CHAPTER 16

1 Then the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,

2 Son of man, lay open to Jerusalem her abominations.

3 Thus shall you say, Thus says the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem, Thy source and thy birth-place was the land of Canaan; Thy father was an Amorite, thy mother a Hittite.

4 Then as to thy nativity, in the day of thy birth, Thy navel was not cut: you was not washed with water To supple thee: you was not salted with salt, ³³¹³³¹     See vol. 2, p. 96, note. Nor wrapped in swaddling clothes.

5 No eye pitied thee, to do unto thee any one of these things, In considering thee; and you was cast forth On the surface of the field, to the disgrace of thy person, in the day of thy birth.

6 Then I passed near thee and saw thy defilement’s, And I said to thee in thy bloods, Live; Yea, I said to thee in thy bloods, Live.

7 Then I made thee grow as a germ of the field, And you did increase and flourish; You became remarkably beautiful; ³³²³³²     See vol. 2, p. 100, note. Thy breasts became prominent and your hair profuse, Yet you was naked and bare.

8 Then I passed by and saw thee: and lo! the time, the time for love: Then I stretched out my skirt over thee, And covered thy nakedness; and I swore to thee, And made a covenant with thee, And you was mine, saith the Lord Jehovah.

9 Then I washed thee with water, and cleansed thy blood from thee, And anointed thee with oil. and clothed thee in a Phrygian robe;

10 Then I shod thee with badgers’ skin, and dressed thee in fine linen; Then I arrayed thee in silk, and adorned thee with ornaments,

11 And put bracelets on thy hands, and a chain round thy Deck.

12 Then I put a ring through thy nose, ³³³³³³     See vol. 2, p. 105, note. and earrings in your ears, And a crown of comeliness on thy head.

13 I adorned thee with gold and silver, and clothed thee with fine linen, And silk and broidered work you did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil; And you was beautiful exceedingly, And you did proceed prosperously to thy kingdom.

14 Then thy fame went forth among the nations for beauty, Because you was perfect in the beauty Which I caused unto thee, says the Lord Jehovah.

15 But you did trust in thy beauty, and commit fornication through thy renown, And did pour out thy fornications to every passer by;

16 His it was. — Then you has taken of thy garments, And made thee high places sprinkled with spots, And has committed fornication upon them: They do not come, and it shall not be. ³³⁴³³⁴     The meaning of this clause is doubtful. See Calvin’s Commentary,vol. 2, p. 113. Newcome very judiciously translates, “whither you shouldst not have come, neither should it have been done.”

17 You has also taken vessels of thy beauty of my gold And of my silver which I had given thee; And you has made for thyself images of men, And has committed fornication with them.

18 Then you has taken of thy variegated garments, And has clothed them: and my oil and mine incense Has you set before them.

19 My bread also which, I gave thee, fine flour and oil, And honey with which I fed thee, You has set it before them for a sweet savor; And so it has happened, says the Lord Jehovah.

20 Then you has taken thy sons and thy daughters which you has borne to me, And has slain them to be devoured: Are then thy fornications a small thing?

21 Then you has slain my sons, and caused them to be thrown to idols. ³³⁵³³⁵     See vol. 2, p. 121, note.

22 And in all your abominations and thy lewdness You has not remembered the days of thy youth, When you was naked and bare, and defiled in thy bloods.

23 So after all thy wickedness it has happened to thee, Wo! wo! unto thee, says the Lord Jehovah.

24 Then you has built a high place for thyself, And has made thee a raised spot in every street.

25 At the head of every way you has built thy high place; Then you has made thy beauty abominable, And has spread thy feet to every passer by, And has multiplied thy lewdness’.

26 You has also committed adultery with the Egyptians Thy neighbors, great of flesh: and over and over again Has committed lewdness to irritate me.

27 Then lo! I stretched out my hand over thee, And I diminished thy portion, and delivered thee up To the lust of the daughters of the Philistines, who hated thee, And were ashamed of your abandoned ways.

28 Then you has committed adultery with the sons of Ashur, Since you was not satisfied, you has been lewd with them; Yet even then you was not, satisfied.

29 Then you has increased thy lewdnesses In the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; And even this did not satiate thee.

30 How soft is your heart, says the Lord Jehovah, Since you doest all the work of a bold abandoned woman!

31 Since you has raised your high place at the head of every way, And has made thy lofty place in every celebrated spot; And has not been like a harlot in scorning hire. ³³⁶³³⁶     Calvin in his comment explains the sense in which “scorning” is used, vol. 2, p. 135; but Newcome justly supposes the original word to be the Chaldee for “to gather.”

32 An adulterous woman receiving strangers instead of her husband!

33 To all harlots men give a reward; But you has given thy gifts to all thy lovers, And you has hired them to come to thee from all sides

34 For thy fornications — for in thy lewdness You have inverted the custom of other women; Since there is no fornication like thine: Because you has given instead of receiving a gift, Then you has acted contrary to others.

35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear Jehovah’s word!

36 Thus says the Lord Jehovah, Because thy shamelessness is poured out, And thy baseness detected in thy lewdness towards thy lovers, And towards all the idols of your abominations, And in the bloods of thy children whom you has given to them;

37 Wherefore lo! I will assemble all thy lovers Whom you has attracted, and all whom you has loved and hated; I will assemble them from all around thee, And I will lay bare thy nakedness before them, And they shall behold all thy turpitude.

38 Then will I judge thee with the judgment of adulteresses, And of those who pour out blood; and I will give thee The blood of fury and of jealousy.

39 And I will give thee into their hand, And they shall pull down thy high place, And destroy thy raised places, and shall spoil thee of thy robes; They shall also take the vessels of thy glory, And send thee away, naked and bare.

40 Then they shall stir up a crowd against thee, And stone thee with stones, and thrust at thee with swords.

41 Then they shall burn thy houses with fire, And shall execute judgments against thee in the eyes of many women: Then will I cause thee to cease from fornication, Neither shall you offer a gift any more.

42 And I will cause my fury towards thee to rest, And my jealousy shall depart from thee, And I will rest and be no longer angry.

43 Because you has not remembered the days of thy youth, But has provoked me in all those things; I will even recompense thy way upon your head, Says the Lord Jehovah; since you has taken no thought For all your abominations. ³³⁷³³⁷     See vol. 2, p. 148, note.

44 Lo! every user of proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, Saying, As the mother is, so is the daughter.

45 You art the daughter of thy mother, who has east away her husband and her sons; And the sister of thy sisters, who loathe their husbands and children; Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite:

46 And your elder sister is Samaria, and her daughters those who dwell at thy left hand; And thy younger sister, who dwells at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters.

47 Yet you has not walked in their ways, And you has not done according to their abominations, As if it had been a very small firing, And you has been more corrupt than they in all thy ways.

48 As I live, says the Lord Jehovah, If Sodom thy sister and her daughters have done As you and thy daughters have done.

49 Lo! this was the iniquity of Sodom thy sister, Pride, fullness of bread, and security of ease Belonged to her and her daughters and she did not lay hold Of the hand of the poor and needy; but she was haughty,

50 And did abomination before me, Hence I took them away as it pleased me. ³³⁸³³⁸     See vol. 2, p. 156, note.

51 And Samaria has not committed half of thy sins; But you has multiplied your abominations beyond them, And has justified thy sisters in all the abominations which you has done.

52 Bear you, then, thy disgrace by which you has pleaded for thy sister, By thy crimes which you has committed beyond them; They are justified more than you be you then ashamed, And bear thy disgrace, since you has justified thy sisters.

53 Yet will I turn the captivity, yea, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, And the captivity of thy captivities in the midst of them,

54 That you mayest bear thy reproach, and mayest be ashamed Of all that you has done in consoling them.

55 And thy sisters Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, And Samaria and her daughters shall return to theirs, And you and thy daughters shall return to yours.

56 Then thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thee, In the day of thy pride, before thy wickedness was detected;

57 As in the time of thy reproach from the daughters of Syria, And from all around of the daughters of the Philistines, Who despised thee round about.

58 As for thy depraved thoughts and abominations, You has borne them, says Jehovah.

59 For thus saith the Lord Jehovah, I will also do to thee as you has done, Who has despised the oath and broken the covenant.

60 Yet I will remember my covenant with thee In the days of thy youth, and I will establish a perpetual covenant with thee.

61 Then you shall remember thy ways and be ashamed, When you shall receive thy sisters, both elder and younger than thyself; And I will give them unto thee for daughters, But not by thy covenant.

62 For I will establish my covenant with thee, And you shall know that I am Jehovah.

63 That you mayest remember and be ashamed, And not open thy mouth any more because of thy disgrace, When I am propitious to thee for all thy deeds, Says the Lord Jehovah.