Ezekiel 23

1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.

3They prostituted themselves in Egypt; in their youth they committed prostitution there. There their breasts were fondled, and there their virgin bosoms were handled.

4Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. They became mine and bore sons and daughters. As for their names: Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

5Oholah played the prostitute while under me, and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians who were nearby.

6clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding horses.

7She lavished her prostitutions on them, all the choicest sons of Assyria; and with all those for whom she lusted, with all their idols she defiled herself.

8Yet she did not abandon her prostitutions from Egypt, for in her youth they had lain with her, and they fondled her virgin breasts and poured out their prostitution upon her.

9Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the sons of Assyria, for whom she lusted.

10They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, and they killed her with the sword. So she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.

11When her sister Oholibah saw this, she became more corrupt in her lust than her sister, and in her prostitutions more than the prostitutions of her sister.

12She lusted after the sons of Assyria—governors and officials, clothed in full attire, horsemen riding horses, all of them desirable young men.

13And I saw that she had become unclean; both of them followed the same way.

14Then she added to her acts of prostitution, and she saw men portrayed on the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

15with belts fastened at their waists, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the appearance of officers, the likeness of the sons of Babylon, Chaldeans, the land of their birth.

16At the sight of her eyes, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.

17Then the sons of Babylon came to her, to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their prostitution; and she was defiled by them, and her soul was alienated from them.

18She uncovered her prostitutions and uncovered her nakedness; then my soul was repulsed by her, just as my soul had been repulsed by her sister.

19Yet she multiplied her prostitutions, remembering the days of her youth, when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt.

20She lusted after their paramours, whose flesh was like the flesh of donkeys, and whose emission was like the emission of horses.

21Thus you revisited the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt they fondled your breasts, the breasts of your youth.

22Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am stirring up your lovers against you, those from whom your soul has turned away, and I will bring them against you from every side.

23the sons of Babylon and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the sons of Assyria with them—desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.

24They will come against you with troops, chariots, and wagons, and with an assembly of peoples. They will set shield and buckler and helmet against you on every side, and I will set judgment before them, and they will judge you by their judgments.

25I will set my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your sons and your daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire.

26They will strip you of your garments and take your splendid ornaments.

27So I will put an end to your lewdness from you, and your prostitution from the land of Egypt; and you will not lift up your eyes to them, and you will remember Egypt no more.

28For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am giving you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your soul has turned away.

29They will deal with you in hatred, and they will take all your wealth, and leave you naked and bare; and the nakedness of your prostitutions will be uncovered, your lewdness and your acts of prostitution.

30These things are done to you because of your prostitution after the nations, because you defiled yourself with their idols.

31You have walked in the way of your sister, so I will put her cup into your hand.

32Thus says the Lord GOD: You will drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide; it will be for laughter and for mockery, for it holds much.

33You will be filled with drunkenness and grief, with a cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.

34You will drink it and drain it dry, and you will gnaw its shards, and tear off your breasts; for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.

35Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you also must bear your lewdness and your prostitutions.

36Then Yahweh said to me, “Son of man, will you judge 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, and they even made their sons, whom they bore to me, pass through the fire to them as food.

38Moreover, they did this to me: they defiled my sanctuary on that same day, and they profaned my Sabbaths.

39For when they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came into my sanctuary on that same day to defile it. Look—this is what they did within my house.

40And moreover, they sent for men coming from far away, to whom a messenger had been sent; and behold, they came—to the one who had washed herself, painted her eyes, and adorned herself with jewelry.

41You sat on a splendid couch, with a table set before it, and on it you placed my incense and my oil.

42And the sound of a carefree multitude was in her, and to the men from the mass of mankind were brought drunkards from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on their hands and a beautiful crown on their heads.

43Then I said of her, worn out by adulteries, ‘Now they will commit her prostitution with her, and she herself as well.’

44They went in to her as men go in to a prostitute; so they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, women of depravity.

45But righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.

46For thus says the Lord GOD: Bring up an assembly against them, and give them over to terror and plunder.

47And the assembly will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire.

48Thus I will put an end to lewdness in the land, and all women will be warned and will not act according to your lewdness.

49They will put your lewdness upon you, and you will bear the sins of your idols; then you will know that I am the Lord YHWH.