Ezekiel 16 borders on PG-13. It contains a long, detailed analogy of Jerusalem as a whore - actually, worse than a whore because she pays her lovers instead of charging them!
Though God protected her from her birth and married her in her youth, she rejected him to chase after other lovers (vs. 1-29). Specifically named as her customers are the Egyptians, Philistines, Assyrians, and Chaldeans (Babylonians). Ezekiel takes the mission of the prophet Hosea (who was ordered by God to marry a prostitute) and applies it Judah, spelling her out as the guilty party.
Here is God's devastating word of judgment upon the people of Jerusalem: "How sick is your heart, says the Lord God, that you did all these things, the deeds of a brazen whore; building your platform at the head of every street, and making your lofty place in every square! Yet you were not like a whore, because you scorned payment. Adulterous wife, who receives strangers instead of her husband! Gifts are given to all whores; but you gave your gifts to all your lovers, bribing them to come to you from all around for your whorings. So you were different from other women in your whorings: no one solicited you to play the whore; and you gave payment, while no payment was given to you; you were different" (vs. 30-34).
In spite of this, and the severe punishment she is about to undergo, God promises her a future restoration. He will renew His covenant with her and return her fortunes.
Certainly, God's great love for His people is beyond measure!
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