Self-interpreting Bible

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Ezekiel 16

1Under the similitude of an helpless exposed infant is represented the original state of Jerusalem, 6whom God is described to have bred up, married, and treated with kind indulgence: 15her unnatural whoredoms: 35God threateneth her with severe judgment: 44her sin, equal to her mother's, the Hittite, and exceeding that of her sisters, Sodom and Samaria, shall not go unpunished. 60A promise of mercy in the end.

1 AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

    3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; cThy 1birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother dan Hittite.

    4 And as for ethy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water 2to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.

    5 fNone eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

    6 ¶And when I passed by thee, and gsaw thee 3polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, hLive; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

    7 I have 4caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to 5excellent ornaments: thy ibreasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

    8 jNow when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was kthe time of love; and I lspread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, mI sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou nbecamest mine.

    9 Then owashed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy 6blood from thee, and pI anointed thee with oil.

    10 I qclothed thee also with *broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I *girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.

    11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put rbracelets upon thy hands, and sa chain on thy neck.

    12 And I put a jewel on thy 7forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and ta beautiful crown upon thine head.

    13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy u*raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and *broidered work; vthou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper winto a kingdom.

    14 And xthy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was yperfect through my *comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.

    15 ¶But zthou didst trust in thine own beauty, aand playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.

    16 And bof thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with *divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.

    17 Thou hast also taken cthy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images 8of men, and didst dcommit whoredom with them,

    18 And tookest thy *broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set emine oil and mine incense before them.

    19 My f*meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for 9a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord GOD.

    20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, gwhom thou hast borne unto me, and hthese hast thou sacrificed unto them to 10be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,

    21 That thou hast slain imy children, and delivered them to cause them jto pass through the fire for them?

    22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered kthe days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

    23 And it came to pass lafter all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)

    24 That thou hast also built unto thee an 11eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.

    25 Thou hast built thy high place at every mhead of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms.

    26 Thou nhast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.

    27 Behold, therefore oI have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished pthine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them qthat hate thee, the 12daughters of the rPhilistines, which are sashamed of thy *lewd way.

    28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot twith them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.

    29 Thou uhast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.

    30 How vweak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of wan imperious whorish woman;

    31 13In that thou xbuildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;

    32 But as ya wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

    33 They give gifts to all whores: but zthou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and 14hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

    34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

      35 ¶Wherefore, O aharlot, bhear the word of the LORD:

      36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; cBecause thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness d*discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them;

      37 Behold, therefore eI will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will fdiscover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.

      38 And I will judge thee, 15as women that break wedlock and gshed blood are judged; and hI will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.

      39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and ithey shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall jstrip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy 16fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.

      40 They kshall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and lthrust thee through with their swords.

      41 And they shall mburn thine houses with fire, and nexecute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: oand I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and pthou also shalt give no hire any more.

      42 So qwill I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

      43 Because thou hast rnot remembered the days of thy youth, but hast s*fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore tI also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit uthis lewdness above all thine abominations.

      44 ¶Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, vAs is the mother, so is her daughter.

      45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that wlotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: xyour mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

      46 And ythine elder sister is zSamaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy 17younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is aSodom and bher daughters.

      47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, 18as if that were a very little thing, cthou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.

      48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister dhath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.

      49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, epride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, fneither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

      50 And they were ghaughty, and hcommitted abomination before me: therefore iI took them away as I saw good.

      51 jNeither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

      52 kThou also, which hast judged thy sisters, lbear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

      53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:

        54 That mthou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.

        55 nWhen thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate.

        56 For thy sister Sodom owas not pmentioned 19by thy mouth in the day of thy 20pride,

        57 Before thy wickedness was *discovered, as qat the time of thy reproach of the daughters of 21Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, rwhich 22despise thee round about.

        58 Thou shast 23borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.

        59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; tI will even deal with thee as uthou hast done, which hast vdespised the oath in breaking the wcovenant.

        60 ¶Nevertheless I will xremember ymy covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and zI will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant.

        61 Then athou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when bthou shalt receive cthy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, dbut not by thy ecovenant.

        62 And fI will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:

        63 That gthou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD.