HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1109
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made of fine goatskin leather. 11 I gave you lovely
jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, 12 a ring
for your nose, earrings for your ears, and
a lovely crown for your head. 13 And so you were
adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes
were made of fine linen and costly fabric and
were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest
foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and
became more beautiful than ever. You looked
like a queen, and so you were! 14 Your fame
soon spread throughout the world because of
your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and
perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.
15 “But you thought your fame and beauty
were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty
was theirs for the asking. 16 You used the lovely
things I gave you to make shrines for idols,
where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable!
How could such a thing ever happen? 17 You took
the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments
I had given you and made statues of men and
worshiped them. This is adultery against me!
18 You used the beautifully embroidered clothes
I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used
my special oil and my incense to worship them.
19 Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice
the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given
you, says the Sovereign Lord.
20 “Then you took your sons and daughters—
the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution
not enough? 21 Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols? 22 In all your
years of adultery and detestable sin, you have
not once remembered the days long ago when
you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your
own blood.
23 “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness, 24 you built a pagan shrine and put altars
to idols in every town square. 25 On every street
corner you defiled your beauty, offering your
body to every passerby in an endless stream
of prostitution. 26 Then you added lustful Egypt
to your lovers, provoking my anger with your
increasing promiscuity. 27 That is why I struck
you with my fist and reduced your boundaries.
I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd
conduct. 28 You have prostituted yourself with
the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find
enough new lovers! And after your prostitution
there, you still were not satisfied. 29 You added to
your lovers by embracing Babylonia,* the land
of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.
30 “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting
like a shameless prostitute. 31 You build your
16:29 Or Chaldea. 16:36 The Hebrew term (literally round
things) probably alludes to dung.
EZEKIEL 16
pagan shrines on every street corner and your
altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have
been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin
that you have not even demanded payment.
32 Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in
strangers instead of her own husband. 33 Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You
give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come
and have sex with you. 34 So you are the opposite
of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead
of their paying you!
Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution
35 “Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord! 36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out
your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution
to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,* and because you
have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to
your gods, 37 this is what I am going to do. I will
gather together all your allies—the lovers with
whom you have sinned, both those you loved
and those you hated—and I will strip you naked
in front of them so they can stare at you. 38 I will
punish you for your murder and adultery. I will
cover you with blood in my jealous fury. 39 Then
I will give you to these many nations who are
your lovers, and they will destroy you. They
will knock down your pagan shrines and the
altars to your idols. They will strip you and take
your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked.
40 They will band together in a mob to stone you
and cut you up with swords. 41 They will burn
your homes and punish you in front of many
women. I will stop your prostitution and end
your payments to your many lovers.
42 “Then at last my fury against you will be
spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will
be calm and will not be angry with you anymore. 43 But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing
all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all
of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you
have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.
44 Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of
you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 For your
mother loathed her husband and her children,
and so do you. And you are exactly like your
sisters, for they despised their husbands and
their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite
and your father an Amorite.
46 “Your older sister was Samaria, who lived
with her daughters in the north. Your younger
sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters
in the south. 47 But you have not merely sinned
as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption. 48 As surely as I live, says the Sovereign
Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as
wicked as you and your daughters. 49 Sodom’s
sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while