16 The word of Adonai came to me: ² “Human being, make Yerushalayim realize how disgusting her practices are. ³ Say that Adonai Elohim is telling Yerushalayim, ‘By origin and birth you are of the land of the Kena‘ani — your father was an Emori, and your mother was a Hitti. ⁴ As for your birth — on the day you were born nobody cut your umbilical cord, washed you in water to clean you off, rubbed salt on you or wrapped you in cloth. ⁵ No one seeing you had enough pity on you to do any of these things for you — no one had any compassion on you. Instead, you were thrown into an open field in your own filth on the day you were born.

⁶ “‘I passed by and saw you there, wallowing in your own blood; and as you lay in your blood I said to you, “Live!” Yes, I said to you, as you lay in your blood, “Live! ⁷ I will increase your numbers just like plants growing in the field.” And you did increase, you developed, you reached puberty, your breasts appeared, and your hair grew long; but you were naked and exposed.

⁸ “‘Again I passed by you, looked at you and saw that your time had come, the time for love. So I spread my cloak over you to cover your private parts and entered into a covenant with you,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘and you became mine. ⁹ Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with oil. ¹⁰ I also clothed you with an embroidered gown, gave you fine leather sandals to wear, put a fine linen headband on your head and covered you with silk. ¹¹ I gave you jewelry to wear, bracelets for your hands, a necklace for your neck, ¹² a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears and a beautiful crown for your head. ¹³ Thus you were decked out in gold and silver; your clothing was of fine linen, silk and richly embroidered cloth; you ate the finest flour, honey and olive oil. You grew increasingly beautiful — you were fit to be queen. ¹⁴ Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, because it was perfect, due to my having bestowed my own splendor on you’ says Adonai Elohim.

¹⁵ “‘But you put your trust in your own beauty and began prostituting yourself because of your fame, soliciting everyone passing by and accepting all comers. ¹⁶ You took your clothes and used them to decorate with bright colors the high places you made for yourself, and there you continued prostituting yourself. Such things shouldn’t happen, and in the future they won’t. ¹⁷ You also took your beautiful jewels made of my gold and my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images, with which you continued to prostitute yourself. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered clothing and covered them; you set my olive oil and my incense in front of them; ¹⁹ and you took my food, which I had given you — my fine flour, olive oil and honey, that I had given you to eat — and set it in front of them to give a pleasant aroma. That is how it was,’ says Adonai Elohim.

²⁰ “‘Moreover, your sons and daughters, whom you bore me, you took and sacrificed for them to devour. Were these fornications of yours a casual matter? — ²¹ killing my children, handing them over and setting them apart for [these idols]? ²² In all your disgusting practices and fornications you never remembered the condition you were in when you were young — naked, exposed and wallowing in your own blood.

²³ “‘So, after all this wickedness of yours — woe, woe to you!’ says Adonai Elohim — ²⁴ ‘you built platforms and made yourself high places in every open space. ²⁵ You built your high places at every streetcorner, turning your beauty into an abomination, spreading your legs for every passer-by, and multiplying your acts of fornication. ²⁶ You had sex with your big-membered Egyptian neighbors and engaged in fornication over and over, just to provoke me. ²⁷ So now I have stretched out my hand over you, diminished your ration of food and put you at the mercy of those who hate you, the daughters of the P’lishtim, who find your lewd behavior revolting.

²⁸ “‘Still unsatisfied, you acted like a whore also with the people of Ashur; yes, you fornicated with them and were still not satisfied. ²⁹ You multiplied your acts of fornication with the land of traders, the Kasdim, and still weren’t satisfied.

³⁰ “‘You are so weak-willed!’ says Adonai Elohim. ‘You do all these things, behaving like a shameless whore, ³¹ building your platforms on every streetcorner, making your high places in every open space — and yet you aren’t like a whore, because you scorn getting paid. ³² Here is a wife who commits adultery, who goes to bed with strangers instead of her husband; ³³ but also instead of receiving gifts like every other prostitute, you give gifts to all your lovers, you bribe them to come to you from all over the place and have sex with you! ³⁴ You are the opposite of other women — you solicit the fornication, you aren’t solicited; and you pay them, they don’t pay you — you’re the opposite!

³⁵ “‘All right, you whore, listen to the word of Adonai!’ ³⁶ Adonai Elohim says: ‘Because your filth has been poured out and your privates exposed through your acts of fornication with your lovers, and because of all the idols of your disgusting practices, and because of the blood of your children, which you gave them, ³⁷ therefore, look! I am going to gather all your lovers, to whom you have been so very nice, all the ones you hate right along with all the ones you love — I will gather them against you from all over the place and expose your private parts to them, so that they will see you completely naked. ³⁸ I will pronounce on you the sentence that applies to women who commit adultery and murder; I will bring on you the death [decreed for] furious jealousy. ³⁹ Yes, I will hand you over to them; and they will make a ruin of your platforms, tear down your high places, strip you of your clothes, take away your jewels, and leave you naked and exposed. ⁴⁰ They will also bring up a mob against you, who will stone you to death and hack you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹ They will burn your houses to the ground and execute judgments against you in the presence of many women. I will make you stop fornicating, and you will never again pay for a lover.

⁴² “‘Yes, I will satisfy my fury against you. But after that, my jealousy will leave you; and I will calm down and no longer be angry.

⁴³ “‘Because you didn’t remember the condition you were in when you were young, but enraged me with all these things, therefore I will bring [the consequences of] your ways on your own head’ says Adonai Elohim.

“‘You committed these obscenities in addition to all your other disgusting practices! ⁴⁴ Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb against you, “Like mother, like daughter.” ⁴⁵ Yes, you are your mother’s daughter, who despises her husband and children; you are the sister of your sisters, who despise their husbands and children; your mother was a Hitti and your father an Emori. ⁴⁶ Moreover, your older sister is Shomron, who lives at your left, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, living at your right, is S’dom with her daughters. ⁴⁷ You didn’t merely live by their ways and act according to their disgusting practices, but in a very short time you acted more corruptly than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸ “‘As I live’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘your sister S’dom has not done, neither she nor her daughters, [as much evil] as you have done, you and your daughters. ⁴⁹ The crimes of your sister S’dom were pride and gluttony; she and her daughters were careless and complacent, so that they did nothing to help the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were arrogant and committed disgusting acts before me; so that when I saw it, I swept them away. ⁵¹ Shomron did not commit even half as many sins as you did. You committed many more disgusting acts than your sisters; in fact, in comparison with all the disgusting acts you have committed, they seem innocent! ⁵² But you too must bear your disgrace; for by your passing judgment that your sisters were innocent, through your having committed sins worse than theirs, they are shown to be more righteous than you. So be ashamed, and bear the disgrace you deserve for making your [guilty] sisters seem innocent!

⁵³ “‘I will end their exile — the exile of S’dom and her daughters, the exile of Shomron and her daughters, and the exile of your captives there among them; ⁵⁴ so that you can bear your own shame and experience the disgrace you deserve for all you have done to shield them from feeling their own guilt. ⁵⁵ Your sisters, S’dom with her daughters and Shomron with her daughters, will return to their previous condition; and you with your daughters will return to your previous condition. ⁵⁶ When you were so proud, you spoke with contempt about your sister S’dom, ⁵⁷ before your own wickedness was exposed. But now the daughters of Aram mock you, as do her neighbors; and the daughters of the P’lishtim on every side are repulsed by you. ⁵⁸ You have brought it all on yourself with your depravities and disgusting practices,’ says Adonai.

⁵⁹ “For here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will do to you as you have done — you treated the oath with contempt by breaking the covenant. ⁶⁰ Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were a girl and will establish an everlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹ Then you will remember your behavior and be ashamed of it as you receive your older and younger sisters and make them your daughters, even though the covenant with you does not cover that; ⁶² and I will re-establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am Adonai;

20 On the tenth day of the fifth month of the seventh year, some of Isra’el’s leaders came to consult Adonai and sat with me; ² and the word of Adonai came to me: ³ “Human being, speak to Isra’el’s leaders; tell them that Adonai Elohim asks, ‘Have you come to consult me? As I live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘I swear that I will not let you consult me.’

⁴ “Are you going to judge them? Human being, are you going to judge them? Then have them realize how disgusting their ancestors’ practices were. ⁵ Tell them that Adonai Elohim says this: ‘Back on the day when I chose Isra’el, I raised my hand to the descendants of the house of Ya‘akov. I revealed myself to them in the land of Egypt when I raised my hand to them and said, “I am Adonai your God.” ⁶ On the day I raised my hand to them, pledging to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land I had reconnoitered for them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands, ⁷ I told them, “Each of you is to throw away the detestable things that draw your eyes. Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.”

⁸ “‘But they rebelled against me and wouldn’t listen to me; they did not, each of them, throw away the detestable things that drew their eyes; and they did not abandon the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them there in the land of Egypt. ⁹ But concern for my own reputation kept me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were living, in the sight of whom I had made myself known to them, in order to bring them out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ So I had them leave the land of Egypt and brought them into the desert. ¹¹ I gave them my laws and showed them my rulings; if a person obeys them, he will have life through them. ¹² I gave them my shabbats as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I, Adonai, am the one who makes them holy.

¹³ “‘But the house of Isra’el rebelled against me in the desert. They did not live by my laws; and they rejected my rulings, which, if a person does, he will have life through them; moreover, they greatly profaned my shabbats. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them in the desert, in order to destroy them. ¹⁴ But concern for my own reputation kept me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen when I brought them out. ¹⁵ Yet I also raised my hand and swore to them in the desert that I would not bring them into the land I was giving them, a land flowing with milk and honey, the most beautiful of all lands; ¹⁶ because they had rejected my rulings, did not live by my laws and profaned my shabbats; since their hearts went after their idols. ¹⁷ However, I spared them from complete destruction; I did not completely finish them off in the desert.

¹⁸ “‘I said to their children in the desert, “Don’t live by the laws of your fathers, observe their rulings or defile yourselves with their idols. ¹⁹ I am Adonai your God; live by my laws, observe my rulings, and obey them, ²⁰ and keep my shabbats holy; and they will be a sign between me and you, so that you will know that I am Adonai your God.”

²¹ “‘But the children too rebelled against me. They did not live by my laws or observe my rulings, to obey them, which, if a person does, he will have life by them; and they profaned my shabbats. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them and spend my anger on them in the desert. ²² Nevertheless, I withdrew my hand and allowed concern for my own reputation to keep me from letting it be profaned in the sight of the nations who had seen when I brought them out.

²³ “‘I also raised my hand and swore to them in the desert that I would scatter them among the nations and disperse them through the countries; ²⁴ because they hadn’t obeyed my rulings but had rejected my laws and profaned my shabbats, and their eyes had turned toward their fathers’ idols. ²⁵ I also gave them laws which did them no good and rulings by which they did not live; ²⁶ and I let them become defiled by their own gifts, in that they offered up their firstborn sons, so that I could fill them with revulsion, so that they would [finally] realize that I am Adonai.’

²⁷ “Therefore, human being, speak to the house of Isra’el; tell them that Adonai Elohim says, ‘Moreover, your ancestors blasphemed me by breaking faith with me in still another way: ²⁸ for after I had brought them into the land, which I had raised my hand in pledge to give them, they noted all its high hills and leafy trees and offered there their sacrifices; there they made offerings that provoked my anger, there they set out their sweet aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings. ²⁹ When I asked them, “This high place where you go, what is the meaning of it?” they gave it the name Bamah* which it retains to this day.’

³⁰ “So tell the house of Isra’el that Adonai Elohim says, ‘You are defiling yourselves in the same way as your ancestors, following their abominations and fornicating with them; ³¹ and when offering your gifts, you make your children pass through the fire and defile yourselves with all your idols — to this day. So, am I supposed to allow you to consult me, house of Isra’el? As I live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘I swear that I won’t have you consult me, ³² and that what you have in mind when you say, “We will be like the Goyim, like the families of the other countries, serving wood and stone,” will certainly not happen. ³³ As I live,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘I swear that surely with a mighty hand, with a stretched-out arm and with poured-out fury I myself will be king over you. ³⁴ I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered, with a mighty hand, with a stretched-out arm and with poured-out fury; ³⁵ then I will bring you into the desert of the peoples and judge you face to face. ³⁶ Just as I judged your ancestors in the desert of the land of Egypt, so will I judge you,’ says Adonai Elohim. ³⁷ ‘I will make you pass under the crook and bring you into the obligations of the covenant. ³⁸ I will rid you of the rebels who are in revolt against me — I will bring them out from the land where they are living, but they will not enter the land of Isra’el; then you will know that I am Adonai.’

³⁹ “As for you, house of Isra’el, here is what Adonai Elohim says: ‘Go on serving your idols, every one of you! But afterwards, [I swear that] you will listen to me, and you will no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and with your idols. ⁴⁰ For on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Isra’el,’ says Adonai Elohim, ‘the whole house of Isra’el, all of them, will serve me in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will require your contributions, your best gifts and all your consecrated things. ⁴¹ I will accept you with your sweet aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you out of the countries where you were scattered; and through you I will manifest my holiness in the sight of the nations.

⁴² “‘You will know that I am Adonai when I bring you into the land of Isra’el, into the country which I pledged, by raising my hand, to give to your ancestors. ⁴³ There you will remember your behavior and all the things you did by which you defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves for all the evils you committed. ⁴⁴ You will know that I am Adonai when I have dealt with you in a manner that preserves my reputation, and not according to your evil ways and corrupt actions, house of Isra’el’ says Adonai Elohim.”