Jer 3:1-3, Eze 16, Eze 23 | ESV | STEP | If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted ? You have played the whore with many lovers ; and would you return to me? declares the Lord .

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

declares the Lord.
2 Lift up your eyes to ^ethe bare heights, and see!
Where have you not been ravished?
^fBy the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
like an Arab in the wilderness.
^gYou have polluted the land
with your vile whoredom.
3 ^hTherefore the showers have been withheld,
and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have ⁱthe forehead of a whore;
you refuse to be ashamed.

Ezekiel 16

The Lord’s Faithless Bride

1 Again the word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^j“Son of man, ^kmake 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 ^lAmorite and your mother a ^mHittite. 4 And as for your birth, ⁿon 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, ^obut you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, ^pon the day that you were born.

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

8 “When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and ^wI spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you ^xand entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, ^yand you became mine. 9 Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and ^zanointed you with oil. 10 ^aaI 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 ^acAnd I adorned you with ornaments and ^adput 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. ^aeYou ate fine flour and honey and oil. ^afYou grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty. 14 And ^agyour 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 ^ah“But you trusted in your beauty ^aiand played the whore ^{▼▼Or were unfaithful; also verses 16, 17, 26, 28} because of your renown ^akand 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 ^aoyour beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and ^apmade for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore. 18 And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, ^aqand set my oil and my incense before them. 19 ^arAlso my bread that I gave you— ^asI fed you with fine flour and oil and honey—you set before them for ^ata pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God. 20 ^auAnd you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and ^avthese 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 ^awthe days of your youth, ^axwhen 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 ^aya vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square. 25 At the head of every street ^azyou built your lofty place and made ^bayour beauty an abomination, ^bboffering yourself ^{▼▼Hebrew spreading your legs} to any passerby and multiplying your whoring. 26 ^bdYou also played the whore ^bewith the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, ^bfmultiplying your whoring, ^bgto provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you ^bhand diminished your allotted portion ^biand delivered you to the greed of your enemies, ^bjthe daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior. 28 ^bkYou played the whore also ^blwith 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 ^bmof 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, ^bobecause you scorned payment. 32 Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! 33 Men give gifts to all prostitutes, ^bpbut 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 ^bqyou 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, ^brand because of the blood of your children that you gave to them, 37 therefore, behold, ^bsI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and ^btall those you hated. ^buI will gather them against you from every side ^bvand will uncover your nakedness to them, that ^bwthey may see all your nakedness. 38 ^bxAnd I will judge you ^byas women who commit adultery and ^bzshed 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 ^cavaulted chamber and break down ^cbyour lofty places. ^ccThey shall strip you of your clothes and take ^cdyour beautiful jewels and leave you ^cenaked and bare. 40 ^cfThey shall bring up a crowd against you, ^cgand they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. 41 ^chAnd they shall ^ciburn your houses and ^cjexecute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^ckI will make you stop playing the whore, and ^clyou shall also give payment no more. 42 ^cmSo 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 ^cnthe days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^coI have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^cpcommitted lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

44 “Behold, everyone ^cqwho 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 ^cryour sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^csYour mother was a Hittite and ^ctyour father an Amorite. 46 And ^cuyour elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^cvyour younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. 47 ^cwNot only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^cxyou were more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48 ^cyAs I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^czSodom 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, ^daexcess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and ^dbdid an abomination before me. So ^dcI removed them, when I saw it. 51 ^ddSamaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^dehave made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. 52 ^dfBear 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 ^dg“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 ^dhand be ashamed of all that you have done, ^dibecoming a consolation to them. 55 As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^djand Samaria and her daughters shall return ^dkto their former state, ^dland you and your daughters shall return ^dmto your former state. 56 Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^dnin the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^doan object of reproach for the daughters of Syria ^{▼▼Some manuscripts (compare Syriac) of Edom} and all those around her, and for ^dqthe daughters of the Philistines, ^drthose all around who despise you. 58 ^dsYou 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 ^dtwho have despised the oath in breaking the covenant, 60 yet ^duI will remember my covenant with you ^dvin the days of your youth, ^dwand I will establish for you an everlasting covenant. 61 ^dxThen you will remember your ways ^dyand be ashamed when you take ^dzyour sisters, both your elder and your younger, and I give them to you ^eaas daughters, but not on account of ^{▼▼Or not apart from} the covenant with you. 62 I will establish my covenant with you, ^ecand you shall know that I am the Lord, 63 that you may remember and be confounded, and ^ednever 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 ^ee“Son of man, there were ^eftwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 ^egThey played the whore in Egypt; ^ehthey played the whore ^eiin 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. ^ekThey became mine, and they ^elbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is ^emSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

5 “Oholah played the whore ^enwhile she was mine, and ^eoshe lusted after her lovers ^epthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, ^eqgovernors and commanders, ^erall of them desirable young men, ^eshorsemen 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 ^etthat 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 ^euI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 ^evThese uncovered her nakedness; ^ewthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ^exa byword among women, ^eywhen judgment had been executed on her.

11 ^ez“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became ^famore 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, ^fcall 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 ^fdportrayed on the wall, the ^feimages of ^ffthe 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 ^fgsent messengers to them ^fhin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ^fiinto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, ^fjshe 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, ^fkremembering 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 ^fmfrom whom you turned in disgust, ^fnand I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, ^foPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, ^fpdesirable young men, ^fqgovernors 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. ^fsThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and ^ftI will commit the judgment to them, and ^futhey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, ^fvthat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. ^fwThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 ^fxThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 ^fyThus I will put an end to your lewdness and ^fzyour 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: ^gaBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, ^gbinto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and ^gcthey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor ^gdand leave you naked and bare, and ^gethe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ^gfyou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; ^ggtherefore I will give ^ghher 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 ^gidrunkenness and sorrow.
^gjA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of ^gkyour sister Samaria;
34 ^glyou 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 ^gmyou have forgotten me and ^gncast me behind your back, you yourself ^gomust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”

36 The Lord said to me: ^gp“Son of man, ^gqwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For ^grthey have committed adultery, ^gsand blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even ^gtoffered 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: ^gvthey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and ^gwprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when ^gxthey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day ^gythey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, ^gzthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ^hato whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, ^hbpainted your eyes, ^hcand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on ^hda stately couch, with a table spread before it ^heon which you had placed my incense and ^hfmy oil. 42 The ^hgsound 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 ^hibracelets on the hands of the women, and ^hjbeautiful 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 ^hlshall 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: ^hm“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ^hnan object of terror and ^hoa plunder. 47 ^hpAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. ^hqThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and ^hrburn up their houses. 48 ^hsThus 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 ^htyou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and ^huyou shall know that I am the Lord God.”