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The Blue Letter Bible

Ezekiel 16 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Jerusalem—an Unfaithful Wife

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:1

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:1 - Then another message came to me from the LORD:

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:2

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:2 - “Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her detestable sins.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:3

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:3 - Give her this message from the Sovereign LORD: You are nothing but a Canaanite! Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:4

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:4 - On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:5

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:5 - No one had the slightest interest in you; no one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field and left to die.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:6

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:6 - “But I came by and saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, ‘Live!’

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:7

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:7 - And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full, and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:8

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:8 - And when I passed by again, I saw that you were old enough for love. So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declared my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:9

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:9 - “Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:10

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:10 - I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goatskin leather.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:11

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:11 - I gave you lovely jewelry, bracelets, beautiful necklaces,

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:12

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:12 - a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown for your head.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:13

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:13 - And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods—choice flour, honey, and olive oil—and became more beautiful than ever. You looked like a queen, and so you were!

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:14

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:14 - Your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the Sovereign LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:15

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:15 - “But you thought your fame and beauty were your own. So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:16

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:16 - You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen?

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:17

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:17 - You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me!

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:18

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:18 - You used the beautifully embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:19

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:19 - Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice the choice flour, olive oil, and honey I had given you, says the Sovereign LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:20

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:20 - “Then you took your sons and daughters—the children you had borne to me—and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough?

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:21

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:21 - Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them to idols?

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:22

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:22 - In all your years of adultery and detestable sin, you have not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:23

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:23 - “What sorrow awaits you, says the Sovereign LORD. In addition to all your other wickedness,

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:24

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:24 - you built a pagan shrine and put altars to idols in every town square.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:25

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:25 - On every street corner you defiled your beauty, offering your body to every passerby in an endless stream of prostitution.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:26

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:26 - Then you added lustful Egypt to your lovers, provoking my anger with your increasing promiscuity.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:27

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:27 - That is why I struck you with my fist and reduced your boundaries. I handed you over to your enemies, the Philistines, and even they were shocked by your lewd conduct.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:28

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:28 - You have prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, too. It seems you can never find enough new lovers! And after your prostitution there, you still were not satisfied.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:29

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:29 - You added to your lovers by embracing Babylonia,[fn] the land of merchants, but you still weren’t satisfied.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:30

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:30 - “What a sick heart you have, says the Sovereign LORD, to do such things as these, acting like a shameless prostitute.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:31

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:31 - You build your pagan shrines on every street corner and your altars to idols in every square. In fact, you have been worse than a prostitute, so eager for sin that you have not even demanded payment.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:32

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:32 - Yes, you are an adulterous wife who takes in strangers instead of her own husband.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:33

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:33 - Prostitutes charge for their services—but not you! You give gifts to your lovers, bribing them to come and have sex with you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:34

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:34 - So you are the opposite of other prostitutes. You pay your lovers instead of their paying you!
Judgment on Jerusalem’s Prostitution

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:35

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:35 - “Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the LORD!

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:36

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:36 - This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you have poured out your lust and exposed yourself in prostitution to all your lovers, and because you have worshiped detestable idols,[fn] and because you have slaughtered your children as sacrifices to your gods,

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:37

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:37 - this is what I am going to do. I will gather together all your allies—the lovers with whom you have sinned, both those you loved and those you hated—and I will strip you naked in front of them so they can stare at you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:38

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:38 - I will punish you for your murder and adultery. I will cover you with blood in my jealous fury.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:39

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:39 - Then I will give you to these many nations who are your lovers, and they will destroy you. They will knock down your pagan shrines and the altars to your idols. They will strip you and take your beautiful jewels, leaving you stark naked.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:40

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:40 - They will band together in a mob to stone you and cut you up with swords.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:41

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:41 - They will burn your homes and punish you in front of many women. I will stop your prostitution and end your payments to your many lovers.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:42

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:42 - “Then at last my fury against you will be spent, and my jealous anger will subside. I will be calm and will not be angry with you anymore.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:43

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:43 - But first, because you have not remembered your youth but have angered me by doing all these evil things, I will fully repay you for all of your sins, says the Sovereign LORD. For you have added lewd acts to all your detestable sins.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:44

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:44 - Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:45

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:45 - For your mother loathed her husband and her children, and so do you. And you are exactly like your sisters, for they despised their husbands and their children. Truly your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:46

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:46 - “Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters in the north. Your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters in the south.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:47

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:47 - But you have not merely sinned as they did. You quickly surpassed them in corruption.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:48

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:48 - As surely as I live, says the Sovereign LORD, Sodom and her daughters were never as wicked as you and your daughters.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:49

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:49 - Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:50

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:50 - She was proud and committed detestable sins, so I wiped her out, as you have seen.[fn]

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:51

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:51 - “Even Samaria did not commit half your sins. You have done far more detestable things than your sisters ever did. They seem righteous compared to you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:52

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:52 - Shame on you! Your sins are so terrible that you make your sisters seem righteous, even virtuous.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:53

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:53 - “But someday I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and Samaria, and I will restore you, too.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:54

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:54 - Then you will be truly ashamed of everything you have done, for your sins make them feel good in comparison.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:55

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:55 - Yes, your sisters, Sodom and Samaria, and all their people will be restored, and at that time you also will be restored.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:56

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:56 - In your proud days you held Sodom in contempt.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:57

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:57 - But now your greater wickedness has been exposed to all the world, and you are the one who is scorned—by Edom[fn] and all her neighbors and by Philistia.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:58

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:58 - This is your punishment for all your lewdness and detestable sins, says the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:59

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:59 - “Now this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will give you what you deserve, for you have taken your solemn vows lightly by breaking your covenant.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:60

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:60 - Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:61

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:61 - Then you will remember with shame all the evil you have done. I will make your sisters, Samaria and Sodom, to be your daughters, even though they are not part of our covenant.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:62

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:62 - And I will reaffirm my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.

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Unchecked Copy Box Eze 16:63

Unchecked Copy BoxEze 16:63 - You will remember your sins and cover your mouth in silent shame when I forgive you of all that you have done. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken!”
See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).
NLT Footnotes
Or Chaldea.
The Hebrew term (literally round things) probably alludes to dung.
As in a few Hebrew manuscripts and Greek version; Masoretic Text reads as I have seen.
As in many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac version; Masoretic Text reads Aram.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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Ezekiel Chapter 16 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras