Broken History and Personal Blame

¹Again the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations;

³and say, ‘The Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: “Your origin and your birth is of the land of the Canaanite. An Amorite was your father, and your mother was a Hittite.

⁴As for your birth, in the day you were born your navel was not cut. You weren’t washed in water to cleanse you. You weren’t salted at all, nor wrapped in blankets at all.

⁵No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you, to have compassion on you; but you were cast out in the open field, because you were abhorred in the day that you were born.

⁶“‘“When I passed by you, and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’ Yes, I said to you, ‘Though you are in your blood, live!’

⁷I caused you to multiply as that which grows in the field, and you increased and grew great, and you attained to excellent beauty. Your breasts were formed, and your hair grew; yet you were naked and bare.

⁸“‘“Now when I passed by you, and looked at you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my garment over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I pledged myself to you and entered into a covenant with you,” says the Lord GOD, “and you became mine.

⁹“‘“Then I washed you with water. Yes, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil.

¹⁰I clothed you also with embroidered work and put leather sandals on you. I dressed you with fine linen and covered you with silk.

¹¹I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.

¹²I put a ring on your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

¹³Thus you were decked with gold and silver. Your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You were exceedingly beautiful, and you prospered to royal estate.

¹⁴Your renown went out among the nations for your beauty; for it was perfect, through my majesty which I had put on you,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁵“‘“But you trusted in your beauty, and played the prostitute because of your renown, and poured out your prostitution on everyone who passed by. It was his.

¹⁶You took some of your garments, and made for yourselves high places decked with various colors, and played the prostitute on them. This shouldn’t happen, neither shall it be.

¹⁷You also took your beautiful jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself images of men, and played the prostitute with them.

¹⁸You took your embroidered garments, covered them, and set my oil and my incense before them.

¹⁹My bread also which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey, with which I fed you, you even set it before them for a pleasant aroma; and so it was,” says the Lord GOD.

²⁰“‘“Moreover you have taken your sons and your daughters, whom you have borne to me, and you have sacrificed these to them to be devoured. Was your prostitution a small matter,

²¹that you have slain my children and delivered them up, in causing them to pass through the fire to them?

²²In all your abominations and your prostitution you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were wallowing in your blood.

²³“‘“It has happened after all your wickedness—woe, woe to you!” says the Lord GOD—

²⁴“that you have built for yourselves a vaulted place, and have made yourselves a lofty place in every street.

²⁵You have built your lofty place at the head of every way, and have made your beauty an abomination, and have opened your feet to everyone who passed by, and multiplied your prostitution.

²⁶You have also committed sexual immorality with the Egyptians, your neighbors, great of flesh; and have multiplied your prostitution, to provoke me to anger.

²⁷See therefore, I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your portion, and delivered you to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way.

²⁸You have played the prostitute also with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable; yes, you have played the prostitute with them, and yet you weren’t satisfied.

²⁹You have moreover multiplied your prostitution to the land of merchants, to Chaldea; and yet you weren’t satisfied with this.

³⁰“‘“How weak is your heart,” says the Lord GOD, “since you do all these things, the work of an impudent prostitute;

³¹in that you build your vaulted place at the head of every way, and make your lofty place in every street, and have not been as a prostitute, in that you scorn pay.

³²“‘“Adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!

³³People give gifts to all prostitutes; but you give your gifts to all your lovers, and bribe them, that they may come to you on every side for your prostitution.

³⁴You are different from other women in your prostitution, in that no one follows you to play the prostitute; and whereas you give hire, and no hire is given to you, therefore you are different.”’

³⁵“Therefore, prostitute, hear the LORD’s word:

³⁶‘The Lord GOD says, “Because your filthiness was poured out, and your nakedness uncovered through your prostitution with your lovers; and because of all the idols of your abominations, and for the blood of your children, that you gave to them;

³⁷therefore see, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all those whom you have loved, with all those whom you have hated. I will even gather them against you on every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.

³⁸I will judge you as women who break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

³⁹I will also give you into their hand, and they will throw down your vaulted place, and break down your lofty places. They will strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful jewels. They will leave you naked and bare.

⁴⁰They will also bring up a company against you, and they will stone you with stones, and thrust you through with their swords.

⁴¹They will burn your houses with fire, and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. I will cause you to cease from playing the prostitute, and you will also give no hire any more.

⁴²So I will cause my wrath toward you to rest, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet, and will not be angry any more.

⁴³“‘“Because you have not remembered the days of your youth, but have raged against me in all these things; therefore, behold, I also will bring your way on your head,” says the Lord GOD: “and you shall not commit this lewdness with all your abominations.

⁴⁴“‘“Behold, everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb against you, saying, ‘As is the mother, so is her daughter.’

⁴⁵You are the daughter of your mother, who loathes her husband and her children; and you are the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.

⁴⁶Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells at your left hand, she and her daughters; and your younger sister, who dwells at your right hand, is Sodom with her daughters.

⁴⁷Yet you have not walked in their ways, nor done their abominations; but soon you were more corrupt than they in all your ways.

⁴⁸As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “Sodom your sister has not done, she nor her daughters, as you have done, you and your daughters.

⁴⁹“‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

⁵⁰They were arrogant and committed abomination before me. Therefore I took them away when I saw it.

⁵¹Samaria hasn’t committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters by all your abominations which you have done.

⁵²You also bear your own shame yourself, in that you have given judgment for your sisters; through your sins that you have committed more abominable than they, they are more righteous than you. Yes, be also confounded, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.

⁵³“‘“I will reverse their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and the captivity of your captives among them;

⁵⁴that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed because of all that you have done, in that you are a comfort to them.

⁵⁵Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former estate; and Samaria and her daughters will return to their former estate; and you and your daughters will return to your former estate.

⁵⁶For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride,

⁵⁷before your wickedness was uncovered, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all who are around her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you all around.

⁵⁸You have borne your lewdness and your abominations,” says the LORD.

⁵⁹“‘For the Lord GOD says: “I will also deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

⁶⁰Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

⁶¹Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, your elder sisters and your younger; and I will give them to you for daughters, but not by your covenant.

⁶²I will establish my covenant with you. Then you will know that I am the LORD;

⁶³that you may remember, and be confounded, and never open your mouth any more because of your shame, when I have forgiven you all that you have done,” says the Lord GOD.’”

¹The LORD’s word came to me, saying,

²“Son of man, tell a riddle, and speak a parable to the house of Israel;

³and say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “A great eagle with great wings and long feathers, full of feathers which had various colors, came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar.

⁴He cropped off the topmost of its young twigs, and carried it to a land of traffic. He planted it in a city of merchants.

⁵“‘“He also took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fruitful soil. He placed it beside many waters. He set it as a willow tree.

⁶It grew and became a spreading vine of low stature, whose branches turned toward him, and its roots were under him. So it became a vine, produced branches, and shot out sprigs.

⁷“‘“There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers. Behold, this vine bent its roots toward him, and shot out its branches toward him, from the ground where it was planted, that he might water it.

⁸It was planted in a good soil by many waters, that it might produce branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a good vine.”’

⁹“Say, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Will it prosper? Won’t he pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, that it may wither, that all its fresh springing leaves may wither? It can’t be raised from its roots by a strong arm or many people.

¹⁰Yes, behold, being planted, will it prosper? Won’t it utterly wither when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the ground where it grew.”’”

¹¹Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying,

¹²“Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Don’t you know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Behold, the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took its king, and its princes, and brought them to him to Babylon.

¹³He took one of the royal offspring, and made a covenant with him. He also brought him under an oath, and took away the mighty of the land,

¹⁴that the kingdom might be brought low, that it might not lift itself up, but that by keeping his covenant it might stand.

¹⁵But he rebelled against him in sending his ambassadors into Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people. Will he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Will he break the covenant, and still escape?

¹⁶“‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely in the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant he broke, even with him in the middle of Babylon he will die.

¹⁷Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company won’t help him in the war, when they cast up mounds and build forts to cut off many persons.

¹⁸For he has despised the oath by breaking the covenant; and behold, he had given his hand, and yet has done all these things. He won’t escape.

¹⁹“Therefore the Lord GOD says: ‘As I live, I will surely bring on his own head my oath that he has despised and my covenant that he has broken.

²⁰I will spread my net on him, and he will be taken in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, and will enter into judgment with him there for his trespass that he has trespassed against me.

²¹All his fugitives in all his bands will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered toward every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken it.’

²²“The Lord GOD says: ‘I will also take some of the lofty top of the cedar, and will plant it. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

²³I will plant it in the mountain of the height of Israel; and it will produce boughs, and bear fruit, and be a good cedar. Birds of every kind will dwell in the shade of its branches.

²⁴All the trees of the field will know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree flourish. “‘I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it.’”

¹The LORD’s word came to me again, saying,

²“What do you mean, that you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?

³“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall not use this proverb any more in Israel.

⁴Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine. The soul who sins, he shall die.

⁵“But if a man is just, and does that which is lawful and right,

⁶and has not eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife, hasn’t come near a woman in her impurity,

⁷and has not wronged any, but has restored to the debtor his pledge, has taken nothing by robbery, has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

⁸he who hasn’t lent to them with interest, hasn’t taken any increase from them, who has withdrawn his hand from iniquity, has executed true justice between man and man,

⁹has walked in my statutes, and has kept my ordinances, to deal truly; he is just, he shall surely live,” says the Lord GOD.

¹⁰“If he fathers a son who is a robber who sheds blood, and who does any one of these things,

¹¹or who does not do any of those things but has eaten at the mountain shrines and defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹²has wronged the poor and needy, has taken by robbery, has not restored the pledge, and has lifted up his eyes to the idols, has committed abomination,

¹³has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor, shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

¹⁴“Now, behold, if he fathers a son who sees all his father’s sins which he has done, and fears, and doesn’t do likewise,

¹⁵who hasn’t eaten on the mountains, hasn’t lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, hasn’t defiled his neighbor’s wife,

¹⁶hasn’t wronged any, hasn’t taken anything to pledge, hasn’t taken by robbery, but has given his bread to the hungry, and has covered the naked with a garment;

¹⁷who has withdrawn his hand from the poor, who hasn’t received interest or increase, has executed my ordinances, has walked in my statutes; he shall not die for the iniquity of his father. He shall surely live.

¹⁸As for his father, because he cruelly oppressed, robbed his brother, and did that which is not good among his people, behold, he will die in his iniquity.

¹⁹“Yet you say, ‘Why doesn’t the son bear the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done that which is lawful and right, and has kept all my statutes, and has done them, he will surely live.

²⁰The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

²¹“But if the wicked turns from all his sins that he has committed, and keeps all my statutes, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

²²None of his transgressions that he has committed will be remembered against him. In his righteousness that he has done, he shall live.

²³Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?” says the Lord GOD, “and not rather that he should return from his way, and live?

²⁴“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

²⁵“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not equal.’ Hear now, house of Israel: Is my way not equal? Aren’t your ways unequal?

²⁶When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in it, then he dies in his iniquity that he has done.

²⁷Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he will save his soul alive.

²⁸Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die.

²⁹Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ House of Israel, aren’t my ways fair? Aren’t your ways unfair?

³⁰“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Return, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions, so iniquity will not be your ruin.

³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions in which you have transgressed; and make yourself a new heart and a new spirit. For why will you die, house of Israel?

³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn yourselves, and live!

¹“Moreover, take up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,

²and say, ‘What was your mother? A lioness. She couched among lions, in the middle of the young lions she nourished her cubs.

³She brought up one of her cubs. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.

⁴The nations also heard of him. He was taken in their pit; and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.

⁵“‘Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her cubs, and made him a young lion.

⁶He went up and down among the lions. He became a young lion. He learned to catch the prey. He devoured men.

⁷He knew their palaces, and laid waste their cities. The land was desolate with its fullness, because of the noise of his roaring.

⁸Then the nations attacked him on every side from the provinces. They spread their net over him. He was taken in their pit.

⁹They put him in a cage with hooks, and brought him to the king of Babylon. They brought him into strongholds, so that his voice should no more be heard on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁰“‘Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted by the waters. It was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.

¹¹It had strong branches for the scepters of those who ruled. Their stature was exalted among the thick boughs. They were seen in their height with the multitude of their branches.

¹²But it was plucked up in fury. It was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were broken off and withered. The fire consumed them.

¹³Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.

¹⁴Fire has gone out of its branches. It has devoured its fruit, so that there is in it no strong branch to be a scepter to rule.’ This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.”