Immerse: Prophets - Flipbook - Page 349
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“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. 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? You took the very jewels and gold and silver orna
ments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This
is adultery against me! 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. Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice
flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.
“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? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?
In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remem
bered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in
your own blood.
“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all
your other wickedness, you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in
every town square. On every street corner you defiled your beauty, of
fering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.
Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with
your increasing promiscuity. That is why I struck you with my fist and
reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philis
tines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct. You have prosti
tuted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough
new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.
You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants,
but you still weren’t satisfied.
“What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things
as these, acting like a shameless prostitute. You build your 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. Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strang
ers instead of her own husband. Prostitutes charge for their services—but
not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex
with you. So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers
instead of their paying you!
“Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord! 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, this is what I am going to do. I will
