43Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but infuriated Me with all those things, I h-will pay you back for your conduct-h— declares the Lord GOD.
Have you not committed depravity on top of all your other abominations? 44Why, everyone who uses proverbs applies to you the proverb “Like mother, like daughter.” 45You are the daughter of your mother, who rejected her husband and children. And you are the sister of your sisters, who rejected their husbands and children; for you are daughters of a Hittite mother and an Amorite father. 46Your elder sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to the south of you. 47Did you not walk in their ways and practice their abominations? Why, you were almosta more corrupt than they in all your ways. 48As I live—declares the Lord GOD—your sister Sodom and her daughters did not do what you and your daughters did. 49Only this was the sin of your sister Sodom: arrogance! She and her daughters had plenty of bread and untroubled tranquillity; yet she did not support the poor and the needy. 50In their haughtiness, they committed abomination before Me; and so I removed them, as you saw.i 51Nor did Samaria commit even half your sins. You committed more abominations than they, and by all the abominations that you committed you made your sisters look righteous. 52Truly, you must bear the disgrace of serving as your sisters’ advocate: Since you have sinned more abominably than they, they appear righteous in comparison. So be ashamed and bear your disgrace, because you have made your sisters look righteous.
53I will restore their fortunes—the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters—and your fortunes along with theirs. 54Thus you shall bear your disgrace and feel your disgrace for behaving in such a way that they could take comfort. 55Then your sister 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 days of your pride, 57before your own wickedness was exposed? So must you now bear the mockery of the daughters of Aramj and all her neighbors, the daughters of Philistia who jeer at you on every side. 58You yourself must bear your depravity and your abominations—declares the LORD.
59Truly, thus said the Lord GOD: I will deal with you as you have dealt, for you have spurned the pact and violated the covenant. 60Nevertheless, I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish it with you as an everlasting covenant. 61You shall remember your ways and feel ashamed, when you receive your older sisters and your younger sisters, and I give them to you as daughters, though they are not of your covenant. 62I will establish My covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the LORD. 63Thus you shall remember and feel shame, and you shall be too abashed to open your mouth again, when I have forgiven you for all that you did—declares the Lord GOD.
17 The word of the LORD came to me: 2O mortal, propound a riddle and relate an allegory to the House of Israel. 3Say: Thus said the Lord GOD: The great eagle with the great wings and the long pinions, a-with the full plumage and the brilliant colors,-a came to the Lebanon range and seized the top of the cedar. 4He plucked off its topmost bough and carried it off to the land of tradersb and set it in a city of merchants. 5He then took some of the seed of the landc and planted it in a fertile field; d-he planted and set it like a willow-d beside abundant waters. 6It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature; it became a vine, produced branches, and sent out boughs. [He had intended] that its twigs should turn to him, and that its roots should stay under him.
7But there was another great eagle with great wings and full plumage; and this vine now bent its roots in his direction and sent out its twigs toward him, that he might water it more than the bed where it was planted—8though it was planted in rich soil beside abundant water—so that it might grow branches and produce boughs and be a noble vine.
9Say: Thus said the Lord GOD: Will it thrive? Will hee not tear out its roots and rip off its crown, so that its entire foliage withers? It shall wither, despite any strong arm or mighty army [that may come] to remove it from its roots. 10And suppose it is transplanted, will it thrive? When the east wind strikes it, it shall wither—wither upon the bed where it is growing.
11Then the word of the LORD came to me: 12Say to the rebellious breed: Do you not know what these things mean? Say: The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and carried away its king and its officers and brought them back with him to Babylon. 13He took one of the seed royal and made a covenant with him and imposed an oath on him, and he carried away the nobles of the land—14so that it might be a humble kingdom and not exalt itself, but keep his covenant and so endure.
15But [that prince] rebelled against him and sent his envoys to Egypt to get horses and a large army. Will he succeed? Will he who does such things escape? Shall he break a covenant and escape? 16As I live—declares the Lord GOD—in the very homeland of the king who made him king, whose oath he flouted and whose covenant he broke—right there, in Babylon, he shall die. 17Pharaoh will not fight at his side with a great army and with numerous troops in the war, when mounds are thrown up and siege towers erected to destroy many lives. 18He flouted a pact and broke a covenant; he gave his promise and did all these things—he shall not escape. 19Assuredly, thus said the Lord GOD: As I live, I will pay him back for flouting My pact and breaking My covenant. 20I will spread My net over him and he shall be caught in My snare; I will carry him to Babylon and enter with him into judgment there for the trespass which he committed against Me. 21And all the fugitivesf of all his battalions shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall scatter in every direction; then you will know that I the LORD have spoken.
22Thus said the Lord GOD: Then I in turn will take and set [in the ground a slip] from the lofty top of the cedar; I will pluck a tender twig from the tip of its crown, and I will plant it on a tall, towering mountain. 23I will plant it in Israel’s lofty highlands, and it shall bring forth boughs and produce branchesg and grow into a noble cedar. Every bird of every feather shall take shelter under it, shelter in the shade of its boughs. 24Then shall all the trees of the field know that it is I the LORD who have abased the lofty tree and exalted the lowly tree, who have dried up the green tree and made the withered tree bud. I the LORD have spoken, and I will act.
18 The word of the LORD came to me: 2What do you mean by quoting this proverb upon the soil of Israel, “Parents eat sour grapes and their children’s teeth are blunted”?a 3As I live—declares the Lord GOD— this proverb shall no longer be current among you in Israel. 4Consider, all lives are Mine; the life of the parent and the life of the child are both Mine. The person who sins, only he shall die.
5Thus, if a man is righteous and does what is just and right: 6If he has not eaten on the mountainsb or raised his eyes to the fetishes of the House of Israel; if he has not defiled another man’s wife or approached a menstruous woman; 7if he has not wronged anyone; if he has returned the debtor’s pledge to him and has taken nothing by robbery; if he has given bread to the hungry and clothed the naked; 8if he has not lent at advance interest or exacted accrued interest;c if he has abstained from wrongdoing and executed true justice between man and man; 9if he has followed My laws and kept My rules and acted honestly—he is righteous. Such a man shall live—declares the Lord GOD.
10Suppose, now, that he has begotten a son who is a ruffian, a shedder of blood, who d-does any of these things,-d 11whereas he himself did none of these things. That is, [the son] has eaten on the mountains,b has defiled another man’s wife, 12has wronged the poor and the needy, has taken by robbery, has not returned a pledge, has raised his eyes to the fetishes, has committed abomination, 13has lent at advance interest, or exacted accrued interest—shall he live? He shall not live! If he has committed any of these abominations, he shall die; he has forfeited his life.
14Now suppose that he, in turn, has begotten a son who has seen all the sins that his father committed, but has taken heed and has not imitated them:
