MORE SHOCK TACTICS
Play Audio
If you prefer listening to today’s Bible guide reading, play this audio file.
If the audio bar is not appearing, click here to play the audio.
Opening Prayer
Lord Jesus, thank you for calling me to follow you. Help me to be faithful in telling others of the grace and mercy that you offer, knowing how privileged I am to be part of their faith journey.
Read EZEKIEL 16:35–63
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
35 “‘Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord! 36 This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because you poured out your lust and exposed your naked body in your promiscuity with your lovers, and because of all your detestable idols, and because you gave them your children’s blood, 37 therefore I am going to gather all your lovers, with whom you found pleasure, those you loved as well as those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and will strip you in front of them, and they will see you stark naked. 38 I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and who shed blood; I will bring on you the blood vengeance of my wrath and jealous anger. 39 Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will tear down your mounds and destroy your lofty shrines. They will strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry and leave you stark naked. 40 They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and hack you to pieces with their swords. 41 They will burn down your houses and inflict punishment on you in the sight of many women. I will put a stop to your prostitution, and you will no longer pay your lovers. 42 Then my wrath against you will subside and my jealous anger will turn away from you; I will be calm and no longer angry.
43 “‘Because you did not remember the days of your youth but enraged me with all these things, I will surely bring down on your head what you have done, declares the Sovereign Lord. Did you not add lewdness to all your other detestable practices?
44 “‘Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.” 45 You are a true daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children; and you are a true sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46 Your older sister was Samaria, who lived to the north of you with her daughters; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you with her daughters, was Sodom. 47 You not only followed their ways and copied their detestable practices, but in all your ways you soon became more depraved than they. 48 As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did what you and your daughters have done.
49 “‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. 51 Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have done more detestable things than they, and have made your sisters seem righteous by all these things you have done. 52 Bear your disgrace, for you have furnished some justification for your sisters. Because your sins were more vile than theirs, they appear more righteous than you. So then, be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
53 “‘However, I will restore the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and of Samaria and her daughters, and your fortunes along with them, 54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done in giving them comfort. 55 And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to what they were before; and you and your daughters will return to what you were before. 56 You would not even mention your sister Sodom in the day of your pride, 57 before your wickedness was uncovered. Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom[a] and all her neighbors and the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you. 58 You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your detestable practices, declares the Lord.
59 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I will deal with you as you deserve, because you have despised my oath by breaking the covenant. 60 Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61 Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, both those who are older than you and those who are younger. I will give them to you as daughters, but not on the basis of my covenant with you. 62 So I will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the Lord. 63 Then, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your humiliation, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Footnotes
- Ezekiel 16:57 Many Hebrew manuscripts and Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint and Vulgate Aram
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
‘I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.’1
The unpleasant description continues ‘from one degree of gory to another.’2 We need to remember that the portrayal is allegorical and symbolic. There is no suggestion that God actually behaved like this, nor should the story be seen as sanctioning such behavior among humans. We must also be careful not to approach this passage with modern eyes and read modern agendas into it. Nor should we be put off by the way the story loads all the guilt and wickedness on the female character while portraying in a more positive light the husband, who is abusive: stripping, humiliating, and allowing the violent assault of his wife. Similarly, we must not judge the practice of capital punishment for adultery (v. 40) by modern standards. Such objections, though valid, are irrelevant to the point that Ezekiel was making to an ancient people, couching his words in culturally relevant terms. His main point is that while God will judge based on what the nations deserve, he will also extend grace.
Within this difficult chapter, we find an encouraging promise in verses 59 and 60 that God will remember his covenant with his people and indeed will replace it with an everlasting covenant through Jesus. Verse 63 also reminds us of a point that we may often forget. When God forgives people’s sins, he ‘will remember their sins no more.’3 The sinner may find them harder to forget! Paul, for example, always remembered that he had persecuted the church. The value of such memory is to keep us from pride and remind us, as forgiven sinners, that we have a past of which to be ashamed and that our justification is all through God’s grace.4 The allegorical representation of Samaria and Jerusalem as Oholah and Oholibah is developed in chapter 23.
Apply
The sin of Sodom (v. 49) is that ‘they did not help the poor and needy.’ How would Ezekiel assess your church in that area?
Closing prayer
Holy Spirit, continue to be at work in the people who are part of my church; enlarge our hearts so that we might love as Jesus loved, serve as he would serve, and reach out with his compassion to those in need.
1 Isa 43:25 2 C Wright, The Message of Ezekiel (IVP, 2001), 144. 3 Jer 31:34 4 JB Taylor, Ezekiel (IVP, 1969), 142.
Book and Author Intros
Extras
Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.
© 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents without written permission is prohibited.
Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.