- And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devours both the ends of it, and the middle of it is burned. Is it meet for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no work; how much less shall it be meet yet for any work when the fire has devoured it and it is burned.
- Therefore, thus says the Lord God: As the vine tree among the trees of the forest which I have given to the fire for fuel, so will I give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And I will set my face against them; they shall go out from one fire and another fire shall devour them. And you shall know that I am the Lord when I set my face against them. And I will make the land desolate because they have committed a trespass, says the Lord God.
- Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations, and say, Thus says the Lord God unto Jerusalem: Your birth and your nativity is of the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your nativity, in the day you were born, your navel was not cut, neither were you washed in water to cleanse you. You were not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. No eye pitied you to do any of these unto you, to have compassion upon you, but you were cast out in the open field, to the loathing of your person, in the day that you were born.
- And when I passed by you and saw you polluted in your own blood, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live. Yea, I said unto you when you were in your blood, Live. I have caused you to multiply as the bud of the field, and you have increased and grown great, and you have come to excellent ornaments; your breasts are fashioned and your hair is grown, whereas you were naked and bare.
- Now when I passed by you and looked upon you, behold, your time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. Yea, I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine. Then I washed you with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away your blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you also with embroidered work, and shod you with badgers’ skin, and I girded you about with fine linen, and I covered you with silk. I adorned you also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands and a chain on your neck. And I put a jewel on your forehead, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. You did eat fine flour, and honey, and oil, and you were exceedingly beautiful, and you did prosper into a kingdom. And your renown went forth among the heathen for your beauty, for it was perfect through my comeliness which I had put upon you, says the Lord God.
- But you did trust in your own beauty, and played the harlot because of your renown, and poured out your fornications on everyone that passed by — his it was. And of your garments you did take and adorned your high places with diverse colors, and played the harlot thereupon; the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so. You have also taken your fair jewels of my gold and of my silver which I had given you, and made to yourself images of men, and did commit whoredom with them, and took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you have set my oil and my incense before them. My food also which I gave you — fine flour, and oil, and honey with which I fed you — you have even set it before them for a sweet savor; and thus it was, says the Lord God. Moreover, you have taken your sons and your daughters whom you have borne unto me, and these have you sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of your whoredoms a small matter — that you have slain my children, and delivered them, to cause them to pass through the fire for them? And in all your abominations and your whoredoms you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, and were polluted in your blood.
- And it came to pass after all your wickedness — woe, woe unto you, says the Lord God — that you have also built unto you an eminent place, and have made you a high place in every street. You have built your high place at every head of the way, and have made your beauty to be abhorred, and have opened your feet to everyone that passed by, and multiplied your whoredoms. You have also committed fornication with the Egyptians, your neighbors great of flesh, and have increased your whoredoms, to provoke me to anger. Behold, therefore I have stretched out my hand over you, and have diminished your ordinary food, and delivered you unto the will of them that hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. You have played the whore also with the Assyrians because you were insatiable, yea, you have played the harlot with them, and yet could not be satisfied. You have moreover multiplied your fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea, and yet you were not satisfied herewith.
- How weak is your heart, says the Lord God, seeing you do all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman, in that you build your eminent place in the head of every way, and make your high place in every street, and have not been as a harlot — in that you scorn hire — but as a wife that commits adultery, who takes strangers instead of her husband! They give gifts to all whores, but you give your gifts to all your lovers and hire them, that they may come unto you on every side for your whoredom. And the contrary is in you from other women in your whoredoms, whereas none follow you to commit whoredoms, and in that you give a reward and no reward is given unto you; therefore, you are contrary.
- Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Because your filthiness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all the idols of your abominations, and by the blood of your children which you did give unto them, behold, therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you have taken pleasure, and all them that you have loved, with all them that you have hated; I will even gather them round about against you, and will uncover your nakedness unto them, that they may see all your nakedness. And I will judge you as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged, and I will give you blood in fury and jealousy. And I will also give you into their hand, and they shall throw down your eminent place and shall break down your high places. They shall strip you also of your clothes, and shall take your fair jewels, and leave you naked and bare. They shall also bring up a company against you, and they shall stone you with stones and thrust you through with their swords. And they shall burn your houses with fire and execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. And I will cause you to cease from playing the harlot, and you also shall give no hire anymore. So will I make my fury toward you to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from you, and I will be quiet and will be no more angry. Because you have not remembered the days of your youth but have fretted me in all these things, behold, therefore I also will recompense your way upon your head, says the Lord God, and you shall not commit this lewdness above all your abominations.
- Behold, everyone that uses proverbs shall use this proverb against you, saying: As is the mother, so is her daughter. You are your mother’s daughter, that 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. And your elder sister is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at your left hand; and your younger sister that dwells at your right hand is Sodom, and her daughters. Yet have you not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations? But as if that were a very little thing, you were corrupted more than they in all your ways.
- As I live, says the Lord God, Sodom your sister has not done — she nor her daughters — as you have done, you and your daughters. Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty, and committed abomination before me; therefore, I took them away as I saw good.
- Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins, but you have multiplied your abominations more than they, and have justified your sisters in all your abominations which you have done. You also, who have judged your sisters, bear your own shame for your sins that you have committed more abominable than they. They are more righteous than you. Yea, be confounded also, and bear your shame, in that you have justified your sisters.
- When I shall bring again their captives — the captives of Sodom and her daughters, and the captives of Samaria and her daughters — then will I bring again the captivity of your captives in the midst of them, that you may bear your own shame and may be confounded in all that you have done, in that you are a comfort unto them. When your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their former estate, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their former estate, then you and your daughters shall return to your former estate. For your sister Sodom was not mentioned by your mouth in the day of your pride, before your wickedness was revealed, as at the time of your reproach of the daughters of Syria and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines, who despise you round about. You have borne your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord.
- For thus says the Lord God: I will even deal with you as you have done, who have despised the oath in breaking the covenant. Nevertheless, I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish unto you an everlasting covenant. Then you shall remember your ways and be ashamed when you shall receive your sisters, your elder and your younger; and I will give them unto you for daughters, but not by your covenant. And I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth anymore because of your shame when I am pacified toward you for all that you have done, says the Lord God.
Chapter 6