Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 14

Idolatrous Elders Condemned

¹ Then some ^(C1)elders of Israel came to me and ^(C2)sat down before me.² And the word of the LORD came to me, saying,³ "Son of man, these men have ^(C1)set up their idols in their hearts and have ^(C2)put in front of their faces the stumbling block of their wrongdoing. Should I let Myself be ^(C3)consulted by them at all?⁴ "Therefore speak to them and tell them, 'This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: "Anyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, puts in front of his face the stumbling block of his wrongdoing, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will let Myself answer him in ^(F2)the matter in view of the ^(C1)multitude of his idols,⁵ in order to take hold of ^(F1)(C1)the hearts of the house of Israel who have ^(F2)(C2)turned away from Me due to all their idols."'

⁶ "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'This is what the Lord GOD says: "^(C1)Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your ^(C2)abominations.⁷ "For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the ^(C1)strangers who reside in Israel, who deserts Me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts in front of his face the stumbling block of his wrongdoing, and then comes to the prophet to request something of Me for himself, ^(C2)I the LORD will let Myself answer him Myself.⁸ "I will ^(C1)set My face against that person and make him a ^(C2)sign and ^(F1)a proverb, and I will eliminate him from among My people. So you will know that I am the LORD.

⁹ "But if the prophet is persuaded so that he speaks a word, it is I, the LORD, who have persuaded that prophet; and I will stretch out My hand against him and ^(C1)eliminate him from among My people Israel.¹⁰ "And they will bear the punishment for their wrongdoing; as the wrongdoing of the inquirer is, so the wrongdoing of the prophet will be,¹¹ in order that the house of Israel may no longer ^(C1)stray from Me and no longer ^(C2)defile themselves with all their offenses. So they will be ^(C3)My people, and I shall be their God,"' declares the Lord GOD."

The City Will Not Be Spared

¹² Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,¹³ "Son of man, if a country sins against Me by ^(C1)being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, ^(F1)destroy its ^(C2)supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life,¹⁴ even ^(C1)though these three men, ^(C2)Noah, ^(C3)Daniel, and ^(C4)Job, were in its midst, by their own righteousness they could only save ^(C5)themselves," declares the Lord GOD.¹⁵ "If I were to cause ^(C1)vicious animals to pass through the land and they ^(F1)depopulated it, and it became desolate so that no one would pass through it because of the animals,¹⁶ though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not save either their sons or their daughters. ^(C1)They alone would be saved, but the country would be desolate.¹⁷ "Or if I were to ^(C1)bring a sword on that country and say, 'A sword is to pass through the country,' and I ^(C2)eliminated human and animal life from it,¹⁸ even though these three men were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not save either their sons or their daughters, but they alone would be saved.¹⁹ "Or if I were to send a ^(C1)plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it,²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in its midst, as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "they could not save either their son or their daughter. They would save only themselves by their righteousness."

²¹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: "How much more when ^(C1)I send My four ^(F1)severe judgments against Jerusalem: sword, famine, vicious animals, and plague to eliminate human and animal life from it!²² "Yet, behold, ^(F1)survivors will be left in it who will be brought out, both sons and daughters. Behold, they are going to come out to you, and you will ^(C1)see their conduct and actions; then you will be ^(C2)comforted for the disaster which I have brought against Jerusalem for everything which I have brought upon it.²³ "Then they will comfort you when you see their conduct and actions, for you will know that I have not done ^(C1)without reason whatever I did ^(F1)to it," declares the Lord GOD.

Chapter 15

Jerusalem like a Useless Vine

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,² "Son of man, ^(F1)how is the wood of the ^(C1)vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest?³ "Can wood be taken from it to make ^(F1)anything, or can even a peg be taken from it on which to hang any utensil?⁴ "If it has been put into the ^(C1)fire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends and its middle part has been charred, is it then good for ^(F1)anything?⁵ "Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into ^(F1)anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into ^(F1)anything!⁶ "Therefore, this is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says: 'As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem;⁷ and I ^(C1)set My face against them. Though they have ^(C2)come out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am the LORD, when I set My face against them.⁸ 'So I will make the land desolate, because they have ^(C1)acted unfaithfully,'" declares the Lord GOD.

Chapter 16

God's Grace to Unfaithful Jerusalem

¹ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,² "Son of man, ^(C1)make known to Jerusalem her abominations,³ and say, 'This is what the Lord ^(F1)GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.⁴ "As for your birth, ^(C1)on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths.⁵ "No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ^(F1)(C1)open field, ^(F2)for you were abhorred on the day you were born.

⁶ "When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!'⁷ "I ^(C1)made you ^(F1)very numerous, like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall and reached the age for fine jewelry; your breasts were formed and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

⁸ "Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, ^(F1)you were at the time for love; so I ^(C1)spread My ^(F2)garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^(C2)swore an oath to you and ^(C3)entered into a covenant with you so that you ^(C4)became Mine," declares the Lord GOD.⁹ "Then I bathed you with water, washed off your blood from you, and ^(C1)anointed you with oil.¹⁰ "I also clothed you with ^(C1)colorfully woven cloth and put sandals of ^(F1)fine leather on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk.¹¹ "I adorned you with jewelry, put ^(C1)bracelets on your wrists, and a ^(C2)necklace around your neck.¹² "I also put a ^(C1)ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a ^(C2)beautiful crown on your head.¹³ "So you were adorned with ^(C1)gold and silver, and your dress was of fine linen, silk, and colorfully woven cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^(C2)royalty.¹⁴ "Then your ^(C1)fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^(C2)perfect because of My splendor which I bestowed on you," declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁵ "But you ^(C1)trusted in your beauty and ^(C2)became unfaithful because of your fame, and you poured out your ^(F1)obscene practices on every passer-by to whom it might be tempting.¹⁶ "You took some of your clothes, made for yourself ^(F1)high places of various colors, and committed prostitution on them, which should not come about nor happen.¹⁷ "You also took your beautiful ^(F1)(C1)jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images so that you might commit prostitution with them.¹⁸ "Then you took your colorfully woven cloth and covered them, and offered My oil and My incense before them.¹⁹ "Also ^(C1)My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, ^(F1)you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares the Lord GOD.²⁰ "Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to ^(C1)Me and ^(C2)sacrificed them to ^(F1)idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter?²¹ "You slaughtered ^(C1)My children and offered them to ^(F1)idols by ^(C2)making them pass through the fire.²² "And besides all your abominations and obscene practices, you did not remember the days of ^(C1)your youth, when you were naked and bare and squirming in your blood.

²³ "Then it came about after all your wickedness ('Woe, woe to you!' declares the Lord GOD),²⁴ that you built yourself a ^(C1)shrine and made yourself a ^(C2)high place in every public square.²⁵ "You built yourself a high place at the beginning of ^(C1)every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice.²⁶ "You also committed prostitution with the Egyptians, your ^(F1)lustful neighbors, and multiplied your obscene practice to ^(C1)provoke Me to anger.²⁷ "So behold, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut back your rations. And I turned you over to the desire of those who hate you, the ^(C1)daughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your outrageous conduct.²⁸ "Moreover, you committed prostitution with the ^(C1)Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you committed prostitution with them and still were not satisfied.²⁹ "You also multiplied your obscene practice with the land of merchants, Chaldea; yet even with this you were not satisfied."'"

³⁰ "How ^(C1)feverish is your heart," declares the Lord GOD, "while you do all these things, the action of a ^(F1)(C2)bold prostitute!³¹ "When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in ^(C1)spurning a prostitute's fee, you were not like a prostitute.³² "You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!³³ "Men give gifts to all prostitutes, but you ^(C1)give your gifts to all your lovers and lavish favors on them so that they will come to you from every direction for your obscene practices.³⁴ "So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute's fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite."

³⁵ Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the LORD.³⁶ This is what the Lord GOD says: "Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your obscene practices with your lovers and with all your detestable ^(C1)idols, and because of the blood of your sons that you gave to ^(F1)idols,³⁷ therefore, behold, I am going to ^(C1)gather all your lovers whom you pleased, all those whom you loved as well as all those whom you ^(C2)hated. So I will gather them against you from every direction and ^(C3)expose your nakedness to them so that they may see all your nakedness.³⁸ "So I will ^(C1)judge you as women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ^(C2)wrath and jealousy.³⁹ "I will also hand you over to ^(F1)your lovers, and they will tear down your shrines, demolish your high places, ^(C1)strip you of your clothing, take away your ^(F2)jewels, and will leave you naked and bare.⁴⁰ "They will ^(F1)incite a ^(C1)crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.⁴¹ "And they will ^(C1)burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. Then I will ^(C2)put an end to your prostitution, and you will also no longer pay ^(F1)your lovers.⁴² "So I ^(C1)will satisfy My fury against you and My jealousy will leave you, and I will be pacified and ^(C2)no longer be angry.⁴³ "Since you have ^(C1)not remembered the days of your youth but ^(F1)have ^(C2)caused Me unrest by all these things, behold, I in turn will ^(C3)bring your conduct down on your own head," declares the Lord GOD, "so that you will not commit this outrageous sin in addition to all your other abominations.<