12The word of the LORD came to me: 13O mortal, if a land were to sin against Me and commit a trespass, and I stretched out My hand against it and broke its staff of bread, and sent famine against it and cut off man and beast from it, 14even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job— should be in it, they would by their righteousness save only themselves— declares the Lord GOD. 15Or, if I were to send wild beasts to roam the land and they depopulated it, and it became a desolation with none passing through it because of the beasts, 16as I live—declares the Lord GOD— those three men in it would save neither sons nor daughters; they alone would be saved, but the land would become a desolation. 17Or, if I were to bring the sword upon that land and say, “Let a sword sweep through the land so that I may cut off from it man and beast,” 18if those three men should be in it, as I live—declares the Lord GOD—they would save neither sons nor daughters, but they alone would be saved. 19Or, if I let loose a pestilence against that land, and poured out My fury upon it in blood, cutting off from it man and beast, 20should Noah, Daniel, and Job be in it, as I live—declares the Lord GOD—they would save neither son nor daughter; they would save themselves alone by their righteousness.
21Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: How much less [should any escape] now that I have let loose against Jerusalem all four of My terrible punishments—the sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence—to cut off man and beast from it! 22Yet there are survivors left of it, b-sons and daughters who are being brought out.-b They are coming out to you; and when you see their ways and their deeds, you will be consoled for the disaster that I brought on Jerusalem, for all that I brought on it. 23You will be consoled through them, when you see their ways and their deeds and realize that not without cause did I do all that I did in it—declares the Lord GOD.
15 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, how is the wood of the grapevine better than the wood of any branch to be found among the trees of the forest? 3Can wood be taken from it for use in any work? Can one take a peg from it to hang any vessel on? 4Now suppose it was thrown into the fire as fuel and the fire consumed its two ends and its middle was charred—is it good for any use? 5Even when it was whole it could not be used for anything; how much less when fire has consumed it and it is charred! Can it still be used for anything?
6Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: Like the wood of the grapevine among the trees of the forest, which I have designated to be fuel for fire, so will I treat the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 7I will set My face against them; they escaped from fire, but fire shall consume them. When I set my face against them, you shall know that I am the LORD. 8I will make the land a desolation, because they committed trespass—declares the Lord GOD.
16 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, proclaim Jerusalem’s abominations to her, 3and say: Thus said the Lord GOD to Jerusalem: By origin and birth you are from the land of the Canaanites—your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4As for your birth, when you were born your navel cord was not cut, and you were not bathed in water to a-smooth you;-a you were not rubbed with salt, nor were you swaddled. 5No one pitied you enough to do any one of these things for you out of compassion for you; on the day you were born, you were left lying, rejected, in the open field. 6When I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you: “Live in spite of your blood.” b-Yea, I said to you: “Live in spite of your blood.”-b 7I let you grow like the plants of the field; and you continued to grow up until you attained a-to womanhood,-a until your breasts became firm and your hair sprouted.
You were still naked and bare 8when I passed by you [again] and saw that your time for love had arrived. c-So I spread My robe over you-c and covered your nakedness, and I entered into a covenant with you by oath—declares the Lord GOD; thus you became Mine. 9I bathed you in water, and washed the blood off you, and anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you with embroidered garments, and gave you sandals ofd- dolphin leather-d to wear, and wound fine linen about your head, and dressed you in silks. 11I decked you out in finery and put bracelets on your arms and a chain around your neck. 12I put a ring in your nose, and earrings in your ears, and a splendid crown on your head. 13You adorned yourself with gold and silver, and your apparel was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. Your food was choice flour, honey, and oil. You grew more and more beautiful, and became fit for royalty. 14Your beauty won you fame among the nations, for it was perfected through the splendor which I set upon you— declares the Lord GOD.
15But confident in your beauty and fame, you played the harlot: you lavished your favors on every passerby; a-they were his.-a 16You even took some of your cloths and made yourself a-tapestried platforms-a and fornicated on them—d-not in the future; not in time to come.-d 17You took your beautiful things, made of the gold and silver that I had given you, and you made yourself phallic images and fornicated with them. 18You took your embroidered cloths to cover them; and you set My oil and My incense before them. 19The food that I had given you—the choice flour, the oil, and the honey, which I had provided for you to eat—you set it before them for a pleasing odor.c And so it went—declares the Lord GOD. 20You even took the sons and daughters that you bore to Me and sacrificed them to those [images] as food—as if your harlotries were not enough, 21you slaughtered My children and presented them as offerings to them! 22In all your abominations and harlotries, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and lay wallowing in your blood.
23After all your wickedness (woe, woe to you!)—declares the Lord GOD—24you built yourself an eminence and made yourself a mound in every square. 25You built your mound at every crossroad; and you sullied your beauty and spread your legs to every passerby, and you multiplied your harlotries. 26You played the whore with your neighbors, the lustfulf Egyptians—you multiplied your harlotries to anger Me. 27Now, I will stretch out My arm against you and withhold your maintenance; and I will surrender you to the will of your enemies, the Philistine women, who are shocked by your lewd behavior.
28In your insatiable lust you also played the whore with the Assyrians; you played the whore with them, but were still unsated. 29You multiplied your harlotries with Chaldea, that land of traders; yet even with this you were not satisfied.
30g-How sick was your heart-g—declares the Lord GOD—when you did all those things, the acts of a self-willed whore, 31building your eminence at every crossroad and setting your mound in every square! Yet you were not like a prostitute, for you spurned fees; 32[you were like] the adulterous wife who welcomes strangers instead of her husband. 33Gifts are made to all prostitutes, but you made gifts to all your lovers, and bribed them to come to you from every quarter for your harlotries. 34You were the opposite of other women: you solicited instead of being solicited; you paid fees instead of being paid fees. Thus you were just the opposite!
35Now, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD. 36Thus said the Lord GOD: Because of your brazen effrontery, offering your nakedness to your lovers for harlotry—h-just like the blood of your children, which you gave to all your abominable fetishes:-h—37I will assuredly assemble all the lovers to whom you gave your favors, along with everybody you accepted and everybody you rejected. I will assemble them against you from every quarter, and I will expose your nakedness to them, and they shall see all your nakedness. 38I will inflict upon you the punishment of women who commit adultery and murder, and I will direct bloody and impassioned fury against you. 39I will deliver you into their hands, and they shall tear down your eminence and level your mounds; and they shall strip you of your clothing and take away your dazzling jewels, leaving you naked and bare. 40Then they shall assemble a mob against you to pelt you with stones and pierce you with their swords. 41They shall put your houses to the flames and execute punishment upon you in the sight of many women; thus I will put a stop to your harlotry, and you shall pay no more fees. 42When I have satisfied My fury upon you and My rage has departed from you, then I will
