An Allegory of Unfaithful Jerusalem
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The word of the LORD came to me:
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"Son of man, confront Jerualem with her detestable practices
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and say, 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Jerusalem:
Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites;
your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.
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On the day you were born your cord was not cut,
nor were you washed with water to make you clean,
nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths
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No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do
any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field,
for on the day you were born you were despised.
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" 'Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood,
and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, "Live!"
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I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed
and became the most beautiful of jewels. Your breast were formed and
your hair grew, you who were naked and bare.
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" 'Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were
old enough for love, I sperad the corner of my garment over you and
covered your nakedness. I gave you my solomn oath and entered into
a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign LORD, and you became mine.
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" 'I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you
and put ointments on you.
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I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put leather sandals on you.
I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments.
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I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace
around your neck,
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and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown
on your head.
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So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen
and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was fine flour, honey
and olive oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen.
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And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty,
because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect,
declares the Sovereign LORD.
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" 'But you trusted in your beauty and used your fame to become a prostitute.
You lavished your favors on anyone who passed by and your beauty became his.
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You took some of your garments to make gaudy high places,
where you carried on your prostitution. Such things should not happen,
nor should they ever occur.
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You also took the fine jewelry I gave you, the jewelry made of my gold and silver,
and you made for yourself male idols and engaged in prostitution with them.
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And you took your embroidered clothes to put on them,
and you offered as fragrant incense before them.
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Also the food I provided for you - the fine flour, olive oil and honey
I gave you to eat - you offered as fragrant incense before them.
That is what happened, declares the Sovereign LORD.
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" 'And you took your sons and daughters whom you bore to me
and sacrificed them as food to the idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
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You slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
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In all your detestable practices and your prostitution you did not remember
the days of your youth, when you were naked and bared,
kicking about in your blood.
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" 'Woe! Woe to you, decalres the Sovereign LORD.
In addition to all your other wickedness,
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you built a mound for yourself and made a lofty shrine in every public square.
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At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty,
offering your body with increasing promiscuity to anyone who passed by.
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You engaged in prostitution with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors,
and provoked me to anger with your increasing promiscuity.
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So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your territory;
I gave you over to the greed of your enemies, the daughters of the Philistines,
who were shocked by your lewd conduct.
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You engaged in prostitution with the Assyrians too,
because you were insatiable; and even after that you still were not satisfied.
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Then you increased your promiscuity to include Babylonia,
a land of merchants, but even with this you were not satisfied.
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" 'How weak-willed you are, declares the Sovereign LORD,
when you do all these things, acting like a brazen prostitute!
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When you built your mounds at the head of every street
and made your lofty shrines in every public square,
you were unlike a prostitute, because you scorned payment.
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" 'You adulterous wife! You prefer strangers to your own husband!
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Every prostitute receives a fee, but you give gifts to all your lovers,
bribing them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors.
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So in your prostitution you are the opposite of the others;
no one runs after you for your favors. You are the very opposite,
for you give payment and none is given to you.
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" 'Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
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This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Because you poured out your wealth
and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers,
and because of all your detestable idols,
and because you gave them your children's blood,
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therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure,
those you loved as well as you hated. I will gather them against you from
all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see all your nakedness.
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I will sentence you to the punishment of womwn who commit adultery
and who shed blood; I will bring upon you the blood vengeance of my wrath
and jealous anger.
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Then I will hand you over to your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds
and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take
your fine jewelry and leave you naked and bare.
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They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you
and hack you to pieces with their swords.
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They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of
many women. I will put a stop to your p[rostitution, and you will no longer
pay your lovers.
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Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from me;
I will be calm and no longer angry.
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" 'Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me
with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done,
declares the Sovereign LORD. Did you not add lewdness to all your other
detestable practices?
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" 'Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you:
"Like mother, like daughter."
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You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband
and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters,
who despised their husband and their children. Your mother was a Hittite
and your father an Amorite.
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Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters;
and your younger sister, who lived in the south of you with her daughters,
was Sodom.
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You not only walked in their ways and copied their detestable practices,
but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they.
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As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, your sister Sodom
and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
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" 'Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom:
She and her daughters were arrogant,
overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
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They were haughty and did detestable things before me.
Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
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Samaria did not commit half the sins you did.
You have done more detestable things than they,
and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done.
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Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters.
Because your sins were more vile than theirs,
they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and
bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
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" 'However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters
and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them,
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so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of
all you have done in giving them comfort.
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And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters,
will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters
will return to what you were before.
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You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride,
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before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by
the daughters of Edom and all her neighbors and the daughters of
the Philistines - all those around you who despise you.
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You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices,
declares the LORD.
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" 'This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will deal with you as you deserve,
because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant.
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Yet I will remember the covenant made with you in the days of your youth,
and I will establish and everlasting covenant with you.
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Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters,
both those who are older than you and those who are younger.
I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant wit you.
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So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
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Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done,
you will remmber and be ashamed and never again open your mouth
because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign LORD.' "
