And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD to Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy
nativity [is] of the land (a) of Canaan; thy father [was] an Amorite,
and thy mother an Hittite.
(a) You boast to be of the seed of Abraham, but you are degenerate and
follow the abominations of the wicked Canaanites as children do th... [ Continue Reading ]
And [as for] thy nativity, in the day thou wast (b) born thy navel was
not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse [thee]; thou
wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
(b) When I first brought you out of Egypt and planted you in this land
to be my Church.... [ Continue Reading ]
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thy (c) own blood,
I said to thee [when thou wast] in thy blood, Live; yea, I said to
thee [when thou wast] in thy blood, Live.
(c) Being thus in your filthiness and forsaken by all men, I took you
and gave you life: by which is meant that before... [ Continue Reading ]
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
(d) thy nakedness: yea, I swore to thee, and entered into a covenant
with (e) thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
(d) These words as blood, pollution,... [ Continue Reading ]
Then I washed thee with (f) water; yea, I thoroughly washed away thy
blood from thee, and I (g) anointed thee with oil.
(f) I washed away your sins.
(g) I sanctified you with my Holy Spirit.... [ Continue Reading ]
And I put a jewel in thy nose, and earrings in thy ears, and a
beautiful (h) crown upon thy head.
(h) By this he shows how he saved his Church, enriched it, and gave it
power and dominion to reign.... [ Continue Reading ]
And thy renown went forth among the nations for thy beauty: for it
[was] perfect through my (i) comeliness, which I had put upon thee,
saith the Lord GOD.
(i) He declares where the dignity of Jerusalem stood: that is, in that
the Lord gave them of his beauty and excellency.... [ Continue Reading ]
But thou didst (k) trust in thy own beauty, and didst play the harlot
because of thy renown, and didst pour out (l) thy harlotries on every
one that passed by; his it was.
(k) In abusing my gifts and in putting your confidence in your own
wisdom and dignity, which were the opportunities of your ido... [ Continue Reading ]
And of thy garments thou didst take, and didst deck thy high places
with various colours, (m) and didst play the harlot upon them: [the
like things] shall not come, neither shall it be [so].
(m) This declares how the idolaters put their chief delight in those
things which please the eyes and outwar... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver,
which I had given thee, and hast (n) made to thyself images of men,
and hast committed harlotry with them,
(n) You have converted my vessels and instruments which I gave you to
serve me with to the use of your idols.... [ Continue Reading ]
Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast
borne to me, and these hast thou sacrificed to them to (o) be
devoured. [Is this] of thy harlotries a small matter,
(o) Meaning by fire, read (Leviticus 18:21; 2 Kings 23:10).... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou hast also committed harlotry with the (p) Egyptians thy
neighbours, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy harlotry, to
provoke me to anger.
(p) He notes the great impiety of this people, who first falling from
God to seek help at strange nations also at length embraced their
idolatry thinkin... [ Continue Reading ]
In that thou buildest thy eminent place in the head of every way, and
makest thy high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot,
(q) in that thou scornest hire;
(q) Meaning that some harlots contemn small rewards but no lovers gave
a reward to Israel, but they gave to all others signify... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, therefore I will gather all (r) 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 on every side
against thee, and will uncover thy nakedness to them, that they may
see all thy nakedness.
(r) Egy... [ Continue Reading ]
And I will judge thee, as women that (s) break wedlock and shed blood
are judged; and I will give thee blood in fury and jealousy.
(s) I will judge you to death as the adulterers and murderers.... [ Continue Reading ]
So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my (t) jealousy shall
depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
(t) I will utterly destroy you and so my jealousy will cease.... [ Continue Reading ]
Because thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, but hast
provoked me in all these [things]; behold, therefore I also will (u)
recompense thy way upon [thy] head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt
not commit this lewdness above all thy abominations.
(u) I have punished your faults but you w... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use [this] proverb against
thee, saying, As [is] the mother, (x) [so is] her daughter.
(x) As the Canaanites, the Hittites and others were your predecessors,
so are you their successors.... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou [art] thy mother's daughter, that lotheth her husband and her
children; and thou [art] the sister of thy (y) sisters, who lothed
their husbands and their children: your mother [was] an Hittite, and
your father an Amorite.
(y) That is, of Samaria and Sodom.... [ Continue Reading ]
And thy elder sister [is] Samaria, she and her (z) daughters that
dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy
right hand, [is] Sodom and her daughters.
(z) That is, her cities.... [ Continue Reading ]
Yet hast thou (a) 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.
(a) But done far worse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, (b) 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.
(b) He alleges these four vices, pride, excess, idleness and contempt
of the poor as four principal c... [ Continue Reading ]
Neither (c) hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast
multiplied thy abominations more than they, and hast (d) justified thy
sisters in all thy abominations which thou hast done.
(c) Which worshipped the calves in Bethel and Dan.
(d) You are so wicked that in respect to you Sodom and... [ Continue Reading ]
When I shall bring again (e) 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:
(e) This he speaks in comparison seeing that he would restore
Jerusalem when Sodom wo... [ Continue Reading ]
That thou mayest bear thy own shame, and mayest be confounded in all
that thou hast done, in that thou art a (f) comfort to them.
(f) In that you have shown yourself worse than they and yet thought to
escape punishment.... [ Continue Reading ]
When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters, shall return to their
former state, and Samaria and her daughters shall return to their
former state, (g) then thou and thy daughters shall return to your
former state.
(g) Meaning that it would never come to pass.... [ Continue Reading ]
For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned (h) by thy mouth in the day of
thy pride,
(h) You would not call her punishment to mind when you were aloft, to
learn by her example to fear my judgments.... [ Continue Reading ]
Before thy wickedness was (i) uncovered, as at the time of [thy]
reproach of the daughters of Syria, and all [that are] around (k) her,
the daughters of the Philistines, who despise thee on every side.
(i) That is, till you were brought under by the Syrians and
Philistines, (2 Chronicles 28:19).
... [ Continue Reading ]
For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even deal with thee as thou hast
done, who hast despised the (l) oath in breaking the covenant.
(l) When you broke the covenant which was made between you and me, as
in (Ezekiel 16:8).... [ Continue Reading ]
Nevertheless I will (m) remember my covenant with thee in the days of
thy youth, and I will establish to thee an everlasting covenant.
(m) That is, out of mercy and love I will pity you and so stand by my
covenant though you have deserved the contrary.... [ Continue Reading ]
Then thou shalt remember thy ways, and be ashamed, when thou shalt
receive (n) thy sisters, thy elder and thy younger: and I will give
them to thee for daughters, but not (o) by thy covenant.
(n) By which he shows that among the most wicked, he always had some
seed of his Church, which he would cau... [ Continue Reading ]
That thou mayest remember, and be (p) 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.
(p) This declares what fruits God's mercies work in his, that is,
sorrow and repentance for their former life.... [ Continue Reading ]