and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine,” declares the Lord GOD.
I adorned you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck.
I also put a ring in your nostril, earrings in your ears and a beautiful crown on your head.
Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares the Lord GOD.
“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter?
that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every square.
You built yourself a high place at the top of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry.
“How languishing is your heart,” declares the Lord GOD, “while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot.
When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square, in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot.
They will incite a crowd against you and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.
You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
in order that you may bear your humiliation and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them.
“Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel,
saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “A great eagle with great wings, long pinions and a full plumage of many colors came to Lebanon and took away the top of the cedar.
He plucked off the topmost of its young twigs and brought it to a land of merchants; he set it in a city of traders.
He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil. He placed it beside abundant waters; he set it like a willow.
Then it sprouted and became a low, spreading vine with its branches turned toward him, but its roots remained under it. So it became a vine and yielded shoots and sent out branches.
It was planted in good soil beside abundant waters, that it might yield branches and bear fruit and become a splendid vine.”’
He took one of the royal family and made a covenant with him, putting him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land,
Thus says the Lord GOD, “I will also take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and set it out; I will pluck from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it, that it may bring forth boughs and bear fruit and become a stately cedar. And birds of every kind will nest under it; they will nest in the shade of its branches.
“But if a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness,
and does not eat at the mountain shrines or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, or defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period--
if a man does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing,
“Then he may have a violent son who sheds blood and who does any of these things to a brother
oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore a pledge, but lifts up his eyes to the idols and commits abomination,
“Now behold, he has a son who has observed all his father’s sins which he committed, and observing does not do likewise.
or oppress anyone, or retain a pledge, or commit robbery, but he gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing,
“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.
When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die.
Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life.
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,” declares the Lord GOD. “Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.
Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel?
“As for you, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel
and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness among lions! She lay down among young lions, She reared her cubs.
‘When she brought up one of her cubs, He became a lion, And he learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.
‘When she saw, as she waited, That her hope was lost, She took another of her cubs And made him a young lion.
‘And he walked about among the lions; He became a young lion, He learned to tear his prey; He devoured men.
‘They put him in a cage with hooks And brought him to the king of Babylon; They brought him in hunting nets So that his voice would be heard no more On the mountains of Israel.
‘Your mother was like a vine in your vineyard, Planted by the waters; It was fruitful and full of branches Because of abundant waters.
‘And now it is planted in the wilderness, In a dry and thirsty land.
‘And fire has gone out from its branch; It has consumed its shoots and fruit, So that there is not in it a strong branch, A scepter to rule.’” This is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
on that day I swore to them, to bring them out from the land of Egypt into a land that I had selected for them, flowing with milk and honey, which is the glory of all lands.
I gave them My statutes and informed them of My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live.
Also I gave them My sabbaths to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
But the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not walk in My statutes and they rejected My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; and My sabbaths they greatly profaned. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath on them in the wilderness, to annihilate them.
Sanctify My sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’
But the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, nor were they careful to observe My ordinances, by which, if a man observes them, he will live; they profaned My sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath on them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness.
“As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “surely with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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