Eze 8:9-17, Eze 16, Eze 23 | ESV | STEP | And he said to me, Go in , and see the vile abominations that they are committing here .

9 And he said to me, “Go in, and see ^athe vile abominations that they are committing here.” 10 So I went in and saw. And there, ^bengraved on the wall all around, was ^cevery form of ^dcreeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. 11 And before them stood ^eseventy men of ^fthe elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of ^gShaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and ^hthe smoke of the cloud of incense went up. 12 Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing ⁱin the dark, each ^jin his room of pictures? For they say, ^k‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’” 13 He said also to me, ^l“You will see still greater abominations that they commit.”

14 Then he brought me to ^mthe entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord, and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz. 15 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O ⁿson of man? ^oYou will see still greater abominations than these.”

16 And he brought me into ^pthe inner court of the house of the Lord. And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord, ^qbetween the ^rporch and ^sthe altar, were about twenty-five men, ^twith their backs to the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east, worshiping ^uthe sun toward the east. 17 Then he said to me, “Have you seen this, O ^vson of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit ^wthe abominations that they commit here, that ^xthey should fill the land with violence and ^yprovoke me still further to anger? Behold, they put the branch to their ^{▼▼Or my} nose.

Ezekiel 16

The Lord’s Faithless Bride

1 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^aa“Son of man, ^abmake known to Jerusalem her abominations, 3 and say, Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an ^acAmorite and your mother a ^adHittite. 4 And as for your birth, ^aeon the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. 5 No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, ^afbut you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^agon the day that you were born.

6 “And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing ^ahin your blood, I said to you ^aiin your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you ^ajin your blood, ‘Live!’ 7 ^akI made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall ^aland arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet ^amyou were naked and bare.

8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^anI spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^aoand entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^apand you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^aqanointed you with oil. 10 ^arI clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. ^{▼▼Or with rich fabric} 11 ^atAnd I adorned you with ornaments and ^auput bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck. 12 And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. ^avYou ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^awYou grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And ^axyour renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.

15 ^ay“But you trusted in your beauty ^azand played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^bband 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 ^bfyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^bgmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^bhand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^biAlso my bread that I gave you— ^bjI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^bka pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ^blAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^bmthese 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 ^bnthe days of your youth, ^bowhen 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 ^bpa vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ^bqyou built your lofty place and made ^bryour beauty an abomination, ^bsoffering yourself ^{▼▼Hebrew spreading your legs} to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 ^buYou also played the whore ^bvwith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^bwmultiplying your whoring, ^bxto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^byand diminished your allotted portion ^bzand delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^cathe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 ^cbYou played the whore also ^ccwith 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 ^cdof 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, ^cfbecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^cgbut 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 ^chyou 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, ^ciand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, ^cjI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^ckall those you hated. ^clI will gather them against you from every side ^cmand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^cnthey may see all your nakedness. 38 ^coAnd I will judge you ^cpas women who commit adultery and ^cqshed 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 ^crvaulted chamber and break down ^csyour lofty places. ^ctThey shall strip you of your clothes and take ^cuyour beautiful jewels and leave you ^cvnaked and bare. 40 ^cwThey shall bring up a crowd against you, ^cxand they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 ^cyAnd they shall ^czburn your houses and ^daexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^dbI will make you stop playing the whore, and ^dcyou shall also give payment no more. 42 ^ddSo 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 ^dethe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^dfI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^dgcommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

44 “Behold, everyone ^dhwho 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 ^diyour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^djYour mother was a Hittite and ^dkyour father an Amorite. 46 And ^dlyour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^dmyour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 ^dnNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^doyou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 ^dpAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^dqSodom 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, ^drexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and ^dsdid an abomination before me. So ^dtI removed them, when I saw it. 51 ^duSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^dvhave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 ^dwBear 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 ^dx“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 ^dyand be ashamed of all that you have done, ^dzbecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^eaand Samaria and her daughters shall return ^ebto their former state, ^ecand you and your daughters shall return ^edto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^eein the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^efan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria ^{▼▼Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom} and all those around her, and for ^ehthe daughters of the Philistines, ^eithose all around who despise you. 58 ^ejYou 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 ^ekwho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet ^elI will remember my covenant with you ^emin the days of your youth, ^enand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 ^eoThen you will remember your ways ^epand be ashamed when you take ^eqyour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^eras daughters, but not on account of ^{▼▼Or not apart from} the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, ^etand you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and ^eunever open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 23

Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^ev“Son of man, there were ^ewtwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^exThey played the whore in Egypt; ^eythey played the whore ^ezin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms ^{▼▼Hebrew nipples; also verses 8, 21} handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. ^fbThey became mine, and they ^fcbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^fdSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^fewhile she was mine, and ^ffshe lusted after her lovers ^fgthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^fhgovernors and commanders, ^fiall of them desirable young men, ^fjhorsemen 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 ^fkthat 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 ^flI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^fmThese uncovered her nakedness; ^fnthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^foa byword among women, ^fpwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^fq“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^frmore 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, ^ftall 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 ^fuportrayed on the wall, the ^fvimages of ^fwthe 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 ^fxsent messengers to them ^fyin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^fzinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^gashe 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, ^gbremembering 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 ^gdfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^geand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^gfPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^ggdesirable young men, ^ghgovernors 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. ^gjThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^gkI will commit the judgment to them, and ^glthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^gmthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^gnThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^goThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^gpThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^gqyour 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: ^grBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^gsinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^gtthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^guand leave you naked and bare, and ^gvthe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^gwyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^gxtherefore I will give ^gyher 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 ^gzdrunkenness and sorrow.
^haA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^hbyour sister Samaria;
34 ^hcyou 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 ^hdyou have forgotten me and ^hecast me behind your back, you yourself ^hfmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ^hg“Son of man, ^hhwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^hithey have committed adultery, ^hjand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^hkoffered 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: ^hmthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^hnprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^hothey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^hpthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^hqthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^hrto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^hspainted your eyes, ^htand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^hua stately couch, with a table spread before it ^hvon which you had placed my incense and ^hwmy oil. 42 The ^hxsound 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 ^hzbracelets on the hands of the women, and ^iabeautiful 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 ^icshall 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: ^id“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^iean object of terror and ^ifa plunder. 47 ^igAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^ihThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ⁱⁱburn up their houses. 48 ^ijThus 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 ^ikyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^ilyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”