Ezekiel 16 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said,

² “Son of man, {\cf2\super [115]} are the pieces of wood from a grapevine {\cf2\super [116]} any better than the little branches cut from trees in the forest? No!

³ You must say, ‘The Lord my Master says these things to Jerusalem: Look at your history. You were born in Canaan. Your father was an Amorite. Your mother was a Hittite.

⁴ People only throw that wood into the fire. Some sticks begin to burn on the ends, the middles turn black from the fire, \{but the sticks don’t burn completely\}. Can you make anything from that burnt stick?

⁵ \{Jerusalem, you were all alone.\} No one felt sorry for you or took care of you. \{Jerusalem,\} on the day you were born, your parents threw you out in the field. You were still covered with the blood and afterbirth.

⁶ “‘Then I (God) passed by. I saw you lying there, kicking in the blood. You were covered with blood but I said, “Please live!” Yes, you were covered with blood but I said, “Please live!”

⁷ “I will punish those people. But some of those people will be like the sticks that don’t burn completely—they will be punished, but they won’t be destroyed completely. You will see that I punished these people, and you will know that I am the Lord!

⁸ I looked you over. I saw you were ready for love. So I spread my clothes over you {\cf2\super [118]} and covered your nakedness. I promised to marry you. I made the agreement {\cf2\super [119]} with you. And you became mine.’” The Lord my Master said these things.

⁹ “‘I washed you in water. I washed away your blood. And I rubbed oil on your skin.

¹⁰ {\cf2\super [120]} I gave you a nice dress and soft leather shoes. I gave you a linen headband and a silk scarf.

¹¹ Then I gave you some jewelry. I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck.

¹² I gave you a nose ring, some earrings, and a beautiful crown to wear.

¹³ You were beautiful in your silver and gold jewelry, and your linen, silk, and embroidered material. You ate the best foods. You were very, very beautiful. And you became the queen!

¹⁴ You became famous for your beauty. And all because I made you so lovely!’” The Lord my Master said these things.

¹⁵ \{God said,\} “But you began to trust in your beauty. You used the good name you had and became unfaithful to me. You acted like a prostitute {\cf2\super [121]} with every man that passed by. You gave yourself to them all!

¹⁶ You took your beautiful clothes and used them to decorate your places of worship. And you acted like a prostitute in those places. You gave yourself to every man that came by!

¹⁷ Then you took your beautiful jewelry that I gave you. And you used that gold and silver to make statues of men. And you had sex with them too!

¹⁸ Then you took the beautiful cloth and made clothes for those statues. You took the perfume and incense I gave you, and you put it in front of those idols.

¹⁹ I gave you bread, honey, and oil. But you gave that food to your idols. You offered them as a sweet smell to please your false gods. You acted like a prostitute with those false gods!” The Lord my Master said these things.

²⁰ \{God said,\} “You and I had children together. But you took our children. You killed them and gave them to those false gods! But that is only some of the bad things you did when you cheated on me and went to those false gods.

²¹ You slaughtered {\cf2\super [122]} my sons and then passed them \{through the fire\} to those false gods.

²² You left me and did all those terrible things. And you never remembered the time when you were young. You did not remember that you were naked and kicking in blood \{when I found you\}.

²³ “After all those bad things, … Oh Jerusalem, it will be very bad for you!” The Lord my Master said all these things.

²⁴ “After all those things you made that mound \{for worshiping that false god\}. You built those places for worshiping false gods on every street corner.

²⁵ You built your mounds at the head of every road. Then you degraded your beauty. You used it to catch every man that walked by. You raised your skirt so they could see your legs, and then you were like a prostitute {\cf2\super [123]} with those men.

²⁶ Then you went to Egypt, your neighbor with the big sex organ. You had sex with him many times to make me angry.

²⁷ So I punished you! I took away part of your allowance (land). I let your enemies, the daughters (cities) of the Philistines do what they wanted to you. Even they were shocked at the bad things you did.

²⁸ Then you went to have sex with Assyria. {\cf2\super [124]} You could not get enough. You were never satisfied.

²⁹ So you turned to Canaan, and then to Babylonia. And still you were not satisfied.

³⁰ You are so weak. You let all those men (countries) cause you to sin. You acted just like a domineering prostitute. {\cf2\super [125]} ” The Lord my Master said those things.

³¹ \{God said,\} “But you were not exactly like a prostitute. {\cf2\super [126]} You built your mounds at the head of every road and you built your places of worship at every street corner. You had sex with all those men. But you did not ask them to pay you like a prostitute does.

³² You adulterous woman. You prefer having sex with strangers rather than your own husband.

³³ Most prostitutes force men to pay them for sex. But you gave money to your many lovers. You paid all the men around to come in to have sex with you.

³⁴ You are just the opposite of most prostitutes. Most prostitutes force men to pay them. But you pay the men to have sex with you.”

³⁵ Prostitute, {\cf2\super [127]} listen to the message from the Lord.

³⁶ The Lord my Master says these things: “You have spent your money {\cf2\super [128]} and let your lovers and filthy gods see your naked body and have sex with you. You have killed your children and poured out their blood. This was your gift to those false gods.

³⁷ So I am bringing all of your lovers together. I will bring all the men you loved and all the men you hated. I will bring them all together and let them see you naked. {\cf2\super [129]} They will see you completely naked.

³⁸ Then I will punish you. I will punish you as a murderer and a woman that did the sin of adultery. You will be punished as if by an angry and jealous husband.

³⁹ I will let those lovers have you. They will destroy your mounds. They will burn your places of worship. They will tear off your clothes and take your beautiful jewelry. They will leave you bare and naked \{like you were when I found you\}.

⁴⁰ They will bring a crowd of people and throw rocks at you to kill you. Then they will cut you in pieces with their swords.

⁴¹ They will burn your house (temple). They will punish you so all the other women can see. I will stop you from living like a prostitute. I will stop you from paying money to your lovers.

⁴² Then I will stop being angry and jealous. I will calm down. I won’t be angry any more.

⁴³ Why will all these things happen? Because you did not remember what happened when you were young. You did all those bad things and made me angry. So I had to punish you for doing those bad things. But you planned even more terrible things.” The Lord my Master said those things.

⁴⁴ “All the people that talk about you will now have one more thing to say. They will say, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

⁴⁵ You are your mother’s daughter. You don’t care about your husband or your children. You are just like your sister. Both of you hated your husband and your children. \{\} Your mother was a Hittite and your father was an Amorite.

⁴⁶ Your older sister was Samaria. She lived to the north of you with her daughters (towns). And your younger sister was Sodom. {\cf2\super [130]} She lived to the south of you with her daughters (towns).

⁴⁷ You did all the terrible things they did. But you also did things that were even worse!

⁴⁸ I am the Lord and Master. I am alive. And by my life I promise, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as many bad things as you and your daughters.”

⁴⁹ \{God said,\} “Your sister Sodom and her daughters were proud, they had too much to eat, and too much time on their hands. And they did not help poor, helpless people.

⁵⁰ Sodom and her daughters became too proud and began to do terrible things in front of me. And when I saw them doing those things, I punished them.”

⁵¹ \{God said,\} “And Samaria did only half as many bad things as you did. You did many more terrible things than Samaria! You have done so many more terrible things than your sisters. Sodom and Samaria seem good compared to you.

⁵² So you must bear your shame. You have made your sisters look good compared to you. You have done terrible things, so you should be ashamed.”

⁵³ \{God said,\} “I destroyed Sodom and the towns around it. And I destroyed Samaria around it. And \{Jerusalem,\} I will destroy you. But I will build those cities again. And \{Jerusalem,\} I will build you again too.

⁵⁴ I will comfort you. Then you will remember the terrible things you did, and you will be ashamed.

⁵⁵ So you and your sisters will be built again. Sodom and the towns around her, Samaria and the towns around her, and you and the towns around you will all be built again.”

⁵⁶ \{God said,\} “In the past, you were proud and made fun of your sister Sodom. But you won’t do that again.

⁵⁷ You did that before you were punished, before your neighbors started making fun of you. The daughters (towns) of Edom {\cf2\super [131]} and Philistia are making fun of you now.

⁵⁸ Now you must suffer for the terrible things you did.” The Lord said these things.