35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD: |
36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; |
37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. |
38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. |
39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. |
40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. |
41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. |
42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. |
43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations. |
44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. |
45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. |
46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. |
47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. |
48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. |
49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. |
50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. |
51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. |
52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters. |
53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: |
54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. |
55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. |
56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, |
57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. |
58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD. |
59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant. |
60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. |
61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. |
62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: |
63 That thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord GOD. |
16 The mean beginning of the Jewish church and nation, Eze 16:1-5.
The many favours God bestowed upon them, Eze 16:6-14.
Their treacherous and ungrateful requital, Eze 16:15-34.
Terrible judgments threatened, Eze 16:35-43.
An aggravation of their sin and of their punishment, Eze 16:44-59.
A promise of mercy to a remnant, Eze 16:60-63.
16:38 Blood - Thou gavest the blood of thy children to idols in sacrifice; I will give thee thine own blood to drink.
16:42 My jealousy - The jealousy whereto you have provoked me, will never cease, 'till these judgments have utterly destroyed you, as the anger of an abused husband ceases in the publick punishment of the adulteress. No more angry - I will no more concern myself about thee.
16:44 The mother - Old Jerusalem, when the seat of the Jebusites, or the land of Canaan, when full of the idolatrous, bloody, barbarous nations. Her daughter - Jerusalem, or the Jews who are more like those accursed nations in sin, than near them in place of abode.
16:45 Thou - The nation of the Jews. Thy mother's daughter - As much in thy inclinations, as for thy original. Loatheth - That was weary of the best husband.
16:46 Thine elder sister - The greater for power, riches, and numbers of people. Her daughters - The lesser cities of the kingdom of Israel.Thy left hand - Northward as you look toward the east.Thy younger sister - Which was smaller and less populous.Thy right hand - Southward from Jerusalem.
16:47 Not walked after their ways - For they, all things considered, were less sinners than thou. Nor done - Their doings were abominable, but thine have been worse.
16:49 This was - The fountain and occasion of all.Fulness of bread - Excess in eating and drinking.Strengthen - She refused to help strangers.
16:51 Hast justified - Not made them righteous, but declared them less unrighteous, than thou; of the two they are less faulty.
16:52 Hast judged - Condemned their apostacy, and hast judged their punishment just.
16:53 When - Sodom and Samaria never were restored to that state they had been in; nor were the two tribes ever made so rich, mighty, and renowned, though God brought some of them out of Babylon: the words confirm an irrecoverably low, and despised state, of the Jews in their temporals. Then - Then, not before.
16:54 A comfort - Encouraging sinners like those of Sodom and Samaria.
16:56 Not mentioned - The sins of Sodom, and her plagues, were not minded or mentioned by thee.
16:57 Before - The time of her pride was, when they were not yet afflicted, and despised by the Syrians. And all - The nations that were round about and combined in league against the house of David.Her - Syria, the chief whereof were the Philistines.
16:58 Thy lewdness - The punishment thereof.
16:59 In breaking the covenant - So will I break my covenant with thee.
16:60 Nevertheless - The Lord having denounced a perpetual punishment to the impenitent body of the Jewish nation, doth now promise to the remnant, that they shall be remembered, and obtain covenanted mercy.My covenant - In which I promised I would not utterly cut off the seed of Israel, nor fail to send the redeemer, who should turn away iniquity from Jacob. With thee - In the loins of Abraham, and solemnly renewed after their coming out of Egypt, which is the time, called the days of thy youth, Isa 44:2.Establish - Confirm and ratify. It shall be sure, and unfailing.An everlasting covenant - Of long continuance, as to their condition in the land of Canaan, and in what is spiritual, it shall be absolutely everlasting.
16:61 Then - When that new covenant shall take effect.Receive - Admit into church - communion, the Gentiles, now strangers, but then sisters. Thine elder - Those that are greater and mightier than thou; that by their power, wealth and honour are as much above thee as the elder children are above the younger. Thy younger - Thy lesser or meaner sister.For daughters - As daughters hearken to, and obey, so shall the Gentiles brought into the church, hearken to the word of God, which sounded out from Jerusalem. But not - Not by that old covenant which was violated; nor by external ceremonies, which were a great part of the first covenant, but by that covenant which writes the law in the heart, and puts the fear of God into the inward parts.
16:63 Open thy mouth - Neither to justify thyself, or to condemn others, or to quarrel with thy God. Because of thy shame - Such a confusion for thy sin will cover thee. Indeed the more we feel of God's love, the more ashamed we are that ever we offended him. And the more our shame for sin is increased, the more will our comfort in God be increased also.