Ezekiel 16:42-17:24

New King James Version

⁴² So ^(A)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 ^(B)you did not remember the days of your youth, but ^[a]agitated Me with all these things, surely ^(C)I will also recompense your ^[b]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, ^[c]loathing husband and children; and you are the ^(D)sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; ^(E)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 ^(F)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, ^(G)you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸ “As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither ^(H)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, ^(I)fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ And they were haughty and ^(J)committed abomination before Me; therefore ^(K)I took them away as ^[d]I saw fit.

⁵¹ “Samaria did not commit ^(L)half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and ^(M)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 (N)“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 ^(O)the captives of your captivity among them, ⁵⁴ that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when ^(P)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 ^(Q)reproach of the daughters of ^[e]Syria and all those around her, and of ^(R)the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere. ^58 (S)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 ^(T)despised ^(U)the oath by breaking the covenant.

An Everlasting Covenant

⁶⁰ “Nevertheless I will ^(V)remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish ^(W)an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then ^(X)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 ^(Y)daughters, ^(Z)but not because of My covenant with you. ^62 (AA)And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord, ⁶³ that you may ^(AB)remember and be ashamed, ^(AC)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 ^(AD)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 ^(AM)the rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed ^(AN)the king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon. ^13 (AO)And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, ^(AP)and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land, ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be ^(AQ)brought low and not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand. ¹⁵ But ^(AR)he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, ^(AS)that they might give him horses and many people. ^(AT)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 ^(AU)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 (AV)Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, ^(AW)when they heap up a siege mound and build a ^[h]wall to cut off many persons. ¹⁸ Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact ^(AX)gave^[i] 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 ^(AY)spread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and ^(AZ)try him there for the ^[j]treason which he committed against Me. ^21 (BA)All his ^[k]fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be ^(BB)scattered to every wind; and you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken.”

Israel Exalted at Last^(BC)

²² Thus says the Lord God: “I will take also one of the highest ^(BD)branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs ^(BE)a tender one, and will ^(BF)plant it on a high and prominent mountain. ^23 (BG)On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. ^(BH)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, ^(BI)have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; ^(BJ)I, the Lord, have spoken and have done it.”