Jeremiah 2:20-24
The Lord Expresses His Exasperation at Judah’s Persistent Idolatry
2:20 “Indeed, long ago you threw off my authority
and refused to be subject to me.
You said, ‘I will not serve you.’
Instead, you gave yourself to other gods on every high hill
and under every green tree,
like a prostitute sprawls out before her lovers.
2:21 I planted you in the land
like a special vine of the very best stock.
Why in the world have you turned into something like a wild vine
that produces rotten, foul-smelling grapes?
2:22 You can try to wash away your guilt with a strong detergent.
You can use as much soap as you want.
But the stain of your guilt is still there for me to see,”
says the Lord God.
2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean.
I have not paid allegiance to the gods called Baal.’
Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom!
Think about the things you have done there!
You are like a flighty, young female camel
that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path.
2:24 You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.
In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male.
No one can hold her back when she is in heat.
None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.
At mating time she is easy to find.
Jeremiah 3:1-2
3:1 “If a man divorces his wife
and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife,
he may not take her back again.
Doing that would utterly defile the land.
But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods.
So what makes you think you can return to me?”
says the Lord.
3:2 “Look up at the hilltops and consider this.
You have had sex with other gods on every one of them.
You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the desert.
You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.
Jeremiah 5:7-8
5:7 The Lord asked,
“How can I leave you unpunished, Jerusalem?
Your people have rejected me
and have worshiped gods that are not gods at all.
Even though I supplied all their needs, they were like an unfaithful wife to me.
They went flocking to the houses of prostitutes.
5:8 They are like lusty, well-fed stallions.
Each of them lusts after his neighbor’s wife.
Ezekiel 16:15-22
16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty became his.
16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his.
16:17 You also took your beautiful jewelry, made of my gold and my silver I had given to you, and made for yourself male images and engaged in prostitution with them.
16:18 You took your embroidered clothing and used it to cover them; you offered my olive oil and my incense to them.
16:19 As for my food that I gave you – the fine flour, olive oil, and honey I fed you – you placed it before them as a soothing aroma. That is exactly what happened, declares the sovereign Lord.
16:20 “‘You took your sons and your daughters whom you bore to me and you sacrificed them as food for the idols to eat. As if your prostitution not enough,
16:21 you slaughtered my children and sacrificed them to the idols.
16:22 And with all your abominable practices and prostitution you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, kicking around in your blood.
Ezekiel 23:2-21
23:2 “Son of man, there were two women who were daughters of the same mother.
23:3 They engaged in prostitution in Egypt; in their youth they engaged in prostitution. Their breasts were squeezed there; lovers
fondled their virgin nipples there.
23:4 Oholah was the name of the older and Oholibah
the name of her younger sister. They became mine, and gave birth to sons and daughters.
Oholah is Samaria and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians – warriors
23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
23:7 She bestowed her sexual favors on them; all of them were the choicest young men of Assyria. She defiled herself with all whom she desired – with all their idols.
23:8 She did not abandon the prostitution she had practiced in Egypt; for in her youth men had sex with her, fondled her virgin breasts, and ravished her.
23:9 Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted.
23:10 They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah watched this, but she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister had been, and her acts of prostitution were more numerous than those of her sister.
23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians – governors and officials, warriors in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
23:13 I saw that she was defiled; both of them followed the same path.
23:14 But she increased her prostitution. She saw men carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans carved in bright red,
23:15 wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, the image of Babylonians whose native land is Chaldea.
23:16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
23:17 The Babylonians crawled into bed with her. They defiled her with their lust; after she was defiled by them, she became disgusted with them.
23:18 When she lustfully exposed her nakedness, I was disgusted with her, just as I had been disgusted with her sister.
23:19 Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt.
23:20 She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions.
23:21 This is how you assessed the obscene conduct of your youth, when the Egyptians fondled your nipples and squeezed your young breasts.
Hosea 1:2
Symbols of Sin and Judgment: The Prostitute and Her Children
1:2 When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, he said to him, “Go marry a prostitute who will bear illegitimate children conceived through prostitution, because the nation continually commits spiritual prostitution by turning away from the Lord.”
Hosea 4:2
4:2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.
They resort to violence and bloodshed.
Hosea 4:2
4:2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery.
They resort to violence and bloodshed.
Colossians 1:21
Paul’s Goal in Ministry
1:21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your minds as expressed through your evil deeds,
James 4:4
4:4 Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy.