and will ^(DB)plant it on a high and prominent mountain. ^23 (DC)On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. ^(DD)Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the Lord, ^(DE)have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; ^(DF)I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”

A False Proverb Refuted

18 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying, ² “What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying:

³ “As I live,” says the Lord God, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.

Turn and Live

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ‘Why ^(DY)should the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. ^20 (DZ)The soul who sins shall die. ^(EA)The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. ^(EB)The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, ^(EC)and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

²¹ “But ^(ED)if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^22 (EE)None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall ^(EF)live. ^23 (EG)Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

²⁴ “But ^(EH)when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? ^(EI)All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.

²⁵ “Yet you say, ^(EJ)‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? ^26 (EK)When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. ²⁷ Again, ^(EL)when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. ²⁸ Because he ^(EM)considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^29 (EN)Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?

^30 (EO)“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord God. ^(EP)“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. ^31 (EQ)Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a ^(ER)new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? ³² For ^(ES)I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God. “Therefore turn and ^(ET)live!”