Ezekiel 16:15-43

“ ‘But you trusted in your beauty. You became a prostitute, because you were so famous. You had sexual relations with anyone who passed by. You took some of your clothes and made your places of worship colorful. There you carried on your prostitution. These things should not happen; they should never occur. You also took your beautiful jewelry, made from my gold and silver I had given you, and you made for yourselves male idols so you could be a prostitute with them. Then you took your clothes with beautiful needlework and covered the idols. You gave my oil and incense as an offering to them. Also, you took the bread I gave you, the fine flour, oil, and honey I gave you to eat, and you offered them before the gods as a pleasing smell. This is what happened, says the Lord GOD. “ ‘But your sexual sins were not enough for you. You also took your sons and daughters who were my children, and you sacrificed them to the idols as food. You killed my children and offered them up in fire to the idols. While you did all your hateful acts and sexual sins, you did not remember when you were young, when you were naked and had no clothes and were left in your blood. “ ‘How terrible! How terrible it will be for you, says the Lord GOD. After you did all these evil things, you built yourself a place to worship gods. You made for yourself a place of worship in every city square. You built a place of worship at the beginning of every street. You made your beauty hateful, offering your body for sex to anyone who passed by, so your sexual sins became worse and worse. You also had sexual relations with the Egyptians, who were your neighbors and partners in sexual sin. Your sexual sins became even worse, and they caused me to be angry. So then, I used my power against you and took away some of your land. I let you be defeated by those who hate you, the Philistine women, who were ashamed of your evil ways. Also, you had sexual relations with the Assyrians, because you could not be satisfied. Even though you had sexual relations with them, you still were not satisfied. You did many more sexual sins in Babylonia, the land of traders, but even this did not satisfy you. “ ‘Truly your will is weak, says the Lord GOD. You do all the things a stubborn prostitute does. You built your place to worship gods at the beginning of every street, and you made places of worship in every city square. But you were not like a prostitute when you refused to accept payment. “ ‘You are a wife who is guilty of adultery. You desire strangers instead of your husband. Men pay prostitutes, but you pay all your lovers to come to you. And they come from all around for sexual relations. So you are different from other prostitutes. No man asks you to be a prostitute, and you pay money instead of having money paid to you. Yes, you are different. “ ‘So, prostitute, hear the word of the LORD. This is what the Lord GOD says: You showed your nakedness to other countries. You uncovered your body in your sexual sins with them as your lovers and with all your hateful idols. You killed your children and offered their blood to your idols. So I will gather all your lovers with whom you found pleasure. Yes, I will gather all those you loved and those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around, and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can see your nakedness. I will punish you as women guilty of adultery or as murderers are punished. I will put you to death because I am angry and jealous. I will also hand you over to your lovers. They will tear down your places of worship and destroy other places where you worship gods. They will tear off your clothes and take away your jewelry, leaving you naked and bare. They will bring a crowd against you to throw stones at you and to cut you into pieces with their swords. They will burn down your houses and will punish you in front of many women. I will put an end to your sexual sins, and you will no longer pay your lovers. Then I will rest from my anger against you, and I will stop being jealous. I will be quiet and not angry anymore. “ ‘Because you didn’t remember when you were young, but have made me angry in all these ways, I will repay you for what you have done, says the Lord GOD. Didn’t you add sexual sins to all your other acts which I hate?