Jer 2:20-21, 3:1, Lam 1:8-9, Eze 16, Eze 22-23, Luk 13:34 | ESV | STEP | For long ago I broke your yoke and burst your bonds ; but you said , I will not serve . Yes , on every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down like a whore .

20 “For long ago I ^abroke your yoke
and burst your bonds;
but you said, ^b‘I will not serve.’
Yes, ^con every high hill
and under every green tree
you bowed down ^dlike a whore.
21 ^eYet I planted you a choice vine,
wholly of pure seed.
^fHow then have you turned degenerate
and become a wild vine?

Jeremiah 3:1

1 ^g“If ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, “If} a man divorces his wife
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
ⁱWould not that land be greatly polluted?
^jYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.

Lamentations 1:8-9

8 ^kJerusalem sinned grievously;
therefore she became filthy;
all who honored her despise her,
^lfor they have seen her nakedness;
she herself ^mgroans
and turns her face away.
9 Her uncleanness was ⁿin her skirts;
^oshe took no thought of her future; ^{▼▼Or end}
therefore her fall is terrible;
^qshe has no comforter.
“O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy has ^rtriumphed!”

Ezekiel 16

The Lord’s Faithless Bride

1 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^s“Son of man, ^tmake 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 ^uAmorite and your mother a ^vHittite. 4 And as for your birth, ^won 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, ^xbut you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^yon the day that you were born.

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

8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^afI spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^agand entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^ahand you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^aianointed you with oil. 10 ^ajI 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 ^alAnd I adorned you with ornaments and ^amput 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. ^anYou ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^aoYou grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And ^apyour 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 ^aq“But you trusted in your beauty ^arand played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^atand 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 ^axyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^aymade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^azand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^baAlso my bread that I gave you— ^bbI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^bca pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ^bdAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^bethese 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 ^bfthe days of your youth, ^bgwhen 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 ^bha vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ^biyou built your lofty place and made ^bjyour beauty an abomination, ^bkoffering yourself ^{▼▼Hebrew spreading your legs} to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 ^bmYou also played the whore ^bnwith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^bomultiplying your whoring, ^bpto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^bqand diminished your allotted portion ^brand delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^bsthe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 ^btYou played the whore also ^buwith 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 ^bvof 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, ^bxbecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^bybut 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 ^bzyou 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, ^caand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, ^cbI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^ccall those you hated. ^cdI will gather them against you from every side ^ceand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^cfthey may see all your nakedness. 38 ^cgAnd I will judge you ^chas women who commit adultery and ^cished 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 ^cjvaulted chamber and break down ^ckyour lofty places. ^clThey shall strip you of your clothes and take ^cmyour beautiful jewels and leave you ^cnnaked and bare. 40 ^coThey shall bring up a crowd against you, ^cpand they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 ^cqAnd they shall ^crburn your houses and ^csexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^ctI will make you stop playing the whore, and ^cuyou shall also give payment no more. 42 ^cvSo 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 ^cwthe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^cxI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^cycommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

44 “Behold, everyone ^czwho 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 ^dayour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^dbYour mother was a Hittite and ^dcyour father an Amorite. 46 And ^ddyour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^deyour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 ^dfNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^dgyou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 ^dhAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^diSodom 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, ^djexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and ^dkdid an abomination before me. So ^dlI removed them, when I saw it. 51 ^dmSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^dnhave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 ^doBear 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 ^dp“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 ^dqand be ashamed of all that you have done, ^drbecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^dsand Samaria and her daughters shall return ^dtto their former state, ^duand you and your daughters shall return ^dvto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^dwin the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^dxan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria ^{▼▼Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom} and all those around her, and for ^dzthe daughters of the Philistines, ^eathose all around who despise you. 58 ^ebYou 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 ^ecwho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet ^edI will remember my covenant with you ^eein the days of your youth, ^efand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 ^egThen you will remember your ways ^ehand be ashamed when you take ^eiyour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^ejas daughters, but not on account of ^{▼▼Or not apart from} the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, ^eland you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and ^emnever open your mouth again because of your shame, when I atone for you for all that you have done, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 22

Israel’s Shedding of Blood

1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “And you, ^enson of man, ^eowill you judge, will you judge ^epthe bloody city? ^eqThen declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^erher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty ^esby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^etyour days near, the appointed time of ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts until} your years has come. ^evTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^ewyour name is defiled; ^exyou are full of tumult.

6 “Behold, ^eythe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother ^ezare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^fasuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^fbare wronged in you. 8 ^fcYou have despised my holy things and ^fdprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 ^feThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^ffwho eat on the mountains; ^fgthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you ^fhmen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 ^fiOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; ^fjanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^fkanother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you ^flthey take bribes to shed blood; ^fmyou take interest and profit ^{▼▼That is, profit that comes from charging interest to the poor (compare Leviticus 25:36)} and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^fome you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 “Behold, ^fpI strike my hand at ^fqthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^frthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 ^fsCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^ftI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it. 15 ^fuI will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and ^fvI will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16 And ^fwyou shall be profaned by your own doing ^fxin the sight of the nations, ^fyand you shall know that I am the Lord.”

17 And the word of the Lord came to me: 18 ^fz“Son of man, the house of Israel has become ^gadross to me; all of them are ^gbbronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are ^gcdross of silver. 19 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20 As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, ^gdto blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you ^gein my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21 I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the Lord; ^gfI have poured out my wrath upon you.”

23 And the word of the Lord came to me: 24 “Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is ^ggnot cleansed ^ghor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 ^giThe conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is ^gjlike a roaring lion ^gktearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 ^glHer priests ^gmhave done violence to my law and ^gnhave profaned my holy things. ^goThey have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and ^gpthey have disregarded my Sabbaths, ^gqso that I am profaned among them. 27 ^grHer princes in her midst are like wolves ^gstearing the prey, ^gtshedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And ^guher prophets have smeared whitewash for them, ^gvseeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land ^gwhave practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and ^gxhave extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 ^gyAnd I sought for a man among them ^gzwho should build up the wall ^haand stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31 Therefore ^hbI have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned ^hctheir way upon their heads, declares the Lord God.”

Ezekiel 23

Oholah and Oholibah

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^hd“Son of man, there were ^hetwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^hfThey played the whore in Egypt; ^hgthey played the whore ^hhin 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. ^hjThey became mine, and they ^hkbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^hlSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^hmwhile she was mine, and ^hnshe lusted after her lovers ^hothe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^hpgovernors and commanders, ^hqall of them desirable young men, ^hrhorsemen 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 ^hsthat 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 ^htI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^huThese uncovered her nakedness; ^hvthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^hwa byword among women, ^hxwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^hy“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^hzmore 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, ^iball 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 ^icportrayed on the wall, the ^idimages of ^iethe 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 ^ifsent messengers to them ^igin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^ihinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ⁱⁱshe 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, ^ijremembering 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 ^ilfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^imand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ⁱⁿPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^iodesirable young men, ^ipgovernors 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. ^irThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^isI will commit the judgment to them, and ^itthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^iuthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^ivThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^iwThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^ixThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^iyyour 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: ^izBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^jainto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^jbthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^jcand leave you naked and bare, and ^jdthe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^jeyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^jftherefore I will give ^jgher 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 ^jhdrunkenness and sorrow.
^jiA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^jjyour sister Samaria;
34 ^jkyou 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 ^jlyou have forgotten me and ^jmcast me behind your back, you yourself ^jnmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ^jo“Son of man, ^jpwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^jqthey have committed adultery, ^jrand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^jsoffered 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: ^juthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^jvprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^jwthey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^jxthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^jythis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^jzto whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^kapainted your eyes, ^kband adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^kca stately couch, with a table spread before it ^kdon which you had placed my incense and ^kemy oil. 42 The ^kfsound 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 ^khbracelets on the hands of the women, and ^kibeautiful 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 ^kkshall 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: ^kl“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^kman object of terror and ^kna plunder. 47 ^koAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^kpThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^kqburn up their houses. 48 ^krThus 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 ^ksyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^ktyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”

Luke 13:34

34 ^kuO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ^kvkills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! ^kwHow often would I have ^kxgathered ^kyyour children together ^kzas a hen gathers her brood ^launder her wings, and ^lbyou were not willing!