Jer 2:20-24, 3:1-2, 5:7-8, Eze 16:15-22, 23:2-21, Hos 1:2, 4:2, 2Cor 12:21 | 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?
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
^gthe stain of your guilt is still before me,

declares the Lord God.
23 ^hHow can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way ⁱin the valley;
know what you have done—
a restless young camel running here and there,
24 ^ja wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.

Jeremiah 3:1-2

1 ^k“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?
^mWould not that land be greatly polluted?
ⁿYou have played the whore with many lovers;
and would you return to me?

declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to ^othe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
^pBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
^qYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.

Jeremiah 5:7-8

7 ^r“How can I pardon you?
Your children have forsaken me
^sand have sworn by those who are no gods.
^tWhen I fed them to the full,
^uthey committed adultery
^vand trooped to the houses of whores.
8 They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
^weach neighing ^xfor his neighbor’s wife.

Ezekiel 16:15-22

15 ^y“But you trusted in your beauty ^zand played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^aband 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 ^afyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^agmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^ahand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^aiAlso my bread that I gave you— ^ajI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^aka pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ^alAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^amthese 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 ^anthe days of your youth, ^aowhen you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.

Ezekiel 23:2-21

2 ^ap“Son of man, there were ^aqtwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^arThey played the whore in Egypt; ^asthey played the whore ^atin 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. ^avThey became mine, and they ^awbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^axSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^aywhile she was mine, and ^azshe lusted after her lovers ^bathe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^bbgovernors and commanders, ^bcall of them desirable young men, ^bdhorsemen 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 ^bethat 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 ^bfI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^bgThese uncovered her nakedness; ^bhthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^bia byword among women, ^bjwhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^bk“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^blmore 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, ^bnall 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 ^boportrayed on the wall, the ^bpimages of ^bqthe 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 ^brsent messengers to them ^bsin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^btinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^bushe 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, ^bvremembering 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.”

Hosea 1:2

Hosea’s Wife and Children

2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, ^bx“Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have ^bychildren of whoredom, for ^bzthe land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”

Hosea 4:2

2 ^cathere is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery;
they break all bounds, and ^cbbloodshed follows bloodshed.

2 Corinthians 12:21

21 I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those ^ccwho sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, ^cdsexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.