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Scriptural Text [& Editorial]
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Commentary & Explanation
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Footnotes ~ References ~ JST
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CHAPTER 16
Jerusalem has become as a harlot, reveling in her idols and worshipping
false gods—She has partaken of all the sins of Egypt and the nations
round about, and is rejected—Yet in the last days the Lord will again
establish his covenant with her.
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1 AGAIN the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her
aabominations,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto
Jerusalem; Thy abirth and thy nativity is of the
land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an
bHittite.
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4 And as for thy nativity, in the day
thou wast aborn thy bnavel was not cut,
neither wast thou washed in water to csupple thee;
thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all.
5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of thy person, in the day that thou wast born.
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6 ¶ And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.
7 I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of
the field, and thou hast increased and awaxen great, and
thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and
thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast bnaked and
bare.
8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon
thee, behold, thy time was the time of alove; and I
spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee,
and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest
mine.
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9 Then washed I thee with water; yea, I
throughly awashed away thy blood from thee, and I anointed
thee with oil.
10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers' skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
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12 And I put a jewel on thy
aforehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful
crown upon thine head.
13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was of fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
14 And thy arenown went
forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my
bcomeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord
GOD.
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15 ¶ But thou didst trust in thine own
beauty, and playedst the aharlot because of thy renown, and
pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be so.
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17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my
gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself
aimages of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
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19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine
aflour, and oil, and honey, wherewith I fed thee,
thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and thus it was,
saith the Lord GOD.
20 Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy
daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou
asacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of
thy whoredoms a small matter,
21 That thou hast slain my children, and delivered them to cause them to pass through the fire for them?
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22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
23 And it came to pass after all thy wickedness, (woe, woe unto thee! saith the Lord GOD;)
24 That thou hast also built unto thee an eminent place, and hast made thee an high place in every street.
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25 Thou hast built thy high place
aat every head of the way, and hast made thy beauty to be
abhorred, and hast opened thy feet to every one that passed by, and
multiplied thy bwhoredoms.
26 Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
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27 Behold, therefore I have stretched out my
hand over thee, and have diminished athine ordinary
food, and delivered thee unto the will of them that hate thee, the
daughters of the Philistines, which are ashamed of thy lewd way.
28 Thou hast played the whore also with the
aAssyrians, because thou wast unsatiable; yea, thou hast
played the harlot with them, and yet couldest not be satisfied.
29 Thou hast moreover multiplied thy fornication in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied herewith.
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30 How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious whorish woman;
31 In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire;
32 But as a wife that committeth
adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her
ahusband!
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33 They give gifts to all whores: but thou
givest thy gifts to all thy lovers, and ahirest them, that
they may come unto thee on every side for thy whoredom.
34 And the contrary is in thee from other women in thy whoredoms, whereas none followeth thee to commit whoredoms: and in that thou givest a reward, and no reward is given unto thee, therefore thou art contrary.
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35 ¶ Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
36 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thy
afilthiness was poured out, and thy nakedness discovered
through thy whoredoms with thy lovers, and with all the idols of thy
babominations, and by the blood of thy children, which thou
didst give unto them;
37 Behold, therefore I will gather all thy
lovers, with whom thou hast taken pleasure, and all them that thou
hast loved, with all them that thou hast haated; I
will even gather them round about bagainst thee, and will
discover thy cnakedness unto them, that they may see all
thy nakedness.
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38 And I will ajudge thee,
as women that break wedlock and shed blood are judged; and I will give thee
blood in fury and jealousy.
39 And I will also give thee into their hand,
and they shall throw down thine eminent place, and shall break down thy high
places: they shall astrip thee also of thy clothes, and
shall take thy fair jewels, and leave thee naked and bare.
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40 They shall also bring up a company against thee, and they shall stone thee with stones, and thrust thee through with their swords.
41 And they shall aburn
thine houses with fire, and execute judgments upon thee in the sight of many
women: and I will cause thee to cease from playing the harlot, and thou also
shalt give no hire any more.
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42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.
43 Because thou hast not remembered the days
of thy youth, but hast fretted me in all these things; behold,
therefore I also will arecompense thy way upon thine
head, saith the Lord GOD: and thou shalt not commit this lewdness above all
thine abominations.
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44 ¶ Behold, every one that useth proverbs shall use this proverb against thee, saying, As is the mother, so is her daughter.
45 Thou art thy mother's daughter, that
lotheth her husband and her children; and thou art the sister of thy
sisters, which lothed their husbands and their children: your
amother was an Hittite, and your father an
Amorite.
46 And thine elder asister
is Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy
younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, is
aSodom and her daughters.
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47 Yet hast thou 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.
48 As I live, saith the Lord GOD,
aSodom thy sister hath not done, she nor her daughters, as
thou hast done, thou and thy daughters.
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49 Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister
aSodom, bpride, fulness of bread, and
abundance of cidleness was in her and in her daughters,
neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
50 And they were haughty, and committed
aabomination before me: therefore I took them
baway cas I saw good.
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51 Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy
sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast
ajustified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou
hast done.
52 Thou also, which hast
ajudged thy sisters, bear thine own shame for thy sins that
thou hast committed more abominable than they: they are more righteous than
thou: yea, be thou confounded also, and bear thy shame, in that thou hast
justified thy sisters.
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53 When I shall bring again their captivity,
the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, and the captivity of Samaria and
her daughters, then will I abring again the
captivity of thy captives in the midst of them:
54 That thou mayest bear thine own shame, and
mayest be confounded in all that thou hast done, in that thou art a
comfort unto thema.
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54a that thou art a comfort unto
them Just what the extent of the wickedness of 'Judah' and
'Jerusalem' was that such as Sodom and Samaria would be comforted by it in
comparison to their own wickedness is not easy to consider. Whether it would
include the crucifying of the Lord is of some question. At that era the Lord
said of the Jews of that day that their wickedness was so gross to have
so crucified the Lord and that no other nation or people would have done so
if he had so come unto them (see 2 Nephi 10:3-4). That in itself would set
the Jews' wickedness to be above all others and perhaps that state which the
Jews had developed into of such rejection of the Lord their God because of
their own pride above all others, gentile and Samaritan, is that which by
comparison is being alluded to here?
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55 When thy sisters, Sodom and her daughters,
shall return to their former aestate, and Samaria and her
daughters shall return to their former estate, then thou and thy daughters
shall return to your former estate.
56 For thy sister Sodom was not mentioned by thy mouth in the day of thy pride,
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57 Before thy wickedness was discovered, as at
the time of thy reproach of the daughters of aSyria,
and all that are round about her, the daughters of the Philistines,
which despise thee round about.
58 Thou hast borne thy lewdness and thine abominations, saith the LORD.
59 For thus saith the Lord GOD; I will even
deal with thee as thou hast done, which hast despised the
aoath in breaking the covenant.
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60 ¶ Nevertheless I will remember my
covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee
an everlasting acovenant.
61 Then thou shalt aremember
thy ways, and be bashamed, when thou shalt receive thy
sisters, thine elder and thy younger: and I will give them unto thee for
daughters, but not by thy covenant.
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62 And I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD:
63 That thou mayest remember, and be
confounded, and never open thy amouth any more because of
thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith
the Lord GOD.
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