This evening, if you have your Bibles, it will turn for me to the book of Ezekiel, we’ll continue to go through Ezekiel. Tonight we come to a very interesting chapter. It’s chapter 16.

Ezekiel 16 is a vivid picture of God’s covenant love and Israel’s betrayal through idolatry.

Many of the things that Ezekiel is going to share in chapter 16, he’s told to the nation of Israel before, but God is having him present it from a different perspective than he has in the past. The Lord is revealing to the nation of Israel their special place that God has given to them, and that it’s not because they were so special, but it was because God showed grace and mercy. Just like he called each one of us out of darkness into his marvelous light, not because we deserved it, but because of his love and his grace and his mercy.

In Ezekiel chapter 16, we’re going to see that God calls Israel his wife, which is very interesting. Jesus says the church is his bride, and in the Old Testament, it’s not only in Ezekiel, but there’s other areas where the Lord reveals that he views Israel in a sense as his wife. The whole book of Hosea is written to show what Ezekiel is going to talk about tonight.

What Is Ezekiel 16 About?

The fact that Hosea’s wife, Gomer, was unfaithful to him, even though he was told to love her in spite of it. What we’re going to see this evening is God’s love not only for Israel, but for all sinners. Let’s begin by looking at chapter 16, beginning at verse 1.

Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, ² Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, ³ and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite.

Now they weren’t literally Amorites or Hittites, but what he is saying is they didn’t seek God, but rather they sought the gods of the Amorites and the Hittites. The very people that God told them to have nothing to do with, because they would do exactly what they did.

Their false gods and their wicked and evil lifestyles would begin to be incorporated into Israel’s life as they were drawn closer to them. And as they didn’t acknowledge that as sin and embrace God for deliverance. So he says that’s really where your mother and your father are.

That’s where your belief system is. And it’s interesting, one of the things that the scriptures reveal to us is that we gain what we believe a lot from those that are closest to us. And it begins when you’re young.

You’re parents and you learn things, whether you come from a home which is a godly home or an ungodly home. There are things that your parents lay before you and instruct you to do, and teach you to do. And you see a lot of times, for example, they say people that come from a home where there’s drugs and alcohol are much more likely to use drugs and alcohol because that’s what they’re being taught to do.

People that come from homes where Christ is the center of the home, they’re given a tremendous foundation to build on, to have their own relationship with Jesus because they’re being taught what it is to be a Christian. Well, what Ezekiel is saying here is the Hittites and the Amorites, they were the parents to the Jews because they taught them everything they know and are doing wrong. And now he’s going to talk about their birth. And it’s interesting.

And as for thy nativity, in the day that thou was born, thy navel was not cut, neither was thou washed in water to supple thee, thou was not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born.

So he’s saying here, the world didn’t come to embrace you at your birth. And there was no one there for you. And being left to yourself would be a disaster.

But God didn’t leave them to themselves. And that’s what he’s going to share. Verse 5

None eye pitied thee to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee, but thou was cast out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the day that thou was born. And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, Live! Yea, I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy own blood, Live! I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments, thy breasts are fashioned, and thy hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.

And so he’s saying, no one was there for you, and you were left to die. Now if you look at the history of the nation of Israel, prior to the going down into Egypt, they weren’t a nation. And they were a people that didn’t always have it easy. A lot of times, the other people in the land, the Canaanites that were surrounding them, were not always amiable towards them. And not only that, within their own family, they had issues.

If you remember Joseph and his brothers, his brothers were envious and were murderous in their hearts towards Joseph, their brother, and sold them into slavery because they were jealous of him. And we see that none of this reflected God’s character. And God saw it all, and he said, that’s who you were.But what I did, is I saw you there. And I said, live. Live.

And then he said, what I did is I took you, who had been cast off and left, really, to die. And I cleansed you, I clothed you, and you grew into a beautiful young woman. And he gives the example of this baby growing into a beautiful woman. And let’s see what else is happening.

Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee, and I covered thy nakedness, and I swear unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine.

And in essence, he’s giving the example of what would happen in a marriage relationship between a husband and a wife, where they would make a covenant vow one to another, they would give themselves one to another, and the Lord is saying, you are mine.

And I’ve taken you, and you are mine now. And it’s nothing that was evident that they had done to earn this, but yet God did it for them. And he goes on, he says,

Then washed I thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. I clothed thee also with broided work, and shod thee with badger skin, and girded thee with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck, and I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thy ears, and a beautiful crown upon thy head. Thus was thou decked with gold and silver, and raiment was of a fine linen and silk, and broided work, and didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. And thy renown went forth among the heathen, for thy beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

And what God is giving is a picture of a woman who is being clothed and fed and ornamented with all of these beautiful jewels, and he’s saying, it wasn’t you who did this, I did this for you. And what it did is it transformed you, and the people that are around you saw the difference.

They saw that there was something totally different about you than there was about them. And really one of the things that God does for us when you become a believer in Jesus Christ, he doesn’t give us new clothes and jewelry and crowns, but what he does do is give us such a different character and personality that people see a difference in us, and they see the light of Jesus in our hearts, and people can see a transformation in our life. And if you’ve ever met someone who was really caught up in the things of this world and sin and just a rebel against God, and then God saves them, and saves that person, and you see the transformation in their life, you know what I’m talking about.

There’s a beauty there that’s not a mere physical beauty, it’s rather an inward beauty. And that’s what Peter talks about in his letter to the church where he was addressing the fact of a woman who was married to a non-believer, and then she got saved, and he didn’t get saved, and the question is, what happens now? What do I do? And Peter tells her, let the inner beauty of the Lord be seen in your life so that it becomes a convicting spirit, the Holy Spirit can use it to convict your husband, and he will desire to have the same thing that you have. You don’t harp on him, you don’t try and beat them into submission, but rather you do as God did and transform the person’s life by living your life before them as a transformed Christian.

And that’s what God calls us to do. Now, so we have the nation of Israel that came out as 70 people, and when they came out of Egypt, they were a huge nation. Now, God did some of this stuff that he’s talking about for Israel.

When they came out of Israel, if you go back and read the book of Exodus, one of the things that happened is the Egyptians gave them their wealth. They gave them gold, they gave them silver, they gave them jewels. They gave them of their wealth when Israel left.

And it was the Lord that caused that to happen, and it was a fulfillment of a promise he’d made to them. And they came in as a humble people, a family looking for food so they wouldn’t starve to death. They lived there over 400 years.

The last portion of that time was lived in slavery where they weren’t paid and they were treated horribly. But God said, I haven’t forgotten you. And I haven’t forgotten my promise.

And he brought them out of that land and he clothed them and ornamented them with wealth, even as he did this wife here. And he said, that’s to be seen that I did that for you. You didn’t do it for yourself.

Now, what was Israel’s response to this? And this is what is heartbreaking. The Lord loved the Jewish people in spite of themselves. The Lord protected the Jewish people.

He gave all these things to them when they came out of Egypt. But, in verse 15,

But thou didst trust in thy own beauty, and playest the harlot because of thy renown, and pourest out thy fornications on every one that passed by. This it was.

So, if you can imagine, God had done all these things for Israel and yet when they come out, they ignore him. I’ll go again, go back to the book of, when you read about Gomer and how she treated her husband. He loved her, and yet the scripture tells us that every man that walked by, she’d pursue him.

And that was what happened with Israel. God had told them, I’m going to call you out of the land of Egypt. And he delivered them through a series of miracles.

And as they were delivered, they quickly forgot all about the miracles. And they quickly forgot about their trust in the Lord. And it wasn’t long that they were mumbling and grumbling in the desert.

And then the Lord told them, I’m going to give you a land that’s flowing with milk and honey. It’s your land. It’s what I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

And what happened? They got to the land in a relatively short time after coming out of Egypt. And you remember they sent the twelve spies in to check out the land. And when they came back, ten of them came back and said, there’s giants in the land.

They’ll destroy us. There’s no hope. We shouldn’t go into the land.

But Caleb and Joshua brought a different report. They said, the land is flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord said. The Lord will be our deliverer.

The Lord will be our strength. But the majority report was what the people followed, not the true report and what God had promised. And they already began at that time to do what they’re doing here.

Instead of trusting in God, instead of seeing the beauty that He’d done for them, they began to pursue other gods and began to pursue a different lover. Now it’s interesting if you look at, often times, we can do the same thing in our Christian life. We forget what God has done for us.

We forget all the things that He has done in forgiving our sins, in transforming our character, in giving us opportunities for witness for Him. And we can get enamored with the things of this world to the point that we forget about God. And the same thing that happened to Israel can happen to us. But it didn’t stop there.

And thy garments thou didst take and checkest thy high places with diverse colors and playest to harlot thereupon. And like these things shall not come, neither shall it be so. Thou hast so taken thy fair jewels of my gold and my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men and didst commit whoredom with them.

They took the things that God had given them and they began to make idols and icons and worshiped them. An idol is a statue that you would make and you’d fall down before. And Ezekiel has talked about it. Jeremiah talked about it. Isaiah talked about it.

That’s what the nation of Israel was doing. They were making idols and worshipping them. But also not only that, icons are pictures and things that you would worship.

And we’re told not to do that, but rather we’re to look at God and worship Him and however you worship God, in spirit and in truth, not seeking to build idols to fall down before verse 18.

And thou hast broided garments and covers them, and thou hast set mine oil and my incense before them, my meat also which I gave thee, fine flour and oil and money. Therefore I fed thee, rather, therefore I fed thee. Thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savor, and thus it was, saith the Lord.

The very things that God had given them, they took those gifts and used to worship false idols and false gods. Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them that be devoured.

Is this of thy whoredom a small matter? That thou hast slain, say, any children and delivered them, that you cause them to pass through the fire for them?

This is something that, you know, you can’t believe that Israel would do this. The Canaanites worshipped Moloch and other demonic gods. And Moloch, it’s said that they would build a statue to Moloch and they’d have his arms out like this in the statue and they’d put a fire in it so that the statue would become very hot and then they’d place their children in the arms of the fire to burn to death and to sacrifice them to Moloch.

And the Israelites were doing this. Not the Canaanites. The Canaanites did it.

But they never claimed to know God. The Israelites claimed to know God, yet they were sacrificing their own children. In America today, how many Christians don’t have a proper perspective on the sanctity of life? How many people that profess the name of Jesus that go to church and would say, there’s nothing wrong with abortion.

There’s nothing wrong with euthanasia if someone’s old and dying. What’s wrong with hurrying the process along? Not that long ago, I think it was just my wife heard it. I didn’t hear it, but she heard it on the news in Canada.

There was a young, I don’t know if it was a teenager or a younger child, that was euthanized. There was another woman in Canada that was euthanized even though she didn’t want to be euthanized. This is in countries that had professed the name of Christ, that were founded on biblical principle, and yet those things are coming into the land.

One of the reasons that you look at what’s happening in America today, if you look at what’s happening, you’re seeing an influx of Islamic, of Muslims into our country. And if you read what their goal is, their goal is to destroy America and make it a Sharia state. And they’ve done it in a couple cities already, Dearborn, Michigan being one of them.

If you’re a Christian and go to Dearborn, Michigan, and want to stand on the sidewalk and pass out tracts and talk to people about Jesus, you’ll be told to leave town or you’ll be put in jail. Even though, according to our Constitution, that’s a constitutional freedom and right, as long as you’re not trespassing on private property. So, how could that happen? Because I believe it all goes back to what’s happening to Israel.

Why was Israel taken away captive by Nebuchadnezzar? Because of this. God didn’t want them to be taken away. He wanted them to repent and turn to Him, but instead they refused to repent.

And so now He’s telling them, this is what it is. I chose you as my wife. And how did you treat me? I decked you out with jewels and gold and beautiful clothes.

Gave you finest food. And the first time that someone else comes along, you pursue them. It’s not pretty.

But the church in America has a lot to be accountable for in the same area, because we have abandoned much of the Bible. Verse 22.

And all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered. The days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and barren, was polluted in thy blood. And it came to pass, after all the wickedness, woe, woe unto thee, saith the Lord God. That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee a high place in every street.

What he’s saying is that you’re not just hiding it in your house anymore, you’re putting it out where everybody can see it.

If you look at what’s happened in our nation, it’s the same thing. When evil begins to take over, and God’s people really don’t stand up against evil and speak against it, and be a witness for the Lord, but instead are attracted to it and enticed by it. If you look at our culture, look at the movies.

Look at how the movies have gone down. Movies have never been a bastion of morality. It’s not the place you should have gone to learn your moral lessons.

But it used to be you could go to a movie and it wouldn’t be in your face. And today it’s in your face. There is constant killing, sexual deviations, and sexual promiscuity that is put before your eyes.

There is the lines of the story, the bad guys are the good guys, and the good guys are the bad guys. It’s just like the scripture says, when the culture begins to turn against God, evil is called good, and good is called evil. And you’re seeing that in our culture.

Well, instead of standing against it, a lot of times we embrace it. And what God is saying here is, that’s exactly what Israel did. They didn’t stand against it, but they made it so evident that they put it wherever you could see it.

It was no longer hidden in their houses. If you remember, when we were going through the kings of Israel, and we were looking at Josiah, we saw that Josiah tore down the high places. He got rid of all the false gods that were being worshipped around.

But then if you go on and you see his children and his grandchildren, you’ll see that when they came to power, and Josiah had died, and Jeremiah was living during the time of Josiah, and was preaching during the time of Josiah, but when Josiah died, it’s as if it says that they had been hiding their idols in their homes. So they had pretended to set them aside, because that’s what Josiah was calling, that’s what the priests were calling to do. They cleansed the temple.

They had the first Passover, and since the time of Solomon, that was done properly. They reestablished a proper sacrificial system. Everything on the outside appeared right, but what the problem was, was in people’s houses.

They were hiding their sin where people couldn’t see it. And then what happened, when a king came to power that wasn’t like Josiah, and demanding and calling on God to bring righteousness to the land, and that king was unrighteous and unbelieving, all of a sudden the idols come out of the house and they begin to be set back up on the streets, and it’s back where you can see it all. And that’s what happens. And that’s what Ezekiel is telling the Jews, is the problem.

Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors, the gate of flesh, and hast increased thy whoredoms to provoke me to anger.

Now what did they do? Was this sexual sin that he’s talking about? No. He’s talking about something that’s even more despicable than that. They went to the world. Egypt, in the Old Testament, Egypt is viewed as a symbol of the world and the world system.

Remember when Nebuchadnezzar’s coming and God’s bringing judgment on Jerusalem and Judah? They wanted to go to Egypt and have Egypt deliver them. They wanted the world to deliver them instead of calling on the name of the Lord. Instead of repenting and turning to God and trusting in Him, they went to Egypt.

And he’s saying, what an abomination! You say that you believe in me, you say that you’re the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, men who had faith in me, and trusted in me, and yet you do these things. And then he said, well, what is the result of that? It says, verse 27.

Behold, therefore, I have stretched out my hand over thee, and I have diminished thine ordinary food and delivered thee into the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.

Whose protective hand was there over them? It was the Lord’s. And what does he say? He lifts it. I’ve told you before, we had an evangelist speak in 1981. And already we were seeing some things happen in our nation.

A is for Adam, and it had every letter of the alphabet explained by a principle or a character out of the Bible. Try to do that in public school today. You can’t because we’ve come so far.

And he says the Lord removed his hand because it’s like with Pharaoh. Pharaoh hardened his heart and hardened his heart. Finally, God said, OK, I will do what you want.

I will harden your heart. The nation of Israel, we want these false gods. We want these false gods.

We want these false gods. And finally, God says, OK, I’ll give you what you want. I’m going to take you into captivity in Nebuchadnezzar.

And you can go to a land, a strange land where there’s strange tongues and strange gods. And you read in the Psalms what the response of the people was when they got to Babylon and they were asked to sing a joyful song. They hung their harps on the trees and wept because they remembered what they had in Israel.

And they had it no more. In America, people look back and they say, well, we can have it. Can’t we go back? Can’t we go back? We cannot go back till you repent.

And even if you look at most churches today, don’t call out for repentance and returning to God and people giving their lives to Christ and encouraging their people to witness and to share the gospel and to live a life where the light of Christ is seen in them. But instead, it’s how soon can we get out on Sunday so we can make sure we can get home and watch football or go to the lake still or whatever. It’s not about the Lord, but it’s become about us just as it was in Israel.

Behold, therefore, I have stretched my hand over thee and have diminished thine ordinary food. He’s brought on famine. He’s brought on all the other things, the illness and the enemies attacking them.

Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast insatiable. Yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, yet couldst not be satisfied. And if you look at the northern kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians attacked that kingdom.

But the northern kingdom of Israel, they went from one false god to another false god to another false god and went deeper and deeper and deeper into idolatry until finally the day of the final judgment and their captivity by the Assyrians came. Verse 29, Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornications in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. And if you go to the Chaldeans, the Chaldeans were deep into witchcraft and deep into all kinds of demonic worship and all went back to the Tower of Babel with Nimrod.

That was the root of the Chaldean belief and it’s really the root of all false religions in the world today. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious, whorish woman, in that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street. Hast thou not seen, as a harlot, in that thou scornest hire? But as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband, they gave gifts to all the whores, but thou gavest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.

And the contrary is in thee from other women in the whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms, and in that they give us a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary. He’s saying, you’re even worse than the whores of the world. They sell themselves, but they get paid for it.

You pay the people. You do the exact opposite thing of what everybody else does, that tries to get somebody, get something out of somebody, and wants to sell themselves to do it. You sell yourself to do it.

And you pay them. This shows how depraved Israel had become. I don’t think we know the depth of the depravity we have in America, because it becomes so commonplace around us.

If you could imagine taking somebody from the late 1800s and bringing them up today, and taking them into your house and turning on Netflix or regular television, they’d be aghast. And that’s not the worst of it. And then you look at what’s happening.

Our children are being destroyed by drugs and alcohol, and parents are concerned, but they go out and drink. And then, what’s happened in the church? In the church today, you know, something that’s very common is, drinking is no longer viewed as something that will come between me and the Lord, and that I can become a slave to alcohol. I was listening to some people talk, and they said, you know, a lot of people talk about fentanyl and all the drugs that are in our country, but they said the biggest problem we have in America today is alcohol.

Because alcohol is legal, and alcohol is advertised on every show and every radio program just about that you turn to. The Super Bowl had more alcohol commercials than any other. Budweiser had more commercials than anybody else on it.

I didn’t watch the Super Bowl, but I was listening to somebody who did, and they were talking about all the Budweiser commercials. And people see nothing wrong. And you go to people’s homes that are Christians, and the decorations are wine bottles on the wall or bourbon decanters on the shelf.

What’s happened? And God stands brokenhearted as he looks at Judah. He found them helpless. He found them ready to be left to die.

And he took them and bathed them and made them into a beautiful woman. And made a covenant with them, a covenant vow. You will be my people and I will be your God.

And he no more than made the covenant, then they ran out to find others. We need to understand it’s not through politics that our nation is going to be transformed. I don’t care, I mean, the things that Democrats did are despicable, but some of the things that Republicans are doing are just as bad or worse.

I remember a man at a prophecy conference a number of years ago, and someone had a question and answer. He said, in American politics, this was in Canada, he said, in American politics, do you support the Democrats or the Republicans? And this man said, well, the Democrats are running towards a cliff of oblivion at 100 miles an hour. The Republicans are going towards the same cliff at 60 miles an hour, but they know the shortcuts.

And he was really saying something true. If you look at things that are being done by our government right now, and you look at Bible prophecy, and you look at the scriptures, I shared with you a little bit on Sunday, things that President Trump has done in the Middle East, they’re lining things up for the Antichrist. They’re not calling out for righteousness and repentance, and a call to Jesus Christ.

We’re going to close, and we’ll pick it up next Sunday afternoon, and look at the rest of the chapter, because there’s further condemnation, but there’s also a day of restoration. In the midst of all the evil that’s around us, we have great hope. We have hope in Jesus Christ, because Jesus is the one who can deliver man’s souls, He can wash us clean from our sin, He can restore us to what He intended us to be.

And everyone who is a Christian was redeemed and saved, not to escape hell, but to bring glory to God. And that’s the whole reason each one of us was created, was to bring glory to Him. The one who gave us physical life, the one who redeemed us out of our sin, and the one who has given us a newness of heart, and is in the process of helping us to be conformed to the image of the one who redeemed us.

May we seek to walk in His power and His might, and bring glory to His name. Let’s just close in prayer. Father, I pray that you would just help us to understand these things.

Father, I pray that you would just help us to look with horror on what Israel and Judah did to you, but then to examine what we do to you. And Lord, help us to be sober-minded, to walk circumspectly, and to walk in the power of your Spirit. To walk in the newness of life that you have given to us, to bring glory to your name, that people may see in our hearts, in our lives, such a difference they will want it as well.

 

 

Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, 3 and say, Thus saith the Lord God unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite. 4 And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to supple thee; thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. 5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.

6 And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live. 7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. 8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. 9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I throughly washed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed thee with oil. 10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk. 11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck. 12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head. 13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom. 14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord God.

15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was. 16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. 17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them, 18 and tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them. 19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was, saith the Lord God.

20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter, 21 that thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them? 22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.

23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord God;) 24 that thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street. 25 Thou hast built thy high place at every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and multiplied thy whoredoms. 26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. 27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over thee, and have diminished thine ordinary food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way. 28 Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied. 29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith. 30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord God, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman; 31 in that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; 32 but as a wife that committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband! 33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and hirest them, that they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom. 34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.

35 Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord: 36 thus saith the Lord God; Because thy filthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy abominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou didst give unto them; 37 behold, therefore I will gather all thy lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou hast loved, with all them that thou hast hated; I will even gather them round about against thee, and will discover thy nakedness unto them, that they may see all thy nakedness. 38 And I will judge thee, as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy. 39 And I will also give thee into their hand, and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high places: they shall strip thee also of thy clothes, and shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare. 40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords. 41 And they shall burn thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also shalt give no hire any more. 42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry. 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold, therefore I also will recompense thy way upon thine head, saith the Lord God: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all thine abominations.

44 Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter. 45 Thou art thy mother’s daughter, that lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your mother was an Hittite, and your father an Amorite. 46 And thine elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is Sodom and her daughters. 47 Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as if that were a very little thing, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. 48 As I live, saith the Lord God, Sodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as thou hast done, thou and thy daughters. 49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. 50 And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me: therefore I took them away as I saw good. 51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done. 52 Thou also, which hast judged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast justified thy sisters.

53 When I shall bring again their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, then will I bring again the captivity of thy captives in the midst of them: 54 that thou mayest bear thine own shame, and mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a comfort unto them. 55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters shall return to your former estate. 56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride, 57 before thy wickedness was discovered, as at the time of thy reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, which despise thee round about. 58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the Lord. 59 For thus saith the Lord God; I will even deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the oath in breaking the covenant.

60 Nevertheless I will remember my covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. 61 Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt receive thy sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for daughters, but not by thy covenant. 62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord: 63 that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.

Ezekiel 16 reminds us that sin is never “small” when it is committed against great mercy. Yet the chapter also shows that God does not abandon His covenant purposes. If the Lord could still speak restoration after such betrayal, then no heart is beyond the reach of His grace. The question is not whether God is willing to forgive—but whether we are willing to repent.