Ezekiel 16:15-41

Living Bible

¹⁵ “‘But you thought you could get along without me—you trusted in your beauty instead; and you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was his for the asking. ¹⁶ You used the lovely things I gave you for making idol shrines and to decorate your bed of prostitution. Unbelievable! There has never been anything like it before! ¹⁷ You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I gave to you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me. ¹⁸ You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you—to cover your idols! And used my oil and incense to worship them! ¹⁹ You set before them as a lovely sacrifice—imagine it—the fine flour and oil and honey I gave you! ²⁰ And you took my sons and daughters you had borne to me and sacrificed them to your gods; and they are gone. Wasn’t it enough that you should be a prostitute? ²¹ Must you also slay my children by sacrificing them to idols?

²² “‘And in all these years of adultery and sin you have not thought of those days long ago when you were naked and covered with blood.

²³ “‘And then, in addition to all your other wickedness—woe, woe upon you, says the Lord God— ²⁴ you built a spacious brothel for your lovers and idol altars on every street, ²⁵ and there you offered your beauty to every man who came by, in an endless stream of prostitution. ²⁶ And you added lustful Egypt to your prostitutions by your alliance with her. My anger is great.

²⁷ “‘Therefore I have crushed you with my fist; I have reduced your boundaries and delivered you into the hands of those who hate you—the Philistines—and even they are ashamed of you.

²⁸ “‘You have committed adultery with the Assyrians too by making them your allies and worshiping their gods;^[a] it seems that you can never find enough new gods. After your adultery there, you still weren’t satisfied, ²⁹ so you worshiped the gods of that great merchant land of Babylon—and you still weren’t satisfied. ³⁰ What a filthy heart you have, says the Lord God, to do such things as these; you are a brazen prostitute, ³¹ building your idol altars, your brothels, on every street. You have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even charged for your love! ³² Yes, you are an adulterous wife who lives with other men instead of her own husband. ^33-34 Prostitutes charge for their services—men pay with many gifts. But not you, you give them gifts, bribing them to come to you! So you are different from other prostitutes. But you had to pay them, for no one wanted you.

³⁵ “‘O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord: ³⁶ This is what the Lord God says! Because I see your filthy sins, your adultery with your lovers—your worshiping of idols—and the slaying of your children as sacrifices to your gods, ³⁷ this is what I am going to do: I will gather together all your allies—these lovers of yours you have sinned with, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will make you naked before them that they may see you. ³⁸ I will punish you as a murderess is punished and as a woman breaking wedlock living with other men. ³⁹ I will give you to your lovers—these many nations—to destroy, and they will knock down your brothels and idol altars. They will strip you, take your beautiful jewels, and leave you naked and ashamed. ^40-41 They will burn your homes, punishing you before the eyes of many women. And I will see to it that you stop your adulteries with other gods and end your payments to your allies for their love.