“Therefore, you prostitute, listen to this message from the Lord!
Parallel translations
- WEB “Therefore, prostitute, hear Yahweh’s word:
- KJV Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the LORD:
- BSB Therefore, O prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
- NKJV ‘Now then, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord!
- NASB Therefore, you prostitute, hear the word of the Lord.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God summons the 'prostitute' to hear His verdict. The indictment now turns to sentence.
Overview
This pivotal call marks the shift from accusation to judgment. Jerusalem, addressed as the harlot she has become, must now hear the LORD's word of justice. The directness underscores that God's judgments follow clearly stated charges and are never arbitrary.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Isa 23:15–16It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.
- John 4:18for you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband. This you have said truly.”
- Jer 3:1“They say, ‘If a man puts away his wife, and she goes from him, and becomes another man’s, should he return to her again?’ Wouldn’t that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the prostitute with many lovers; yet return again to me,” says Yahweh.
- Amos 7:16Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’
- Hos 4:1Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.
- Ezek 13:2“Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy, and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word:
- Nah 3:4because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.
- 1 Kgs 22:19Micaiah said, “Therefore hear Yahweh’s word. I saw Yahweh sitting on his throne, and all the army of heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left.
- Jer 3:6–8Moreover, Yahweh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and has played the prostitute there.
- Hos 2:5For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’
- Isa 1:21How the faithful city has become a prostitute! She was full of justice; righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
- Isa 28:14Therefore hear Yahweh’s word, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:
- John 4:10Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
- Isa 1:10Hear Yahweh’s word, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
- Ezek 34:7Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
- Rev 17:5And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”
- Ezek 20:47and tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The promise of one Shepherd-King David, a new heart and new Spirit, and the river of life flowing from the temple all stream toward Christ, the good Shepherd who gives the Spirit.
How Ezekiel 16:35 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.