31e“You erected your shrine at the head of every road, and built your 11high place in every street. Yet you were not like a harlot, because you scorned fpayment.
32“You are an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband.
33“Men make payment to all harlots, but gyou made your payments to all your lovers, and 12hired them to come to you from all around for your harlotry.
34“You are the opposite of other women in your harlotry, because no one solicited you to be a harlot. In that you gave payment but no payment was given you, therefore you are the opposite.”
Jerusalem’s Lovers Will Abuse Her
35‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD!
36‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered in your harlotry with your lovers, and with all your abominable idols, and because of hthe blood of your children which you gave to them,
37“surely, therefore, iI will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved, and all those you hated; I will gather them from all around against you and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness.
38“And I will judge you as jwomen who break wedlock or kshed blood are judged; I will bring blood upon you in fury and jealousy.
39“I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your shrines and break down lyour 13high places. mThey shall also strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful jewelry, and leave you naked and bare.
40n“They shall also bring up an assembly against you, oand they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords.
41“They shall pburn your houses with fire, and qexecute judgments on you in the sight of many women; and I will make you rcease playing the harlot, and you shall no longer hire lovers.
42“So sI will lay to rest My fury toward you, and My jealousy shall depart from you. I will be quiet, and be angry no more.
43“Because tyou did not remember the days of your youth, but 14agitated Me with all these things, surely uI will also recompense your 15deeds on your own head,” says the Lord GOD. “And you shall not commit lewdness in addition to all your abominations.
More Wicked than Samaria and Sodom
44“Indeed everyone who quotes proverbs will use this proverb against you: ‘Like mother, like daughter!’
45“You are your mother’s daughter, 16loathing husband and children; and you are the vsister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children; wyour mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.
46“Your elder sister is Samaria, who dwells with her daughters to the north of you; and xyour younger sister, who dwells to the south of you, is Sodom and her daughters.
47“You did not walk in their ways nor act according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, yyou became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
48“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “neither zyour sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.
49“Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, afullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50“And they were haughty and bcommitted abomination before Me; therefore cI took them away as 17I saw fit.
51“Samaria did not commit dhalf of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and ehave justified your sisters by all the abominations which you have done.
52“You who judged your sisters, bear your own shame also, because the sins which you committed were more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you. Yes, be disgraced also, and bear your own shame, because you justified your sisters.
53f“When I bring back their captives, the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters, then I will also bring back gthe captives of your captivity among them,
54“that you may bear your own shame and be disgraced by all that you did when hyou comforted them.
55“When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, return to their former state, and Samaria and her daughters return to their former state, then you and your daughters will return to your former state.
56“For your sister Sodom was not a byword in your mouth in the days of your pride,
57“before your wickedness was uncovered. It was like the time of the ireproach of the daughters of 18Syria and all those around her, and of jthe daughters of the Philistines, who despise you everywhere.
58k“You have paid for your lewdness and your abominations,” says the LORD.
59‘For thus says the Lord GOD: “I will deal with you as you have done, who ldespised mthe oath by breaking the covenant.
An Everlasting Covenant
60“Nevertheless I will nremember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish oan everlasting covenant with you.
61“Then pyou will remember your ways and be ashamed, when you receive your older and your younger sisters; for I will give them to you for qdaughters, rbut not because of My covenant with you.
62s“And I will establish My covenant with you. Then you shall know that I am the LORD,
63“that you may tremember and be ashamed, uand never open your mouth anymore because of your shame, when I provide you an atonement for all you have done,” says the Lord GOD.’ ”
Ezekiel 17
The Eagles and the Vine
1And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, pose a riddle, and speak a aparable to the house of Israel,
3“and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
b“A great eagle with large wings and long pinions,
Full of feathers of various colors,
Came to Lebanon
And ctook from the cedar the highest branch.
4He cropped off its topmost young twig
And carried it to a land of trade;
He set it in a city of merchants.
5Then he took some of the seed of the land
And planted it in da fertile field;
He placed it by abundant waters
And set it elike a willow tree.
6And it grew and became a spreading vine fof low stature;
Its branches turned toward him,
But its roots were under it.
So it became a vine,
Brought forth branches,
And put forth shoots.
7“But there was 1another great eagle with large wings and many feathers;
And behold, gthis vine bent its roots toward him,
And stretched its branches toward him,
From the garden terrace where it had been planted,
That he might water it.
8It was planted in 2good soil by many waters,
To bring forth branches, bear fruit,
And become a majestic vine.” ’
9“Say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD:
“Will it thrive?
h Will he not pull up its roots,
Cut off its fruit,
And leave it to wither?
All of its spring leaves will wither,
And no great power or many people
Will be needed to pluck it up by its roots.
10Behold, it is planted,
Will it thrive?
i Will it not utterly wither when the east wind touches it?
It will wither in the garden terrace where it grew.” ’ ”
11Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
12“Say now to jthe rebellious house: ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘Indeed kthe king of Babylon went to Jerusalem and took its king and princes, and led them with him to Babylon.
13l‘And he took the king’s offspring, made a covenant with him, mand put him under oath. He also took away the mighty of the land,
14‘that the kingdom might be nbrought low and not lift itself up, but that
by keeping his covenant it might stand.
15‘But ohe rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors to Egypt, pthat they might give him horses and many people. qWill he prosper? Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered?
16‘As I live,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘surely rin the place where the king dwells who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke—with him in the midst of Babylon he shall die.
17s‘Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war, twhen they heap up a siege mound and build a 3wall to cut off many persons.
18‘Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact ugave4 his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape.’ ”
19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “As I live, surely My oath which he despised, and My covenant which he broke, I will recompense on his own head.
20“I will vspread My net over him, and he shall be taken in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon and wtry him there for the 5treason which he committed against Me.
21x“All his 6fugitives with all his troops shall fall by the sword, and those who remain shall be yscattered to every wind; and you shall know that I, the LORD, have spoken.”
Israel Exalted at Last
(cf. Ezek. 31:1–9)
22Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will take also one of the highest zbranches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs aa tender one, and will bplant it on a high and prominent mountain.
23c“On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. dUnder it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell.
24“And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, ehave brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; fI, the LORD, have spoken and have done it.”
Ezekiel 18
A False Proverb Refuted
1The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,
2“What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying:
‘The afathers have eaten sour grapes,
And the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
3“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel.
4“Behold, all souls are bMine;
The soul of the father
As well as the soul of the son is Mine;
c The soul who sins shall die.
5But if a man is just
And does what is lawful and right;
6d If he has not eaten 1on the mountains,
Nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor edefiled his neighbor’s wife,
Nor approached fa woman during her impurity;
7If he has not goppressed anyone,
But has restored to the debtor his hpledge;
Has robbed no one by violence,
But has igiven his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with jclothing;
8If he has not 2exacted kusury
Nor taken any increase,
But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity
And lexecuted true 3judgment between man and man;
9If he has walked in My statutes
And kept My judgments faithfully—
He is just;
He shall surely mlive!”
Says the Lord GOD.
10“If he begets a son who is a robber
Or na shedder of blood,
Who does any of these things
11And does none of those duties,
But has eaten 4on the mountains
Or defiled his neighbor’s wife;
12If he has oppressed the poor and needy,
Robbed by violence,
Not restored the pledge,
Lifted his eyes to the idols,
Or ocommitted abomination;
13If he has exacted usury
Or taken increase—
Shall he then live?
He shall not live!
If he has done any of these abominations,
He shall surely die;
p His blood shall be upon him.
14“ If, however, he begets a son
Who sees all the sins which his father has done,
And considers but does not do likewise;
15q Who has not eaten 5on the mountains,
Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel,
Nor defiled his neighbor’s wife;
16Has not oppressed anyone,
Nor withheld a pledge,
Nor robbed by violence,
But has given his bread to the hungry
And covered the naked with clothing;
17Who has withdrawn his hand from 6the poor
And not received usury or increase,
But has executed My judgments
And walked in My statutes—
He shall not die for the iniquity of his father;
He shall surely live!
18“ As for his father,
Because he cruelly oppressed,
Robbed his brother by violence,
And did what is not good among his people,
Behold, rhe shall die for his iniquity.
Turn and Live
19“Yet you say, ‘Why sshould the son not bear the guilt of the father?’ Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live.
20t“The soul who sins shall die. uThe son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. vThe righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, wand the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
21“But xif a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
22y“None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall zlive.
23a“Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord GOD, “and not that he should turn from his ways and live?
24“But bwhen a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? cAll the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die.
25“Yet you say, d‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair?
26e“When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies.
27“Again, fwhen a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive.
28“Because he gconsiders and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
29h“Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?
30i“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. j“Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.
31k“Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a lnew heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?
32“For mI have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord GOD. “Therefore turn and nlive!”
Ezekiel 19
Israel Degraded
1“Moreover atake up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
2“an
d say:
‘What is your mother? A lioness:
She lay down among the lions;
Among the young lions she nourished her cubs.
3She brought up one of her cubs,
And bhe became a young lion;
He learned to catch prey,
And he devoured men.
4The nations also heard of him;
He was trapped in their pit,
And they brought him with chains to the land of cEgypt.
5‘When she saw that she waited, that her hope was lost,
She took danother of her cubs and made him a young lion.
6e He roved among the lions,
And fbecame a young lion;
He learned to catch prey;
He devoured men.
71 He knew their desolate places,
And laid waste their cities;
The land with its fullness was desolated
By the noise of his roaring.
8g Then the nations set against him from the provinces on every side,
And spread their net over him;
h He was trapped in their pit.
9i They put him in a cage with 2chains,
And brought him to the king of Babylon;
They brought him in nets,
That his voice should no longer be heard on jthe mountains of Israel.
10‘Your mother was klike a vine in your 3bloodline,
Planted by the waters,
l Fruitful and full of branches
Because of many waters.
11She had strong branches for scepters of rulers.
m She towered in stature above the thick branches,
And was seen in her height amid the 4dense foliage.
12But she was nplucked up in fury,
She was cast down to the ground,
And the oeast wind dried her fruit.
Her strong branches were broken and withered;
The fire consumed them.
13And now she is planted in the wilderness,
In a dry and thirsty land.
14p Fire has come out from a rod of her branches
And devoured her fruit,
So that she has no strong branch—a scepter for ruling.’ ”
qThis is a lamentation, and has become a lamentation.
Ezekiel 20
The Rebellions of Israel
1It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that acertain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me.
The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV Page 383