Ezekiel 16-20

16 - Israel's origins were humble.  You were an outcast infant no one wanted.  I cleaned the blood and dirt off you and provided for you from infancy, married you when it was time.  But you gave yourself as a whore to other men, and sacrificed our children to foreign gods.  God will judge Israel by those others: Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, etc.  You have become Samaria and Sodom.  I will atone for you and give you children again, and you'll be ashamed and shut your mouth at your past behavior and My mercy.

17 - An eagle takes the top of a cedar and plants it in another country.  Will it thrive?

Israel has been replanted, to be kept humble, but she sends to another nation to help rebel against the eagle.  It won't work.  More destruction is coming for you.  God Himself will replant Israel so she thrives.

18 - God won't punish the righteous for the sins of their parents, or acquit the backslider.  Israel may accuse God of injustice, but it is their ways that are unjust.  Turn back to God and live.

19 - Israel was a lion cub that grew up to devour others, but was carried off in a cage.
She was a vine plucked and planted in a desert, and her stalk is withered and no longer rules.

20 - God recounts Israel's rebellion from their time in Egypt to the present, worshiping idols, profaning Sabbaths, and doing indecent things.  He had mercy for the sake of His name.  They always want to be like other nations, but God won't let them.  If you want to worship idols, go ahead, but I won't let you do it on My mountain anymore.


Application
God sets forth His justice and mercy in these chapters.  He won't hold guilty those who don't sin.  He has mercifully saved and provided for sinful Israel many times.