以西結書 第 16 章

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

Son of man, testify to Jerusalem of her lawless deeds.

And you shall say: Thus says the Lord to Jerusalem: Your root and your birth are from the land of Chanaan; your father was an Amorrite and your mother a Chettite woman.

And as for your birth: on the day you were born they did not bind your breasts, and you were not washed in water, nor were you rubbed with salt, and you were not wrapped in swaddling cloths.

Nor did my eye spare you, to do for you one of all these things, to feel anything for you; and you were cast out upon the face of the plain in the crookedness of your soul, on the day you were born.

And I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood, and I said to you, 'Out of your blood — life!'

Increase! Like the sprouting of the field I have made you; and you increased and grew great and came into cities of cities; your breasts became firm and your hair grew, yet you were naked and shamed.

And I passed by you and saw you, and behold, your time was the time of those who lodge; and I spread my wings over you and covered your shame; and I swore to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord, and you became mine.

And I washed you in water and washed your blood off you, and I anointed you with oil.

And I clothed you with embroidered garments and shod you with blue leather and girded you with fine linen and wrapped you in a gauze of fine hair.

And I adorned you with adornment and put bracelets on your hands and a necklace about your neck.

And I put a ring on your nose and earrings on your ears and a crown of boasting on your head.

And you were adorned with gold and silver, and your garments were of fine linen and gauze and embroidery; you ate fine flour and oil and honey, and you became exceedingly beautiful.

And your name went out among the nations for your beauty, because it was perfect in comeliness, in the splendor which I set upon you, says the Lord.

But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot upon your name, and you poured out your harlotry upon every passerby — which ought not to be.

And you took from your garments and made for yourself sewn idols and played the harlot upon them; and you shall not enter in, nor shall it come to pass.

And you took the vessels of your boasting from my gold and from my silver which I gave you, and you made for yourself male images and played the harlot with them.

And you took your embroidered clothing and covered them, and you set my oil and my incense before them.

And my bread which I gave you — fine flour and oil and honey with which I fed you — you also set before them as a fragrant odor; and so it happened, says the Lord.

And you took your sons and your daughters whom you bore and sacrificed them to these for consumption — as though your harlotry were a small thing!

And you slaughtered your children and gave them over when you made expiation through them.

This was beyond all your harlotry; and you did not remember the days of your infancy, when you were naked and shamed and weltering in your blood — and you lived.

And it happened after all your wickedness, says the Lord —

that you built yourself a brothel and made yourself a raised platform in every open square.

And at the head of every road you built your brothels and ruined your beauty and spread your legs to every passerby and multiplied your harlotry.

And you played the harlot with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, men of great flesh, and you played the harlot in many ways to provoke me to anger.

But if I stretch out my hand against you, I will take away your ordinances and hand you over to the desires of those who hate you, the daughters of the allophyles, who turn you aside from your way in which you acted impiously.

And you played the harlot with the daughters of Assour, and not even so were you satisfied; you played the harlot, and you were not being filled.

And you multiplied your covenants with the land of the Chaldeans, and not even with these were you satisfied.

How shall I make a covenant for your daughter? says the Lord — seeing that you do all these things, the works of a harlot woman; and you played the harlot threefold.

Among your daughters you built your brothel at the head of every road, and you made your platform in every open square, and you became like a harlot gathering hires.

The adulterous woman is like you, taking hires from her husband.

To all who whored with her, hires were given in addition; but you gave hires to all your lovers and loaded them with gifts to come to you from all around in your harlotry.

And there was in you something perverse, different from other women, in your harlotry: they whored with you because you gave hires in addition, and to you no hires were given; and so there were perverse things in you.

Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord: Because you poured out your bronze, your shame shall be uncovered in your harlotry toward your lovers, and toward all the devices of your lawless deeds, and in the blood of your children which you gave to them —

therefore, behold, I am gathering against you all your lovers with whom you mingled, and all whom you loved together with all whom you hated; and I will gather them against you from all around, and I will uncover your wickedness to them, and they shall see all your shame.

And I will punish you with the punishment of an adulteress and of a woman who sheds blood, and I will put you in the blood of wrath and jealousy.

And I will hand you over into their hands, and they shall tear down your brothel and demolish your platform, and they shall strip off your clothing and take the vessels of your boasting, and they shall leave you naked and shamed.

And they shall bring crowds against you, and they shall stone you with stones and cut you down with their swords.

And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; and I will turn you back from your harlotry, and you shall no longer give hires.

And I will let loose my wrath upon you, and my jealousy shall be removed from you, and I will rest and no longer be troubled.

Because you did not remember the day of your infancy and grieved me in all these things, behold, I too have repaid your ways upon your head, says the Lord; and so you committed this impiety on top of all your lawless deeds.

These are all the things they said against you in a proverb, saying, 'As the mother, so the daughter.'

You are the daughter of your mother, who cast off her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who cast off their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Chettite woman and your father an Amorrite.

Your elder sister is Samaria — she and her daughters — who dwells to your left; and your younger sister, who dwells to your right, is Sodoma and her daughters.

And not even so did you walk in their ways nor act according to their lawless deeds — it was but a little — and you surpassed them in all your ways.

As I live, says the Lord, Sodoma your sister — she and her daughters — has not done as you and your daughters have done.

But this was the lawlessness of Sodoma your sister: pride, in fullness of bread and in abundance of wine she and her daughters lived luxuriously. This is what she and her daughters had; and they did not take hold of the hand of the poor and needy.

And they were haughty and committed lawless deeds before me; and I removed them, as I saw.

And Samaria did not sin even half of your sins; you multiplied your lawless deeds beyond theirs, and you justified your sisters by all the lawless deeds which you committed.

And you, bear your torment, wherein you corrupted your sisters by your sins in which you acted more lawlessly than they; and you justified them more than yourself. So be ashamed, and take your dishonor, in that you justified your sisters.

And I will turn back their turnings: the turning of Sodoma and her daughters, and I will turn back the turning of Samaria and her daughters; and I will turn back your turning in their midst,

so that you may bear your torment and be dishonored for all that you did when you provoked me to anger.

And your sister Sodoma and her daughters shall be restored just as they were from the beginning; and Samaria and her daughters shall be restored just as they were from the beginning; and you and your daughters shall be restored just as you were from the beginning.

And was not Sodoma your sister a report in your mouth in the days of your pride,

before your wickedness was uncovered? Just as now you are a reproach to the daughters of Syria and to all the daughters of the allophyles round about her, who surround you on every side.

Your impieties and your lawless deeds — you yourself have borne them, says the Lord.

Thus says the Lord: I will do to you just as you did, since you dishonored these things by transgressing my covenant.

Yet I myself will remember my covenant with you in the days of your infancy, and I will establish for you an everlasting covenant.

And you shall remember your way and be utterly dishonored when you receive your elder sisters together with your younger ones; and I will give them to you for a building up, but not from your covenant.

And I myself will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord,

so that you may remember and be ashamed, and may no longer be able to open your mouth because of your dishonor, when I make atonement for you for all that you did, says the Lord.