THE
BOOK OF EZEKIEL
Ezekiel Chapter 16
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¶ The word of the LORD again came to me, saying,
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Son of man, cause
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And say, The Lord GOD says to
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And as for your birth, in the day you were born your umbilical cord was
not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you; or rubbed with
salt, or wrapped up.
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No eye pitied you, to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on
you; but you were discarded in an open field, because you were rejected, on the
day that you were born.
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¶ And when I passed by you, and saw you rolling around
in your own blood, I said to you as you lay in your blood, Live.
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I made you grow like a plant in the field, and you have increased and become
great, and have matured and become beautiful: your breasts are formed,
and your hair has grown, when before you were naked and bare.
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Then when I passed by you, and looked at you, you were at the age for love; and
I spread the corner of my garment over you, and covered your nakedness: yea, I
swore to you, and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord GOD, and you
became mine.
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Then I washed you with water; yea, I washed off all your blood, and poured oil
on you.
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I also clothed you with embroidered work, and shod you with fine leather, and I
wrapped you with fine linen, and I covered you with silk.
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I also adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists, and a
chain around your neck.
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And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful
crown on your head.
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So you wore gold and silver ornaments; and your clothing was of fine
linen, silk, and embroidered work; your food was fine flour, honey, and oil:
and you were exceedingly beautiful, and finally became a queen.
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And you became famous among the heathen because of your beauty: for it was
perfect because I had put my glory upon you, says the Lord GOD.
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¶ But you trusted in your own beauty, and acted like a prostitute because of
your fame, and threw yourself at everyone who passed by; committing fornication
with him.
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And you took some of your clothes, and decorated your high places with various
colors, and acted like a prostitute in them: such things should not
happen, it ought not to be.
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You also took your beautiful jewels made from my gold and my silver,
which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and committed
adultery with them,
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And took your embroidered garments, and covered them: and you have placed my
oil and my incense before them.
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Also my food which I gave you, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith
I fed you, you have even set it before them as a sweet fragrance: and that is
what happened, says the Lord GOD.
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Furthermore you have taken your sons and your daughters, which you bore to me,
and have sacrificed them to feed the images. Was your adultery not enough,
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That you have killed my children, and gave them up when you passed them through
the fire to the images?
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And in all your abominations and your adulteries you have not remembered the days
of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your own
blood.
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And this is what happened after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you! says the
Lord GOD;)
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You built a mound and an elevated platform in every square.
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You built your high place at the head of every street, and made your beauty to
be disgraced, and have spread your legs to every one who passed by, and
multiplied your adultery.
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You have also committed fornication with your neighbors the Egyptians, swollen
with lust; and have increased your adulteries, to provoke me to anger.
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Therefore know that I have stretched out my hand over you, and have reduced
your provisions, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the
daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd behavior.
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You have also acted like a whore with the Assyrians, because you were not
satisfied; yea, you have played the role of a harlot with them, and even
then were not satisfied.
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You have even spread your fornication from the land of Canaan to Chaldea; and then you were still not satisfied.
30 How weak is your heart, asks the Lord GOD, seeing that you do all these things,
the acts of an arrogant prostitute;
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You build your mound at the head of every street, and make a high place in
every square; and yet you are not like an ordinary whore, in that you
scorn pay;
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But act like a wife who commits adultery, taking strangers instead of
her husband!
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They give gifts to prostitutes: but you give gifts to your lovers, and pay them,
so that they will come to you from every direction for your adultery.
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You do the opposite of other women in your prostitution, since no one
solicits you to commit adultery: you pay them, and no pay is given to you,
therefore you are the opposite.
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¶ Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
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The Lord GOD says; Because your filthiness was poured
out, and your nakedness exposed through your adultery with your lovers, and
with all your detestable idols, and by the blood of your children, which you
fed to them;
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Behold, I will gather all the lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, all those
that you have loved, and all those that you have hated; I will rally
them to come against you from every side, and will reveal your nakedness to
them, so that they may all see your nakedness.
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And I will condemn you, like women who violate the marriage vow and kill their
babies are condemned; then I will carry out your execution in fury and
jealousy.
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And I will turn you over to them, and they will tear down your mounds, and
break down your platforms: they will strip your clothes from you, and will take
your beautiful jewels, and leave you naked and bare.
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They will also gather an assembly against you, and they will stone you with
stones, and thrust you through with their swords.
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And they will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments upon you in the
sight of many women: and I will cause you to stop playing the harlot, and you
will not pay others any more.
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In that way I will expend my fury toward you, and my
jealousy will depart from you, and I will find rest, and will not be angry any
longer.
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Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but stirred up my rage
in all these ways; know that I will bring your deeds down upon your
head, says the Lord GOD: and you will not make wicked plans besides all your
abominations.
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¶ Behold, every one who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb against
you, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
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You are your mother’s daughter, she rejected her husband and her
children; and you are your sisters’ sister, they rejected their husbands
and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an
Amorite.
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And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters who dwell at
your left hand: and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is
Sodom and her daughters.
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Have you not walked after their ways, and committed the same abominations they
did: and, as if that were a very little thing, you were more
corrupt than they in all your ways.
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As I live, says the Lord GOD, Neither Sodom your sister, or her
daughters, have acted like you and your daughters have acted.
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Know that this was what was wrong with your sister
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And they were haughty, and did abominable things before me: therefore when I
saw it I got rid of them.
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52 You, who have judged your sisters must bear your own shame. Since the sins that you
have committed are more abominable than theirs: they are judged to be better
than you. Feel ashamed then, and bear your disgrace for making your sisters
appear righteous.
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When I bring them back from their captivity, and restore the fortunes of
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That you may bear your own shame, and feel the disgrace for all that you have
done, in that you comforted them.
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When your sisters,
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For as your sister
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Before your wickedness was exposed, it was like the time when you were
reproached by the daughters of Syria, and all those around her, and by the
daughters of the Philistines, who treated you with contempt on every side.
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You must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says
the LORD.
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For the Lord GOD says; I will give you what you
deserve, since you despised the oath and broke my covenant.
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¶ Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth,
and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant.
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Then you will remember your ways, and be ashamed, when you receive your older
and younger sisters: I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your
covenant.
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And I will establish my covenant with you; and you will know that I am
the LORD:
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That you may remember, and feel ashamed, and never again open your mouth
because of your disgrace, when I forgive you for all that you have done, says
the Lord GOD.