Ezekiel 23

¹The word of the Lord came to me:

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

³They played the whore in Egypt ; they played the whore in their youth ; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled .

⁴Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister . They became mine, and they bore sons and daughters . As for their names , Oholah is Samaria , and Oholibah is Jerusalem .

⁵Oholah played the whore while she was mine , and she lusted after her lovers the Assyrians , warriors

⁶clothed in purple , governors and commanders , all of them desirable young men , horsemen riding on horses .

⁷She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of everyone after whom she lusted .

⁸She did not give up her whoring that she had begun in Egypt ; for in her youth men had lain with her and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon her.

⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers , into the hands of the Assyrians , after whom she lusted .

¹⁰These uncovered her nakedness ; they seized her sons and her daughters ; and as for her, they killed her with the sword ; and she became a byword among women , when judgment had been executed on her.

¹¹Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring , which was worse than that of her sister .

¹²She lusted after the Assyrians , governors and commanders , warriors clothed in full armor , horsemen riding on horses , all of them desirable young men .

¹³And I saw that she was defiled ; they both took the same way .

¹⁴But she carried her whoring further . She saw men portrayed on the wall , the images of the Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion ,

¹⁵wearing belts on their waists , with flowing turbans on their heads , all of them having the appearance of officers , a likeness of Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea .

¹⁶When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea .

¹⁷And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love , and they defiled her with their whoring lust . And after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust .

¹⁸When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her nakedness , I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust from her sister .

¹⁹Yet she increased her whoring , remembering the days of her youth , when she played the whore in the land of Egypt

²⁰and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys , and whose issue was like that of horses .

²¹Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth , when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts .

²²Therefore , O Oholibah , thus says the Lord God: Behold , I will stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust , and I will bring them against you from every side :

²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans , Pekod and Shoa and Koa , and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men , governors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown , all of them riding on horses .

²⁴And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples . They shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler , shield , and helmet ; and I will commit the judgment to them , and they shall judge you according to their judgments .

²⁵And I will direct my jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury . They shall cut off your nose and your ears , and your survivors shall fall by the sword . They shall seize your sons and your daughters , and your survivors shall be devoured by fire .

²⁶They shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels .

²⁷Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land of Egypt , so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore .

²⁸For thus says the Lord God: Behold , I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate , into the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust ,

²⁹and they shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare , and the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered . Your lewdness and your whoring

³⁰have brought this upon you, because you played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols .

³¹You have gone the way of your sister ; therefore I will give her cup into your hand .

³²Thus says the Lord God: You shall drink your sister’s cup that is deep and large ; you shall be laughed at and held in derision , for it contains much ;

³³you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow . A cup of horror and desolation , the cup of your sister Samaria ;

³⁴you shall drink it and drain it out , and gnaw its shards , and tear 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 yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring .

³⁶The Lord said to me: Son of man , will you judge Oholah and Oholibah ? Declare to them their abominations .

³⁷For they have committed adultery , and blood is on their hands . With their idols they have committed adultery , and they have even offered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me.

³⁸Moreover , this they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and profaned my Sabbaths .

³⁹For when they had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols , on the same day they came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold , this is what they did in my house .

⁴⁰They even sent for men to come from afar , to whom a messenger was sent ; and behold , they came . For them you bathed yourself , painted your eyes , and adorned yourself with ornaments .

⁴¹You sat on a stately couch , with a table spread before it on which you had placed my incense and my oil .

⁴²The sound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort , drunkards were brought from the wilderness ; and they put bracelets on the hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads .

⁴³Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery , Now they will continue to use her for a whore , even her!

⁴⁴For they have gone in to her, as men go in to a prostitute . Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah , lewd women !

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

⁴⁶For thus says the Lord God: Bring up a vast host against them, and make them an object of terror and a plunder .

⁴⁷And the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords . They shall kill their sons and their daughters , and burn up their houses .

⁴⁸Thus will I put an end to lewdness in the land , that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done .

⁴⁹And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry , and you shall know that I am the Lord God.