Ezekiel 16:6-58
New American Standard Bible
Chapter 16
6When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7I made you very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.
8Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,' declares the Lord God.
9Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and anointed you with oil.
10I also clothed you with colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
11I adorned you with jewelry, put bracelets on your wrists, and a necklace around your neck.
12I also put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
13So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.
14Then your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you,' declares the Lord God.
15But you trusted in your beauty and became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting.
16You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen.
17You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them.
18Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them.
19Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,' declares the Lord God.
20Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter?
21You slaughtered My children and offered them to idols by making them pass through the fire.
22And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.
23Then it came about after all your wickedness (‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares the Lord God),
24that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every public square.
25You built yourself a high place at the beginning of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice.
26You also committed prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your obscene practice to provoke Me to anger.
27So behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut back your rations. And I turned you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your outrageous conduct.
28Moreover, you committed prostitution with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you committed prostitution with them and still were not satisfied.
29You also multiplied your obscene practice with the land of merchants, Chaldea; yet even with this you were not satisfied.'?’?'
30How feverish is your heart,' declares the Lord God, 'while you do all these things, the action of a bold prostitute!
31When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in spurning a prostitute’s fee, you were not like a prostitute.
32You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!
33Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and lavish favors on them so that they will come to you from every direction for your obscene practices.
34So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute’s fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite.'
35Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord.
36This is what the Lord God says: 'Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to idols,
37therefore, behold, I am going to gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness.
38So I will judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.
39I will also hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, strip you of your clothing, take away your jewels, and will leave you naked and bare.
40They will incite a crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
41And they will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. Then I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will also no longer pay your lovers.
42So I will satisfy My fury against you and My jealousy will leave you, and I will be pacified and no longer be angry.
43Since you have not remembered the days of your youth but have caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will bring your conduct down on your own head,' declares the Lord God, 'so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.
44Behold, everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you, saying, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46Now your older sister is Samaria, who lives north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lives south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.
47Yet you have not merely walked in their ways and committed their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you also acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they.
48As I live,' declares the Lord God, 'Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done!
49Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, plenty of food, and carefree ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.
50So they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them when I saw it.
51Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. So you have made your sisters appear innocent by all your abominations which you have committed.
52Also, bear your disgrace in that you have made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your disgrace, in that you made your sisters appear innocent.
53Nevertheless, I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them your own fortunes,
54so that you will bear your disgrace and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them.
55Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state.
56As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard from your lips in your day of pride,
57before your wickedness was uncovered, so now you have become the disgrace of the daughters of Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines—those surrounding you who despise you.
58You have suffered the penalty of your outrageous sin and abominations,' the Lord declares.
King James Version
Chapter 16
6And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.
9Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil.
10I clothed thee also with embroidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
11I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
12And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
13Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
14And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.
15But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
16And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colors, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
17Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
18And tookest thine embroidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
19My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savor: and thus it was, saith the Lord God.
20Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter,
21That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
22And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
23And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;)
24That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street.
25Thou hast built thy high place at every head 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.
26Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
27Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
28Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
29Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
30How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
31In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
32But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!
33They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
34And 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.
35Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord:
36Thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness 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;
37Behold, therefore I 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 discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness.
38And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
39And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
40They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
41And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more.
42So will 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.
44Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45Thou art thy mother's daughter, that loatheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children: your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
46And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.
47Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways.
48As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
49Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good.
51Neither 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.
52Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear 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.
53When 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:
54That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them.
55When 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.
56For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,
57Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about.
58Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord.
Christian Standard Bible
Chapter 16
6"‘I passed by you and saw you thrashing around in your blood, and I said to you as you lay in your blood, "Live!" Yes, I said to you as you lay in your blood, "Live!" 7I made you thrive like plants of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were stark naked.
8"‘Then I passed by you and saw you, and you were indeed at the age for love. So I spread the edge of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged myself to you, entered into a covenant with you—this is the declaration of the Lord God —and you became mine.
9I washed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil.
10I clothed you in embroidered cloth and provided you with fine leather sandals. I also wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
11I adorned you with jewelry, putting bracelets on your wrists and a necklace around your neck.
12I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
13So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained royalty.
14Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through my splendor, which I had bestowed on you. This is the declaration of the Lord God.
15"‘But you trusted in your beauty and acted like a prostitute because of your fame. You lavished your sexual favors on everyone who passed by. Your beauty became his.
16You took some of your clothing and made colorful high places for yourself, and you engaged in prostitution on them. These places should not have been built, and this should never have happened!
17You also took your beautiful jewelry made from the gold and silver I had given you, and you made male images so that you could engage in prostitution with them.
18Then you took your embroidered clothing to cover them and set my oil and incense before them.
19The food that I gave you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I fed you—you set it before them as a pleasing aroma. That is what happened. This is the declaration of the Lord God.
20"‘You even took your sons and daughters you bore to me and sacrificed them to these images as food. Wasn’t your prostitution enough?
21You slaughtered my children and gave them up when you passed them through the fire to the images.
22In all your detestable practices and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were stark naked and thrashing around in your blood.
23"‘Then after all your evil—Woe, woe to you!—the declaration of the Lord God —
24you built yourself a mound and made yourself an elevated place in every square.
25You built your elevated place at the head of every street and turned your beauty into a detestable thing. You spread your legs to everyone who passed by and increased your prostitution.
26You engaged in promiscuous acts with Egyptian men, your well-endowed neighbors, and increased your prostitution to anger me.
27"‘Therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your provisions. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the Philistine women, who were embarrassed by your indecent conduct.
28Then you engaged in prostitution with the Assyrian men because you were not satisfied. Even though you did this with them, you were still not satisfied.
29So you extended your prostitution to Chaldea, the land of merchants, but you were not even satisfied with this!
30"‘How your heart was inflamed with lust —the declaration of the Lord God —when you did all these things, the acts of a brazen prostitute,
31building your mound at the head of every street and making your elevated place in every square. But you were unlike a prostitute because you scorned payment.
32You adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!
33Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from all around for your sexual favors.
34So you were the opposite of other women in your acts of prostitution; no one solicited you. When you paid a fee instead of one being paid to you, you were the opposite.
35"‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord!
36This is what the Lord God says: Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness exposed by your acts of prostitution with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols and the blood of your children that you gave to them,
37I am therefore going to gather all the lovers you pleased —all those you loved as well as all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose your nakedness to them so they see you completely naked.
38I will judge you the way adulteresses and those who shed blood are judged. Then I will bring about the shedding of your blood in jealous wrath.
39I will hand you over to them, and they will demolish your mounds and tear down your elevated places. They will strip off your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you stark naked.
40They will bring a mob against you to stone you and to cut you to pieces with their swords.
41They will burn your houses and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will stop you from being a prostitute, and you will never again pay fees for lovers.
42So I will satisfy my wrath against you, and my jealousy will turn away from you. Then I will be calm and no longer angry.
43Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will also bring your conduct down on your own head. This is the declaration of the Lord God. Haven’t you committed depravity in addition to all your detestable practices?
44"‘Look, everyone who uses proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter."
45You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hethite and your father an Amorite.
46Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you, and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to the south of you.
47Didn’t you walk in their ways and do their detestable practices? It was only a short time before all your ways were more corrupt than theirs.
48"‘As I live—the declaration of the Lord God —your sister Sodom and her daughters have not behaved as you and your daughters have.
49Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, plenty of food, and comfortable security, but didn’t support the poor and needy.
50They were haughty and did detestable acts before me, so I removed them when I saw this.
51But Samaria did not commit even half your sins. You have multiplied your detestable practices beyond theirs and made your sisters appear righteous by all the detestable acts you have committed.
52You must also bear your disgrace, since you have helped your sisters out. For they appear more righteous than you because of your sins, which you committed more detestably than they did. So you also, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53"‘I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and those of Samaria and her daughters. I will also restore your fortunes among them,
54so you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did when you comforted them.
55As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state.
56Didn’t you treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn when you were proud,
57before your wickedness was exposed? It was like the time you were scorned by the daughters of Aram and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—those who treated you with contempt from every side.
58You yourself must bear the consequences of your depravity and detestable practices —this is the Lord’s declaration.
New Living Translation
Chapter 16
6But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’ 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. 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.
9Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.
10I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather.
11I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,
12a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.
13And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and costly fabric 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!
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.
15But 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.
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?
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!
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.
19Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign Lord.
20Then you took your sons and daughters — the children you had borne to me — and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?
21Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?
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.
23What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness,
24you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.
25On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.
26Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.
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.
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.
29You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia, the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.
30What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign Lord, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute.
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.
32Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.
33Prostitutes charge for their services — but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you.
34So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!
35Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord!
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,
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.
38I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.
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.
40They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords.
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.
42Then 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.
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.
44Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
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.
46Your 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.
47But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption.
48As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters.
49Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.
50She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.
51Even 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.
52Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.
53But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too.
54Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.
55Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored.
56In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt.
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.
58This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the Lord.
English Standard Version
Chapter 16
6"And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7I made you flourish like a plant of the field. And you grew up and became tall and arrived at full adornment. Your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown; yet you were naked and bare.
8"When I passed by you again and saw you, behold, you were at the age for love, and I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your nakedness; I made my vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God, and you became mine.
9Then I bathed you with water and washed off your blood from you and anointed you with oil.
10I clothed you also with embroidered cloth and shod you with fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk.
11And I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your wrists and a chain on your neck.
12And I put a ring on your nose and earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
13Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour and honey and oil. You grew exceedingly beautiful and advanced to royalty.
14And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God.
15"But you trusted in your beauty and played the whore because of your renown and lavished your whorings on any passerby; your beauty became his.
16You took some of your garments and made for yourself colorful shrines, and on them played the whore. The like has never been, nor ever shall be.
17You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and with them played the whore.
18And you took your embroidered garments to cover them, and set my oil and my incense before them.
19Also my bread that I gave you — I fed you with fine flour and oil and honey — you set before them for a pleasing aroma; and so it was, declares the Lord God.
20And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your whorings so small a matter
21that you slaughtered my children and delivered them up as an offering by fire to them?
22And in all your abominations and your whorings you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your blood.
23"And after all your wickedness (woe, woe to you! declares the Lord God),
24you built yourself a vaulted chamber and made yourself a lofty place in every square.
25At the head of every street you built your lofty place and made your beauty an abomination, offering yourself to any passerby and multiplying your whoring.
26You also played the whore with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, multiplying your whoring, to provoke me to anger.
27Behold, therefore, I stretched out my hand against you and diminished your allotted portion and delivered you to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.
28You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes, you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.
29You multiplied your whoring also with the trading land of Chaldea, and even with this you were not satisfied.
30"How sick is your heart, declares the Lord God, because you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute,
31building your vaulted chamber at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square. Yet you were not like a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
32Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband!
33Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from every side with your whorings.
34So you were different from other women in your whorings. No one solicited you to play the whore, and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; therefore you were different.
35"Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the Lord:
36Thus says the Lord God, Because your lust was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your whorings with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave to them,
37therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from every side and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
38And I will judge you as women who commit adultery and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy.
39And I will give you into their hands, and they shall throw down your vaulted chamber and break down your lofty places. They shall strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels and leave you naked and bare.
40They shall bring up a crowd against you, and they shall stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
41And they shall burn your houses and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. I will make you stop playing the whore, and you shall also give payment no more.
42So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry.
43Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?
44"Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
45You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters.
47Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.
49Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy.
50They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.
51Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed.
52Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53"I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst,
54that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all that you have done, becoming a consolation to them.
55As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former state, and you and your daughters shall return to your former state.
56Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth in the day of your pride,
57before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and for the daughters of the Philistines, those all around who despise you.
58You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.
New International Version
Chapter 16
6" ‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!" 7I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.
9" ‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you.
10I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments.
11I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck,
12and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
13So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.
14And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.
15" ‘But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute. You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
16You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places, where you carried on your prostitution. You went to him, and he possessed your beauty.
17You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver, and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
18And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them, and you offered my oil and incense before them.
19Also the food I provided for you—the flour, olive oil and honey I gave you to eat—you offered as fragrant incense before them. That is what happened, declares the Sovereign Lord.
20" ‘And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
21You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
22In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, kicking about in your blood.
23" ‘Woe! Woe to you, declares the Sovereign Lord. In addition to all your other wickedness,
24you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
25At every street corner you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty, spreading your legs with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by.
26You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large genitals, and aroused my anger with your increasing promiscuity.
27So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory; I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines, who were shocked by your lewd conduct.
28You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too, because you were insatiable; and even after that, you still were not satisfied.
29Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia, a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.
30" ‘I am filled with fury against you, declares the Sovereign Lord, when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!
31When you built your mounds at every street corner and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
32" ‘You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!
33All prostitutes receive gifts, but you give gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
34So in your prostitution you are the opposite of others; no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite, for you give payment and none is given to you.
35" ‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord!
36This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood,
37therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked.
38I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger.
39Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked.
40They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords.
41They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers.
42Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
44" ‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like mother, like daughter."
45You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom.
47You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.
48As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
49" ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
51Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done.
52Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53" ‘However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them,
54so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort.
55And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before.
56You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride,
57before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you.
58You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord.
New King James Version
Chapter 16
6“And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ Yes, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ 7I made you thrive like a plant in the field; and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, but you were naked and bare.
9“Then I washed you in water; yes, I thoroughly washed off your blood, and I anointed you with oil.
10I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of badger skin; I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.
11I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain on your neck.
12And I put a jewel in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
13Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate pastry of fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and succeeded to royalty.
14Your fame went out among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through My splendor which I had bestowed on you,” says the Lord God.
15“But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your harlotry on everyone passing by who would have it.
16You took some of your garments and adorned multicolored high places for yourself, and played the harlot on them. Such things should not happen, nor be.
17You have also taken your beautiful jewelry from My gold and My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.
18You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set My oil and My incense before them.
19Also My food which I gave you—the pastry of fine flour, oil, and honey which I fed you—you set it before them as sweet incense; and so it was,” says the Lord God.
20“Moreover you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore to Me, and these you sacrificed to them to be devoured. Were your acts of harlotry a small matter,
21that you have slain My children and offered them up to them by causing them to pass through the fire?
22And in all your abominations and acts of harlotry you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.
23“Then it was so, after all your wickedness—‘Woe, woe to you!’ says the Lord God—
24that you also built for yourself a shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street.
25You built your high places at the head of every road, and made your beauty to be abhorred. You offered yourself to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your acts of harlotry.
26You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke Me to anger.
27“Behold, therefore, I stretched out My hand against you, diminished your allotment, and gave you up to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd behavior.
28You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; indeed you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.
29Moreover you multiplied your acts of harlotry as far as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.
31“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned payment.
32You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.
33Men make payment to all harlots, but you made your payments to all your lovers, and hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.
34You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”
35‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!
36Thus says the Lord God: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them,
37surely, therefore, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
38And I will judge you as women who break wedlock or shed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
39I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down your high places. They shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.
41They shall burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you cease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.
42So I will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more.
43Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but agitated Me with all these things, surely I will also recompense your deeds on your own head,” says the Lord God. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
44“Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’
45You are your mother’s daughter, loathing husband and children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46“Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.
47You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48“ As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.
49Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.
51“Samaria did not commit half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done.
52You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back the captives of your captivity among them,
54that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when you comforted them.
55When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state.
56For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride,
57before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria and all those around her, and of the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere.
58You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the Lord.
