Spiritual Adultery (Covenant Faithfulness and Idolatry)

5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

14For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. 16And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

16And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

1While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab, 2who invited them to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. 3So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against (them). 4Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that (His) fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” 5So Moses told the Judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.” 6Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses (and) the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. 7On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, 8followed the Israelite into his tent, and drove (the spear) through both of them — through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted, 9but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.

28They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. 29So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. 30But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained. 31It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.

16Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.

1King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh—women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and Sidon, as well as Hittite women. 2These women were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, for surely they will turn your hearts after their gods." Yet Solomon clung to these women in love. 3He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines—and his wives turned his heart away. 4For when Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God, as his father David had been. 5Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6So Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD; unlike his father David, he did not follow the LORD completely. 7At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. 8He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.

22When Joram saw Jehu, he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” he replied, “as long as the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”

2When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, He told him, “Go, take a prostitute as your wife and have children of adultery, because this land is flagrantly prostituting itself by departing from the LORD.”

2Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not My wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adultery from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts. 3Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst. 4I will have no compassion on her children, because they are the children of adultery. 5For their mother has played the harlot and has conceived them in disgrace. For she thought, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and water, wool and linen, oil and drink.’ 13I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD. 14"Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly. 15There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’

1Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.” 2So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. 3Then I said to her, “You must live with me for many days; you must not be promiscuous or belong to another, and I will do the same for you.” 4For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol. 5Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days.

1"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him to marry another, can he ever return to her? Would not such a land be completely defiled? But you have played the harlot with many lovers—and you would return to Me?" declares the LORD. 2“Lift up your eyes to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been violated? You sat beside the highways waiting for your lovers, like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. 3Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed. 4Have you not just called to Me, ‘My Father, You are my friend from youth. 5Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’ This you have spoken, but you keep doing all the evil you can.” 6Now in the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every green tree to prostitute herself there. 7I thought that after she had done all these things, she would return to Me. But she did not return, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8She saw that because faithless Israel had committed adultery, I gave her a certificate of divorce and sent her away. Yet that unfaithful sister Judah had no fear and prostituted herself as well. 9Indifferent to her own infidelity, Israel had defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10Yet in spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD. 11And the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than unfaithful Judah. 12Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will not be angry forever. 13Only acknowledge your guilt, that you have rebelled against the LORD your God. You have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice,’” declares the LORD. 14“Return, O faithless children,” declares the LORD, “for I am your master, and I will take you—one from a city and two from a family—and bring you to Zion. 15Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.” 16“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD. It will never come to mind, and no one will remember it or miss it, nor will another one be made. 17At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts. 18In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave to your fathers as an inheritance. 19Then I said, ‘How I long to make you My sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of all the nations!’ I thought you would call Me ‘Father’ and never turn away from following Me. 20But as a woman may betray her husband, so you have betrayed Me, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD.

1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, confront Jerusalem with her abominations 3and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were in the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. 4On the day of your birth your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing. You were not rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5No one cared enough for you to do even one of these things out of compassion for you. Instead, you were thrown out into the open field, because you were despised on the day of your birth. 6Then I passed by and saw you wallowing in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, ‘Live!’ There I said to you, ‘Live!’ 7I made you thrive like a plant of the field. You grew up and matured and became very beautiful. Your breasts were formed and your hair grew, but you were naked and bare. 8Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD. | IP | TOSK | TT 9Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil. 10I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. 11I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck. 12I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. 13So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen. 14Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD. 15But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking. 16You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred! 17You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself. 18You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them. 19And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD. 20You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough? 21You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols. 22And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood. 23Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness, 24you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square. 25At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by. 26You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger. 27Therefore I stretched out My hand against you and reduced your portion. I gave you over to the desire of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd conduct. 28Then you prostituted yourself with the Assyrians, because you were not yet satisfied. Even after that, you were still not satisfied. 29So you extended your promiscuity to Chaldea, the land of merchants—but even with this you were not satisfied! 30How weak-willed is your heart, declares the Lord GOD, while you do all these things, the acts of a shameless prostitute! 31But when you built your mounds at the head of every street and made your lofty shrines in every public square, you were not even like a prostitute, because you scorned payment. 32You adulterous wife! You receive strangers instead of your own husband! 33Men give gifts to all their prostitutes, but you gave gifts to all your lovers. You bribed them to come to you from everywhere for your illicit favors. 34So your prostitution is the opposite of that of other women: No one solicited your favors, and you paid a fee instead of receiving one; so you are the very opposite! 35Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD! 36This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you poured out your wealth and exposed your nakedness in your promiscuity with your lovers and with all your detestable idols, and because of the blood of your children which you gave to them, 37therefore I will surely gather all the lovers with whom you found pleasure, all those you loved and all those you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose you before them, and they will see you completely naked. | TOSK 38And I will sentence you to the punishment of women who commit adultery and those who shed blood; so I will bring upon you the wrath of your bloodshed and jealousy. | TOSK 39Then I will deliver you into the hands of your lovers, and they will level your mounds and tear down your lofty shrines. They will strip off your clothes, take your fine jewelry, and leave you naked and bare. | TOSK 40They will bring a mob against you, who will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. | TOSK 41Then they will burn down your houses and execute judgment against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will never again pay your lovers. | TOSK 42So I will lay to rest My wrath against you, and My jealousy will turn away from you. Then I will be calm and no longer angry. 43Because you did not remember the days of your youth, but enraged Me with all these things, I will surely bring your deeds down upon your own head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed this lewdness on top of all your other abominations? 44Behold, all who speak in proverbs will quote this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ 45You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. 46Your older sister was Samaria, who lived with her daughters to your north; and your younger sister was Sodom, who lived with her daughters to your south. 47And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were. 48As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters never did as you and your daughters have done. 49Now this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed, and complacent; they did not help the poor and needy. 50Thus they were haughty and committed abominations before Me. Therefore I removed them, as you have seen. 51Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half the sins you did. You have multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and all the abominations you have committed have made your sisters appear righteous. 52So now you must bear your disgrace, since you have brought justification for your sisters. For they appear more righteous than you, because your sins were more vile than theirs. So you too must bear your shame and disgrace, since you have made your sisters appear righteous. 53But I will restore Sodom and her daughters from captivity, as well as Samaria and her daughters. And I will restore you along with them. | IP¹ | IP² | TOSK | TT 54So you will bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you did to comfort them. | IP | TOSK | TT 55And your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state. | IP | TOSK | TT 56Did you not treat your sister Sodom as an object of scorn in the day of your pride, 57before your wickedness was uncovered? Even so, you are now scorned by the daughters of Edom and all those around her, and by the daughters of the Philistines—all those around you who despise you. 58You will bear the consequences of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD. 59For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you according to your deeds, since you have despised the oath by breaking the covenant. 60But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you. | C | TOSK 62So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD, 63so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”

1Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, 3and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed. 4The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. 5Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians—warriors 6clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds. 7She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted. 8She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her. 9Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. 10They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her. 11Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. 12She too lusted after the Assyrians—governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men. 13And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path. 14But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion, 15wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. 16At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. 17Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust. 18When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. 19Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt 20and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. 21So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts. 22Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side— 23the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them—all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses. 24They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards. 25And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire. 26They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry. 27So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’ 28For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust. 29They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity 30have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’ 32This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup deep and wide. It will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much. 33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of devastation and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria. 34You will drink it and drain it; you will dash it to pieces, and tear your breasts. For I have spoken,’ declares the Lord GOD. 35Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’” 36Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. 37For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols. 38They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths. 39On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house. 40Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry. 41You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil, 42accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head. 43Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’ 44And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women. 45But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands. 46This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder. 47The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses. 48So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior. 49They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”

19So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion. 20And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”

5For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. | C | TOSK | TT¹ | TT² | LT 6For the LORD has called you back, like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit, like the rejected wife of one's youth," says your God. 7“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back. 8In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.

4No longer will you be called Forsaken, nor your land named Desolate; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be His bride. 5For as a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you; and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.

32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them," declares the LORD.

60But I will remember the covenant I made with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you. 61Then you will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your older and younger sisters. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of My covenant with you. | C | TOSK 62So I will establish My covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD, 63so that when I make atonement for all you have done, you will remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, declares the Lord GOD.”