Ezekiel 16:1-27

English Standard Version

The Lord's Faithless Bride

16 Again the word of the Lord came to me: ²^(A)“Son of man, ^(B)make known to Jerusalem her abominations, ³and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an ^(C)Amorite and your mother a ^(D)Hittite. ⁴And as for your birth, ^(E)on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. ⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, ^(F)but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^(G)on the day that you were born.

⁶“And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ^(H)in your blood, I said to you ^(I)in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ^(J)in your blood, ‘Live!’ ⁷^(K)I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall ^(L)and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet ^(M)you were naked and bare.

⁸“When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^(N)I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^(O)and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^(P)and you became mine. ⁹Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^(Q)anointed you with oil. ¹⁰^(R)I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.^[a] ¹¹^(S)And I adorned you with ornaments and ^(T)put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. ¹²And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. ¹³Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^(U)You ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^(V)You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. ¹⁴And ^(W)your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

¹⁵^(X)“But you trusted in your beauty ^(Y)and played the whore^[b] because of your renown ^(Z)and lavished your whorings^[c] on any passerby; your beauty^[d] became his. ¹⁶You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.^[e] ¹⁷You also took ^(AA)your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^(AB)made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. ¹⁸And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^(AC)and set my oil and my incense before them. ¹⁹^(AD)Also my bread that I gave you—^(AE)I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^(AF)a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. ²⁰^(AG)And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^(AH)these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter ²¹that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? ²²And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^(AI)the days of your youth, ^(AJ)when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

²³“And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), ²⁴you built yourself ^(AK)a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. ²⁵At the head of every street ^(AL)you built your lofty place and made ^(AM)your beauty an abomination, ^(AN)offering yourself^[f] to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. ²⁶^(AO)You also played the whore ^(AP)with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^(AQ)multiplying your whoring, ^(AR)to provoke me to anger. ²⁷Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^(AS)and diminished your allotted portion ^(AT)and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^(AU)the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.