16 Then Yahweh gave me another message: 2 “Humanity’s child, inform Yerushalem about their detestable behaviour, 3 and declare that the master Yahweh says this to Yerushalem: Your beginning and your birth took place in the land of Canaan, your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite.[fn] 4 When you were born, your mother didn’t cut your cord, nor did she clean you with water or rub you down with salt, or wrap cloth around you. 5 No one cared enough about you to do any of these things for you—to be compassionate toward you. Your life was despised and you were thrown out into the open field on the very day that you were born.

6 But I went past, and I saw you, Yerushalem, writhing in your own blood, so I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!”[fn] 7 I made you grow like a plant in the countryside. You grew up and became tall, and you became the most precious jewel. Your breasts became firm, and your hair grew thick, even though you’d been naked and bare.

8 I went past again and saw you. Wow, the time of love came for you, so I spread my robe out over you and covered your nakedness. Then I made a promise to you and brought you into a contract and you became mine. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

9 I washed you, Yerushalem, with water, and rinsed your blood off you, and I put lotion on your skin. 10 Then I dressed you in embroidered clothes and put leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you in fine linen, then covered you with silk. 11 Next I adorned you with jewellery, and I put bracelets on your hands and a chain around your neck. 12 I put a ring in your nose and earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver, and you were dressed in fine linen, silk, and embroidered clothes. You ate good food made from fine flour, honey, and oil, and you were very beautiful, and you became a queen. 14 Your reputation, Yerushalem, spread among the nations because of your beauty, because it was perfect in the majesty I’d given you. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

15 But Yerushalem, you trusted in your own beauty, and you acted like a prostitute because of your reputation. You flirted with everyone going past, and prostituted yourself, so that your beauty became theirs. 16 Then you took your clothes and made hilltop shrines for yourself with them, decorated in various colours, and there you acted like a prostitute. This shouldn’t have happened, nor should such a thing exist. 17 You took the fine gold and silver jewellery that I gave you, and you made male sculptures for yourselves, and you behaved with them like a prostitute would. 18 You took your embroidered garments and covered those idols, and you offered my oils and perfumes to them. 19 The high-quality bread that I gave you (made with fine flour, oil, and honey), you placed in front of them to be a fragrant aroma, and indeed it was. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

20 Then you took your sons and daughters that you bore for me, and you sacrificed them to those idols to be devoured as food. Are your acts of prostitution a small matter? 21 You slaughtered my children for the idols and made them pass through the fire. 22 In all your evil goings on and your acts of prostitution, you never thought back to the days when you were young, when you were naked and bare as you thrashed about in your own blood. 23 After all your wickedness, you won’t end well. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.