Under the figure of an unfaithful wife, God upbraids Jerusalem with her ingratitude and manifold disloyalties: but promises mercy by a new covenant.

¹ And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

² “Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations.¹

1. 16:2Make known to Jerusalem: That is, by letters, for the prophet was then in Babylon.(Challoner)

³ And you shall say: Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your root and your lineage is from the land of Canaan; your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Cethite.

⁴ And when you were born, on the day of your nativity, your umbilical cord was not cut, and you were not washed with water for health, nor salted with salt, nor wrapped with cloths.

⁵ No eye took pity on you, so as to do even one of these things to you, out of compassion for you. Instead, you were cast upon the face of the earth, in the abjection of your soul, on the day when you were born.

⁶ But, passing by you, I saw that you were wallowing in your own blood. And I said to you, when you were in your blood: ‘Live.’ I tell you that I said to you, in your blood: ‘Live.’

⁷ I multiplied you like the seedling of the field. And you were multiplied and became great, and you advanced and arrived at the ornament of a woman. Your breasts rose up, and your hair grew. And you were naked and full of shame.

⁸ And I passed by you and saw you. And behold, your time was the time of lovers. And I spread my garment over you, and I covered your disgrace. And I swore to you, and I entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became mine.

⁹ And I washed you with water, and I cleansed you of your blood. And I anointed you with oil.

¹⁰ And I covered you with embroidery, and I put violet shoes upon you, and I wrapped you in fine linen, and I clothed you with delicate garments.

¹¹ I adorned you with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon your hands and a necklace around your neck.¹

1. 16:11I decked you also with ornaments, etc: That is, with spiritual benefits, giving you a law with sacrifices, sacraments, and other holy rites.(Challoner)

¹² And I put gold upon your face, and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head.

¹³ And you were adorned with gold and silver, and you were clothed in fine linen, woven with many colors. You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil. And you became very beautiful. And you advanced to royal power.

¹⁴ And your renown went forth among the Gentiles, because of your beauty. For you were perfected by my beauty, which I had placed upon you, says the Lord God.

¹⁵ But, having confidence in your own beauty, you fornicated in your fame. And you presented your fornication to every passer-by, so as to become his.

¹⁶ And taking from your garments, you made for yourself exalted things, having sewed together disparate pieces. And you fornicated upon them, in a way that has not been done before, nor will be in the future.¹

1. 16:16The phrase ‘hinc inde’ translates roughly as ‘from this and from that.’ In other words, they put together disparate pieces of cloth upon which to fornicate. This figure represents disparate ideas being joined together as the basis for a heresy, or set of heresies, or even a false religion.(Conte)

¹⁷ And you took your beautiful items, made of my gold and my silver, which I gave to you, and you made for yourself images of men, and you fornicated with them.

¹⁸ And you used your multicolored vestments to cover these things. And you placed my oil and my incense before them.

¹⁹ And my bread, which I gave to you, the fine flour, and the oil, and the honey, by which I nourished you, you placed in their sight as a sweet fragrance. And so it was done, says the Lord God.

²⁰ And you took your sons and your daughters, whom you bore for me, and you immolated them to be devoured. Is your fornication a small matter?

²¹ You have immolated my sons, and you have consecrated and delivered my sons to them.¹

1. 16:21You have sacrificed, etc: As there is nothing more base and abominable than the crimes mentioned throughout this chapter; so the infidelities of the Israelites in forsaking God, and sacrificing even their children to idols, are strongly figured by these allegories.(Challoner)

²² And after all your abominations and fornications, you have not remembered the days of your youth, when you were naked and full of shame, wallowing in your own blood.

²³ And it happened that, after all your wickedness, (woe, woe to you, says the Lord God)

²⁴ you built for yourself a brothel, and you made for yourself a place of prostitution in every street.

²⁵ At the head of every way, you set up a banner of your prostitution. And you caused your beauty to become abominable. And you distributed your feet to every passer-by. And you multiplied your fornications.

²⁶ And you fornicated with the sons of Egypt, your neighbors, who have large bodies. And you multiplied your fornications, so as to provoke me.

²⁷ Behold, I will extend my hand over you, and I will take away your justification. And I will give you to the souls of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your wicked way.

²⁸ You also fornicated with the sons of the Assyrians, for you were not yet done. And after you fornicated, even then, you were not satisfied.

²⁹ And you multiplied your fornications in the land of Canaan with the Chaldeans. And even then, you were not satisfied.

³⁰ With what can I cleanse your heart, says the Lord God, since you do all these things, the works of a woman who is a shameless prostitute?

³¹ For you have built your brothel at the head of every way, and you have made your exalted place on every street. And you have not even been like a choosy prostitute, increasing her price,

³² but instead like a woman who is an adulteress, who prefers strangers to her own husband.

³³ Wages are given to all prostitutes. But you have given wages to all your lovers, and you have given gifts to them, so that they would enter to you from every side, in order to fornicate with you.

³⁴ And it is done with you, in your fornications, contrary to the custom of women, and even after you, there will be no such fornication. For in as much as you have given payment, and not taken payment, what has been done in you is the contrary.”¹

1. 16:34Israel is comparable to a prostitute. But even worse, Israel does not take payment for its spiritual prostitutions, but instead pays for the same.(Conte)

³⁵ Because of this, O harlot, listen to the word of the Lord.

³⁶ Thus says the Lord God: “Because your money has been poured out, and your disgrace has been uncovered, in your fornications with your lovers and with the idols of your abominations, in the blood of your sons, whom you gave to them:

³⁷ Behold, I will gather all your lovers, with whom you have united, and all those whom you have loved, together with all those whom you have hated. And I will gather them together against you on every side. And I will uncover your disgrace before them, and they will see all your indecency.

³⁸ And I will judge you with the judgment of adulteresses and of those who shed blood. And I will give you over to blood, in fury and in zeal.

³⁹ And I will deliver you into their hands. And they will destroy your brothel and demolish your place of prostitution. And they will strip you of your vestments. And they will take away the ornaments of your beauty. And they will leave you behind, naked and full of disgrace.

⁴⁰ And they will lead over you a multitude. And they will stone you with stones, and massacre you with their swords.

⁴¹ And they will burn up your houses with fire, and they will carry out judgments against you in the sight of many women. And you will cease from fornication, and no longer give payment.

⁴² And my indignation will be quieted in you. And my zeal will be taken from you. And I will rest, and no longer be angry.

⁴³ For you have not remembered the days of your youth, and you have provoked me in all these things. Because of this, I also have delivered all your ways upon your head, says the Lord God, but I have not acted in accord with your wickedness in all your abominations.

⁴⁴ Behold, all who speak a common proverb will take this up against you, saying: ‘Like the mother, so also is her daughter.’

⁴⁵ You are your mother’s daughter, for she cast away her husband and her children. And you are the sister of your sisters, for they cast away their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Cethite, and your father was an Amorite.

⁴⁶ And your older sister is Samaria, she and her daughters are those who live to your left. But your younger sister, who lives to your right, is Sodom and her daughters.