Eze 16:15-63, 20:21, 23:4-49 | ESV | STEP | But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby ; your beauty became his.

15 ^a“But you trusted in your beauty ^band played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^dand lavished your whorings ^{▼▼Or unfaithfulness; also verses 20, 22, 25, 26, 29, 33, 34, 36} on any passerby; your beauty ^{▼▼Hebrew it} became his. 16 You 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. ^{▼▼The meaning of this Hebrew sentence is uncertain} 17 You also took ^hyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ⁱmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^jand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^kAlso my bread that I gave you— ^lI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^ma pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ⁿAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^othese you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter 21 that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them? 22 And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember ^pthe days of your youth, ^qwhen you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

23 “And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God), 24 you built yourself ^ra vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ^syou built your lofty place and made ^tyour beauty an abomination, ^uoffering yourself ^{▼▼Hebrew spreading your legs} to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 ^wYou also played the whore ^xwith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^ymultiplying your whoring, ^zto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^aaand diminished your allotted portion ^aband delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^acthe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 ^adYou played the whore also ^aewith the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied. 29 You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land ^afof Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.

30 “How sick is your heart, ^{▼▼Revocalization yields How I am filled with anger against you} declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute, 31 building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, ^ahbecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^aibut you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings. 34 So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and ^ajyou gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.

35 “Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: 36 Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, ^akand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, ^alI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^amall those you hated. ^anI will gather them against you from every side ^aoand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^apthey may see all your nakedness. 38 ^aqAnd I will judge you ^aras women who commit adultery and ^asshed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy. 39 And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your ^atvaulted chamber and break down ^auyour lofty places. ^avThey shall strip you of your clothes and take ^awyour beautiful jewels and leave you ^axnaked and bare. 40 ^ayThey shall bring up a crowd against you, ^azand they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 ^baAnd they shall ^bbburn your houses and ^bcexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^bdI will make you stop playing the whore, and ^beyou shall also give payment no more. 42 ^bfSo will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. 43 Because you have not remembered ^bgthe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^bhI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^bicommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

44 “Behold, everyone ^bjwho uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45 You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of ^bkyour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^blYour mother was a Hittite and ^bmyour father an Amorite. 46 And ^bnyour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^boyour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 ^bpNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^bqyou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 ^brAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^bsSodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, ^btexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and ^budid an abomination before me. So ^bvI removed them, when I saw it. 51 ^bwSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^bxhave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 ^byBear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

53 ^bz“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, 54 that you may bear your disgrace ^caand be ashamed of all that you have done, ^cbbecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^ccand Samaria and her daughters shall return ^cdto their former state, ^ceand you and your daughters shall return ^cfto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^cgin the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^chan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria ^{▼▼Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom} and all those around her, and for ^cjthe daughters of the Philistines, ^ckthose all around who despise you. 58 ^clYou bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.

The Lord’s Everlasting Covenant

59 “For thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you ^cmwho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet ^cnI will remember my covenant with you ^coin the days of your youth, ^cpand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 ^cqThen you will remember your ways ^crand be ashamed when you take ^csyour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^ctas daughters, but not on account of ^{▼▼Or not apart from} the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, ^cvand you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and ^cwnever open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 20:21

21 ^cxBut the children ^cyrebelled against me. ^czThey did not walk in my statutes and were not careful to obey my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; they profaned my Sabbaths.

^da“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.

Ezekiel 23:4-49

4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^dbThey became mine, and they ^dcbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^ddSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^dewhile she was mine, and ^dfshe lusted after her lovers ^dgthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^dhgovernors and commanders, ^diall of them desirable young men, ^djhorsemen riding on horses. 7 She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted. 8 She did not give up her whoring ^dkthat she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her. 9 Therefore ^dlI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^dmThese uncovered her nakedness; ^dnthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^doa byword among women, ^dpwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^dq“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^drmore corrupt than her sister ^{▼▼Hebrew than she} in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, ^dtall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men ^duportrayed on the wall, the ^dvimages of ^dwthe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 wearing belts on their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and ^dxsent messengers to them ^dyin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^dzinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^eashe turned from them in disgust. 18 When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, ^ebremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed ^{▼▼Vulgate, Syriac; Hebrew bosom for the sake of} your young breasts.”

22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers ^edfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^eeand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^efPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^egdesirable young men, ^ehgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north ^{▼▼Septuagint; the meaning of the Hebrew word is unknown} with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. ^ejThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^ekI will commit the judgment to them, and ^elthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^emthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^enThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^eoThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^epThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^eqyour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.

28 “For thus says the Lord God: ^erBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^esinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^etthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^euand leave you naked and bare, and ^evthe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^ewyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^extherefore I will give ^eyher cup into your hand. 32 Thus says the Lord God:

“You shall drink your sister’s cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
33 you will be filled with ^ezdrunkenness and sorrow.
^faA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^fbyour sister Samaria;
34 ^fcyou shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ^fdyou have forgotten me and ^fecast me behind your back, you yourself ^ffmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ^fg“Son of man, ^fhwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^fithey have committed adultery, ^fjand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^fkoffered up ^{▼▼Or have even made pass through the fire} to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: ^fmthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^fnprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^fothey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^fpthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^fqthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^frto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^fspainted your eyes, ^ftand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^fua stately couch, with a table spread before it ^fvon which you had placed my incense and ^fwmy oil. 42 The ^fxsound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards ^{▼▼Or Sabeans} were brought from the wilderness; and they put ^fzbracelets on the hands of the women, and ^gabeautiful crowns on their heads.

43 “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, 'Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!' ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain} 44 For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, lewd women! 45 But righteous men ^gcshall pass judgment on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.”

46 For thus says the Lord God: ^gd“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^gean object of terror and ^gfa plunder. 47 ^ggAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^ghThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^giburn up their houses. 48 ^gjThus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ^gkyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^glyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”