Ezekiel 16
All 63 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.
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- 1The word of the LORD came to me again:
- 2Son of man, make Jerusalem aware of her abominations,
- 3and say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your roots and your birth trace back to the land of Canaan. Your father was an Amorite and your mother was a Hittite.
- 4On the day you were born, no one cut your umbilical cord. No one washed you with water to clean you off. No one rubbed you with salt or wrapped you in cloths.
- 5No one felt sorry enough for you to do any of these things. No one showed you any compassion. Instead, you were thrown out into an open field, loathed from the day you were born.
- 6When I passed by you and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, “Live!” Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, “Live!”
- 7I made you grow and flourish like a plant in the field. You grew up and matured, and you came to have fine ornaments. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew long, but you were still naked and bare.
- 8Later I passed by you again and looked at you, and you had reached the age for love. So I spread the edge of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I made a vow to you and entered into a covenant with you," declares the Lord GOD, "and you became mine.
- 9I bathed you with water and thoroughly washed the blood from your skin. Then I anointed you with oil.
- 10I dressed you in embroidered clothing and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in linen and covered you with silk.
- 11I adorned you with jewelry — bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck.
- 12I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
- 13You were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered fabric. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became exceedingly beautiful and prospered into a kingdom.
- 14Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, which was perfect through my splendor that I placed upon you," declares the Lord GOD.
- 15But you trusted in your own beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You threw yourself at every man who passed by, giving yourself to anyone who wanted you.
- 16You took some of your garments, decorated your high places with many colors, and acted like a prostitute on them. Things like this will not come, and it will not be so.
- 17You also took the beautiful gold and silver jewelry I had given you and made male idols out of them, and you committed prostitution with those images.
- 18You took your embroidered garments and draped them over the idols. You set my oil and my incense before them as offerings.
- 19The food I gave you — the fine flour, oil, and honey I provided to nourish you — you offered it all before them as a pleasing aroma. That is exactly what happened," declares the Lord GOD.
- 20On top of all that, you took your sons and daughters — the children you bore to me — and sacrificed them to these idols to be consumed. Wasn't your prostitution bad enough?
- 21Did you really have to slaughter my children and hand them over to be burned in the fire as offerings to idols?
- 22And in all your abominations and your whoredoms, you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.
- 23After all this wickedness — woe, woe to you!" declares the Lord GOD —
- 24you built yourself a pagan shrine and set up a high place on every street.
- 25At the entrance of every road you built your high places. You made your beauty into something detestable by opening your feet to everyone who passed by, multiplying your acts of prostitution.
- 26You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your acts of prostitution to provoke me to anger.
- 27So I reached out my hand against you and reduced your food supply. I handed you over to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were themselves ashamed of your shameless behavior.
- 28Still not satisfied, you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians too. Even after that, you still weren't satisfied.
- 29You increased your fornication in the land of Canaan all the way to Chaldea, and still you weren't satisfied.
- 30How weak is your heart," declares the LORD GOD, "that you do all these things, acting like an imperious, shameless woman!
- 31You built your shrines at the entrance of every road and set up your high places on every street. Yet you weren't even like a normal prostitute, because you refused to take payment.
- 32You are an adulterous wife who welcomes strangers into her bed instead of her own husband!
- 33Every prostitute gets paid, but you? You gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from every direction for your acts of prostitution.
- 34You are the opposite of every other prostitute. No one chased after you — you chased after them. You paid them instead of being paid. You did everything backward."
- 35So then, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
- 36This is what the Lord GOD says: "Because you poured out your lust and exposed your nakedness through your prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your disgusting idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them —
- 37I am going to gather all the lovers you enjoyed, everyone you loved and everyone you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and strip you naked in front of them so they can see you fully exposed.
- 38I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged; and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy.
- 39I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines and demolish your high places. They will strip off your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and exposed.
- 40They will bring a mob against you, stone you to death, and cut you to pieces with their swords.
- 41They will burn your houses with fire and carry out judgment against you while many women watch. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers.
- 42Then my fury against you will finally be spent. My jealousy will fade away, and I will be calm and no longer angry.
- 43Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but fretted me with all these things, I will also repay your way on your head, says the Lord GOD. You will not commit this shameful act above all your disgusting practices.
- 44Everyone who quotes proverbs will say this about you: 'Like mother, like daughter.'
- 45You are truly your mother's daughter — she despised her husband and her children. You are truly your sisters' sister — they despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.
- 46Your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who live at your left hand; and your younger sister, who lives at your right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
- 47You didn't just follow in their footsteps or copy their disgusting behavior — no, as if that weren't bad enough, you became more corrupt than both of them in everything you did.
- 48As surely as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "your sister Sodom and her towns never did what you and your towns have done.
- 49This was the sin of your sister Sodom: pride, excess of food, and abundance of idleness were in her and her daughters. They did not help the poor and needy.
- 50They were proud and committed abominations before me, so I removed them as I saw fit.
- 51Samaria didn't commit even half the sins you have. You have piled up far more disgusting acts than either of them. By comparison, you've made your sisters look righteous.
- 52You who passed judgment on your sisters — now carry your own disgrace! Your sins are so much worse than theirs that they look righteous next to you. So be ashamed and bear your humiliation, because you've made your sisters look innocent by comparison.
- 53When I restore the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also restore the captivity of your captives among them.
- 54So you will bear your own shame and be humiliated by everything you have done, as you are a comfort to them.
- 55When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former estate, then you and your daughters will return to your former estate.
- 56You wouldn't even mention your sister Sodom's name back in the days when you were proud,
- 57before your own wickedness was exposed. Now you are the one being mocked by the towns of Aram and everyone around them, and by the Philistine towns — all of them looking down on you from every side.
- 58You must bear the consequences of your lewdness and your disgusting sins," declares the LORD.
- 59This is what the Lord GOD says: "I will deal with you exactly as you deserve, because you treated the oath with contempt and broke the covenant.
- 60But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
- 61Then you will remember your past behavior and be ashamed when you receive your sisters — both the older and the younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.
- 62I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
- 63Then you will remember and be ashamed, and you will never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done," declares the Lord GOD.