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| 1 And the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying: |
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| 2 Son of man, Let Jerusalem know her abominations, |
Son of man – Ezekiel represented the Son of Man, and also the members of the Bride of Christ, every member of which is a watchman on the walls of Zion. R4881:5, 6[R4881:20]
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| 3 Therefore shalt thou say–Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, To Jerusalem, Thine origin and thy birth, were of the land of the Canaanite,–Thy father, was the Amorite, And, thy mother, a Hittite, |
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| 4 And, as for thy birth, in the day thou wast born, Thy navel-cord was not cut, And, in water, wast thou not bathed, to cleanse thee,–And, as for being salted, thou was not salted, And, as for being bandaged, thou wast not bandaged. |
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| 5 No eye, threw a shield over thee, by doing for thee one of these things, taking pity on thee,–But thou wast cast out, on the face of the field, Because thy person, was abhorred, in the day thou wast born. |
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| 6 And I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, thrusting about thee in thy blood, And said to thee–Despite thy blood, live! Yea I said to thee–Despite thy blood, live! |
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| 7 Into myriads–like the bud of the field, made I thee, And thou didst increase, and become well-grown, and didst attain to most excellent adornments,–Thy breasts, were well-formed, And, thy hair, was grown, But, thou thyself, wast utterly naked. |
Waxen great – Compare the description here given with that of the rich man in Luke 16:19-31. R802:3*
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| 8 And I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, and lo! thy time, was the time for endearments, So I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy shame,–And took an oath to thee, And entered into covenant with thee, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, And thou didst become mine. |
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| 9 And I bathed thee in water, and rinsed thy blood from off thee, And anointed thee with oil; |
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| 10 And clothed thee with an embroidered dress, And sandalled thee in red leather,–And wrapped thee about with fine linen, And put over thee a mantle of silk. |
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| 11 Then decked I thee with ornaments,–And put bracelets upon thy hands, And a neckchain upon thy throat;
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| 12 And put a nose-jewel upon thy nose, And earrings in thine ears,–And a crown of adorning, upon thy head.
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| 13 Thus wast thou adorned with gold and silver, And, thy raiment, was of fine linen and silk, and embroidered work, Fine flour and honey and oil, didst thou eat,–And so thou becamest exceedingly, beautiful, And didst attain unto royalty. |
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| 14 Then went forth thy fame among the nations, for thy beauty,–For, perfect, it was–in my splendour which I had put upon thee, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh. |
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| 15 Then didst thou trust in thy beauty, And become unchaste, because of thy fame,–And didst pour out thine unchastity upon every passer-by, his, it was! |
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| 16 Yea thou didst take of thy raiment and madest thee high places of hangings, And didst commit unchastity thereon,–Which ought not to have befallen, And not to have come to pass. |
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| 17 But thou didst take thine adorning, jewels, Of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, And didst make thee, images of the male,–And didst act unchastely with them; |
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| 18 And thou didst take thine embroidered raiment, and cover them,–And, mine oil and mine incense, didst thou set before them; |
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| 19 And my food, which I had given thee, Fine flour and oil and honey wherewith I fed thee, And didst set it before them for a satisfying, odour, Yea so it was,–Saith My Lord, Yahweh. |
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| 20 And thou didst take thy sons and thy daughters, Whom thou hadst borne unto me, And didst sacrifice them unto them, to be devoured,–Is this, of thine unchastity, a light thing? |
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| 21 Yea thou didst slay my children,–And didst deliver them up, that they should be caused to pass through [the fire] unto them. |
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| 22 And, in all thine abominations, and thine unchaste ways, thou rememberedst not the days of thy youth,–When thou wast utterly naked. When thou wast, thrusting about thee in thy blood! |
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| 23 And it came to pass, after all thy wickedness, Woe! Woe! to thee, Exclaimeth My Lord, Yahweh; |
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| 24 That thou didst build thee a brothel,–and didst make thee a height, in every broadway: |
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| 25 At the head of every road, didst thou build thy height, And bring thy beauty into disgust, And open thy feet to every passer-by, So didst thou make thine unchaste ways to abound. |
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| 26 Then didst thou extend thine unchaste acts unto the sons of Egypt–thy neighbour, great of flesh,–And caused thine unchaste ways to abound, provoking me to anger. |
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| 27 Lo! therefore, I have stretched out my hand against thee, And diminished thine allotted portion,–And have delivered thee up unto the desire of them who hate thee, The daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of thy lewd way. |
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| 28 Thou didst also extend thine unchastity unto the sons of Assyria, because thou wast insatiable. Yet, though thou didst behave unchastely with them, yet, even so, couldst thou not be satisfied, |
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| 29 Thou didst therefore cause thine unchaste ways to abound unto the land of Canaan, as towards Chaldea. Yet, even herewith, wast thou not satisfied. |
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| 30 How weak was thy heart! Exclaimeth My Lord, Yahweh,–That thou couldst have done all these things, The doing of a lewd woman, without shame: |
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| 31 That thou couldst have built thy brothel at the head of every road, And, thy height, couldst have made in every broadway,–Yet becamest not as a harlot, to lay claim to a harlot's hire. |
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| 32 A wife who committeth adultery, instead of her husband, accepteth strangers. |
Her husband – Here the word "husband" means caretaker, referring to a union or covenant between Jehovah and Israel. R1388:6[R1388]
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| 33 To all harlots, they give a present,–But, thou, didst give thy, presents to all thy lovers, And didst bribe them, to come in unto thee from every side, in thine unchastity! |
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| 34 And so there came about, in thee, the reverse of women, in thine unchastity, In that they, did not follow thee, for purposes of lewdness,–And in that thou, gavest a present, while, no present, was given to thee, So didst thou become, the reverse. |
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| 35 Therefore, O harlot, hear thou the word of Yahweh; |
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| 36 Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh,–Because thy money, was poured out, and thy shame, was uncovered, in thine unchastity, unto thy lovers,–and unto all thine abominable manufactured gods, even as the blood of thy children, whom thou didst deliver up unto them, |
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| 37 Therefore, behold me! gathering together all thy lovers, unto whom thou didst make thyself pleasant, Even all whom thou lovedst, With all whom thou hatedst,–Yea I will gather them, together unto thee from every side, And will uncover thy shame unto them, And they shall see all thy shame. |
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| 38 So will I judge thee, with the judgments meted out to adulteresses and shedders of blood,–And will repay thee with the blood of indignation and jealousy; |
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| 39 And will deliver thee, into their hand, And they shall pull down thy brothel, And break in pieces thy heights, And strip thee of thy raiment, And take away thine adorning, jewels,–And leave thee utterly naked. |
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| 40 Then will they bring up against thee a gathered host, And they will stone thee with stones,–And cut thee to pieces with their swords; |
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| 41 And burn up thy houses with fire, And execute upon thee judgments, before the eyes of many women,–So will I cause thee to cease from acting unchastely, Moreover also, a present, shalt thou not give any more. |
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| 42 So will I let mine indignation find rest in thee, And my jealousy shall depart, from thee,–And I will be quiet, and not be provoked any more. |
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| 43 Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, But hast enraged me with all these things, Therefore also, behold! I, thy way, upon thine own head, will place, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, And thou shalt not commit a crime above all thine abominations! |
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| 44 Lo! every one who useth proverbs, against thee, shall use a proverb, saying,–Like the mother, [so] her daughter! |
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| 45 The daughter of thy mother, thou art! One abhorring her own husband, and her own children,–Yea, the sister of thy sisters, thou art, Who abhorred their own husbands, and their own children, Your mother, was a Hittite, And, your father, an Amorite. |
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| 46 And, thine elder sister, was Samaria, she and her daughters, dwelling on thy left hand,–And, thy sister younger than thou, dwelling on thy right hand, was Sodom, and her daughters. |
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| 47 Yet, not in their ways, didst thou walk, nor, according to their abominations, didst thou do,–As though that were quite too little, thou didst corrupt thyself beyond them, in all thy ways. |
Corrupted more than they – "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment" than for Capernaum. (Matt. 11:23) HG149:6[HG149]
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| 48 As I live, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh, Very! Sodom thy sister had not done, neither she nor her daughters,–as, thou and thy daughters, have done. |
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| 49 Lo! this, became the iniquity of Sodom thy sister,–Pride, fulness of bread, and careless security, came to her and to her daughters, And, the hand of the oppressed and the needy, she strengthened not. |
Sodom – The Sodomites possessed a very rich valley, making hard work unnecessary, which induced much idleness. PD24/35[PD24]
Sin there reached the enormity referred to by Paul in Rom. 1:18-32. R1617:6[R1617]
Pride – Prosperity develops pride, instead of gratitude to God and a realization of increased responsibility as a steward. Pride begets misrule, arrogance, injustice and tyranny. R2306:1[R2306]
Fulness of bread – Abundance of idleness is disastrous, making the downward course more rapid. SM157:1[SM157]; PD24/35[PD24]
Neglecting the poor and the needy. R3948:4[R3948]
Some modern instances: jewels worth $1,000,000 on one costume, $50,000 for two vases, $350,000 for a horse, $50,000 for a coffin, $5,000 for burying a dog, $50,000 for a single entertainment. D294[D294]
Such displays of luxury and extravagance will surely excite the envy and hatred of the poor against the wealthy. R2105:3[R2105]; D295[D295]
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| 50 So then they became haughty, and committed abomination before me,–And I took them away, when I saw [it], |
Took them away – Not to eternal torment, but from present life with its privileges and advantages. R1617:6
The death of the Sodomites was merely the Adamic Death hastened, not the Second Death. OV43:2
Temporarily destroyed by fire as an example of the absolute annihilation which will ultimately come upon all wilful sinners, the Second Death. R4599:5, R5083:5
All human right in the earth was abrogated by the death sentence upon the sinner. R5335:6
As I saw good – Good, because it made an example of them for those who should afterward live ungodly. R1779:2, R1270:4
As with the Canaanites, their further continuance would be neither for their good nor for the Lord's glory. R5335:6
In all these things God had a wise purpose; and in his own time he will make that purpose manifest to all, as he even now makes it manifest to the saints. R675:5
If death ends all probation, why did God see good to take this people away without giving them a chance of salvation through "the only name?" R259:2; A111
Because it was not yet their due time. In "due time" they will be awakened from death, come to a knowledge of the truth, and have a full opportunity for life everlasting. A111; R5083:5, R1779:2, R1270:5, R545:5, R259:2; PD24/35
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| 51 Nor did, Samaria, commit, one-half thy sins,–But thou didst multiply thine abominations more than they, And didst cause thy sisters to appear righteous, by all the abominations which thou didst commit. |
Samaria – God here speaks of Israel and compares her with her neighbor Samaria. R259:2
Half of thy sins – The chastisement and discipline necessary to Sodom's and Samaria's restoration to righteousness will be less severe than for some who are of the natural lineage of Abraham. R1374:2, R5363:5
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| 52 Thou also, bear thine own reproach, which thou didst adjudge to thy sisters, by thy sins, in which thou wast more abominable than they, thou didst make them appear more righteous than thou,–Thou also, therefore, turn thou pale, and bear thine own reproach, for making thy sisters appear righteous! |
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| 53 When therefore I bring back their captivity, The captivity of Sodom and her daughters, And the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, Then will I bring back thy captivities in their midst: |
When I shall – Under the New covenant, under Messiah's Kingdom. PD24/35
Bring again – The Sodomites will be raised from death and brought to a knowledge of God. R5179:6, R4881:3
The Sodomites could not have had their judgment yet--their second judgment. Like the rest of us, they suffered in the first judgment which came upon Father Adam. HG223:2[HG223]
Future probation is a doctrine of the Bible. R477:1*
Their captivity – In death, all are captives. R7:6, R259:3[R259], R545:6[R545], R236:1; A112[A112]
Captivity of Sodom – "There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and of the unjust." (Acts 24:15) R351:1*
In selecting so extreme an example of clemency, our Lord evidently intended that we should see that the sacrifice which he gave was unquestionably "a ransom for all." HG336:3
Since Jesus says they were all destroyed (Luke 17:29), this must be by a restor R413:2
In the midst – Sodom, Samaria and Israel will all be raised together. R8:1
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| 54 That thou mayest bear thine own reproach, And take to thyself reproach, because of all that thou didst in comforting them. |
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| 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. |
Thy sisters – The Lord will humble their pride by restoring peoples whom Israel detested as inferiors and sinners. SM211:2[SM211]
Shall return – Even the Sodomites who are held up, all through the Bible, as examples of wickedness, and "as suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7), are to share in the restitution. HG17:3[HG17]; HG14:5[HG14]
Their former estate – To open the prison doors of the grave--restitution. R8:1[R8], R259:3[R259], R4881:3[R4881]; A112[A112]
The Sodomites will be sharers in that restitution. R4594:4[R4594]
Not to judgment merely, and then to heaven or hell. HG39:5[HG39]
Of human perfection--to all who will receive Christ and obey him. R1718:4[R1718], R3452:5[R3452]
Your former estate – Their former estate is as much beneath the Kingdom, which flesh and blood cannot inherit, as our present position is beneath that of the angel Gabriel. HG36:5[HG36]
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| 56 And Sodom thy sister was never heard in thy mouth,–In the day of thy pride: |
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| 57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, As, now, [thou art] the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all round about her, the daughters of the Philistines,–who are despising thee, on every side. |
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| 58 As for thy crime, and thine abominations, thou thyself, dost bear them,–Declareth Yahweh. |
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| 59 For, Thus, saith My Lord, Yahweh, Therefore will I deal with thee, just as thou hast dealt,–In that thou didst despise an oath, by breaking a covenant. |
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| 60 Therefore will, I, remember my covenant with thee, in the days of thy youth,–And will establish for thee, a covenant age-abiding. |
Remember my covenant – "For the gifts and callings of God are without repentance." (Rom. 11:29) R8:1, R259:3
I will – Showing that the Lord was not speaking ironically to the Jews. (Matt. 11:23) He was not saying that hebut had no intention of restoring either. OV227:6; HG346:1
Establish unto thee – The Lord's dealings with other nations will be through natural Israel. R4464:5; CR59:5; PD24/35
Everlasting covenant – The Lord will restore Sodom, Samaria and Israel, and establish his covenant with them through Messiah in the Millennial Age. R4599:5
As the old Law covenant was with Israel only, so the New (Law) covenant will be with Israel only. Other nations will share it by becoming Israelites. R4321:1
Jesus is the Mediator of the New (Law) covenant, under which he will establish his Mediatorial Kingdom for the blessing of Israel and the world. R4476:1
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| 61 Thou shalt therefore remember thy ways, and take to thyself reproach, by receiving thy sisters, The older than thou, And the younger than thou,–And I will give them unto thee for daughters, Though not by thine own covenant. |
Shalt remember – Raised with the same nature and personality and able to recall their former degraded condition. R360:5, R604:3*
Be ashamed – "They shall look upon him whom they pierced and mourn." (Zech. 12:10) R517:1*
If our ways are not right, they should be amended and not justified by saying, "It is my way." R705:3
Christ will set men's sins in order before them, and they must freely confess their sins and bear their shame. R1646:4
Shalt receive – The Lord's dealings with other nations will be through natural Israel. F4464:5
Thy sisters – Sodom and Samaria, representing other nations of the world. R4464:5
I will – God is not here speaking ironically, as some suggest. R259:3
Give them unto thee – The Lord clearly indicates that his dealings with outside nations will be through natural Israel. CR59:5
For daughters – The nations are to be instructed and blessed under the New covenant by becoming "daughters" to Israel. R4464:6, R4371:3, R4575:4, R130:5
"Thy sons shall come from afar, and thy daughters to be nursed at thy side." (Isa. 60:4) D638
Other nations will become Israelites, "proselytes of the gate," not under the Old, but under the New covenant. R4321:1
They will enjoy, as "daughters of Judah," the highest degree of happiness they are capable of appreciating. HG27:4
That she may instruct them and bring them into harmony with God's plans. R447:4*, R659:4*
Not by thy covenant – Not by the Law covenant, but by the New covenant. R4464:6, R4371:3, R4575:4, R236:1; CR59:5; SM212:T, Q622:1
Israel's Old covenant will cover them until they are brought under the new Mediator of the New covenant. Q134:2
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| 62 But, I myself, will establish my covenant with, thee–And thou shalt know, that, I, am Yahweh: |
I will establish – The Jews are to be the first to experience restitution favor. OV120:5
My covenant – The New Law covenant. SM212:T, CR59:5; R4354:6, R4575:4
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| 63 To the end thou mayest remember, and turn pale, and there be to thee, no more, an opening of mouth, because of thy reproach,–In that I have accepted a propitiatory covering for thee, as to all that thou hast done, Declareth My Lord, Yahweh. |
That – In order that. SM212:T
Confounded – Ashamed. R4881:4
Open thy mouth – In boasting or complaint. R4881:4
Pacified – In the redemption accomplished by our Lord. R4881:4
"And so all Israel shall be saved." (Rom. 11:26) OV228:1
The promised restitution is not based on the merits of Israel, the Samaritans or the Sodomites. R259:4, R546:1
That thou hast done – Which he declares to be worse than Sodom had done (see verses 47 and 48). R1618:1
Saith the Lord GOD – When God signs his name to a statement this way we must believe it. R259:4, R8:1, R546:1
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