Ezekiel 16 - Prayer Tents



Share: Select All button

Previous ChapterNext ChapterReduce Font SizeIncrease Font Size
Ezekiel 16
New Living Translation Help

Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

16Then another message came to me from the Lord:H1697H3068H559 2“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins.H1121H120H3389H3045H8441 3Give her this message from the Sovereign Lord: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.H559H559H136H3069H3389H4351H4138H776H3669H1H567H517H2850 4On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth.H4138H3117H3205H8270H3772H7364H4325H4935H4414H4414H2853H2853 5No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.H5869H2347H6213H259H2550H7993H6440H7704H1604H5315H3117H3205 6“But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’H5674H7200H947H1818H559H1818H2421H559H1818H2421 7And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.H5414H7233H6780H7704H7235H1431H935H5716H5716H7699H3559H8181H6779H5903H6181 8And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.H5674H7200H6256H6256H1730H6566H3671H3680H6172H7650H935H1285H5002H136H3069 9“Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.H7364H4325H7857H1818H5480H8081 10I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather.H3847H7553H5274H8476H2280H8336H3680H4897 11I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,H5710H5716H5414H6781H3027H7242H1627 12a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.H5414H5141H639H5694H241H8597H5850H7218 13And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were!H5710H2091H3701H4403H8336H8336H4897H7553H398H5560H1706H8081H3966H3302H6743H4410 14Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign Lord.H8034H3318H1471H3308H3632H1926H7760H5002H136H3069 15“But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.H982H3308H2181H8034H8210H8457H5674 16You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?H899H3947H6213H1116H2921H2181H935 17You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!H3947H8597H3627H2091H3701H5414H6213H6754H2145H2181 18You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them.H3947H7553H899H3680H5414H8081H7004H6440 19Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.H3899H5414H5560H8081H1706H398H5414H6440H5207H7381H5002H136H3069 20“Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?H3947H1121H1323H3205H2076H398H8457H4592 21Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?H7819H1121H5414H5674 22In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.H8441H8457H2142H3117H5271H5903H6181H947H1818 23“What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness,H310H7451H188H188H5002H136H3069 24you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.H1129H1354H6213H7413H7339 25On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.H1129H7413H7218H1870H3308H8581H6589H7272H5674H7235H8457 26Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.H2181H1121H4714H7934H1432H1320H7235H8457H3707 27That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct.H5186H3027H1639H2706H5414H5315H8130H1323H6430H3637H2154H1870 28You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.H2181H1121H804H1115H7646H2181H7654 29You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.H7235H8457H776H3667H3778H7646H2063 30“What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute.H535H3826H5002H136H3069H6213H4639H7986H2181H802 31You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment.H1129H1354H7218H1870H6213H7413H7339H2181H7046H868 32Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.H802H5003H3947H2114H376 33Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you.H5414H5078H2181H5414H5083H157H7809H935H5439H8457 34So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!H2016H802H8457H310H2181H5414H868H868H5414H1961H2016

Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

35“Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord!H2181H8085H1697H3068 36This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols, and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods,H559H136H3069H5178H8210H6172H1540H8457H157H1544H8441H1818H1121H5414 37this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.H6908H157H6149H157H8130H6908H5439H1540H6172H7200H6172 38I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.H8199H5003H8210H1818H4941H5414H1818H2534H7068 39Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked.H5414H3027H2040H1354H5422H7413H6584H899H3947H8597H3627H3240H5903H6181 40They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords.H5927H6951H7275H68H1333H2719 41They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.H8313H1004H784H6213H8201H5869H7227H802H7673H2181H5414H868 42“Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore.H2534H5117H7068H5493H8252H3707 43But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign Lord. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.H2142H3117H5271H7264H1887H5414H1870H7218H5002H136H3069H6213H2154H8441 44Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’H4911H4911H559H517H1323 45For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.H517H1323H1602H376H1121H269H269H1602H582H1121H517H2850H1H567 46“Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south.H1419H269H8111H1323H3427H8040H6996H269H3427H3225H5467H1323 47But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption.H1980H1870H6213H8441H6985H4592H6962H7843H2004H1870 48As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters.H2416H5002H136H3069H5467H269H6213H1323H6213H1323 49Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.H5771H269H5467H1347H7653H3899H7962H8252H1323H2388H3027H6041H34 50She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.H1361H6213H8441H6440H5493H7200 51“Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you.H8111H2398H2677H2403H7235H8441H2007H6663H269H8441H6213 52Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.H6419H269H5375H3639H2403H8581H2004H6663H954H5375H3639H6663H269 53“But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too.H7725H7622H7622H7622H7622H5467H1323H7622H7622H8111H1323H7622H7622H7622H8432 54Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.H5375H3639H3637H6213H5162 55Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored.H269H5467H1323H7725H6927H8111H1323H7725H6927H1323H7725H6927 56In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt.H269H5467H8052H6310H3117H1347 57But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edom and all her neighbors and by Philistia.H7451H1540H6256H2781H1323H758H5439H1323H6430H7590H5439 58This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the Lord.H5375H2154H8441H5002H3068 59“Now this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.H559H136H3069H6213H6213H959H423H6565H1285 60Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.H2142H1285H3117H5271H6965H5769H1285 61Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant.H2142H1870H3637H3947H269H1419H6996H5414H1323H1285 62And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord.H6965H1285H3045H3068 63You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!”H2142H954H6610H6310H6440H3639H3722H6213H5002H136H3069


New Living Translation (NLT). Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. More details.
Old Testament
  • 25. Lamentations (5)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 29. Joel (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 31. Obadiah (1)
  • 1
  • 34. Nahum (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 35. Habakkuk (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 36. Zephaniah (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 37. Haggai (2)
  • 1
  • 2

New Testament
  • 50. Philippians (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 51. Colossians (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 52. 1 Thessalonians (5)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • 53. 2 Thessalonians (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 55. 2 Timothy (4)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 56. Titus (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 57. Philemon (1)
  • 1
  • 61. 2 Peter (3)
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 63. 2 John (1)
  • 1
  • 64. 3 John (1)
  • 1
  • 65. Jude (1)
  • 1
Please login to see history of your searches
Table of Contents
Hide Subtitles
Hide Footnotes
Spacing: 0 1 2 3
Verse Numbers Toggle
Strong Numbers Toggle
Info Language ArrowReturn to top