Ezekiel 23:1–24:27
Oholah and Oholibah’s Sin and Its Consequences
1 The word of the Lord came to me again, saying,
2 “Son of man, there were atwo women, the daughters of one mother;
3 and they played the harlot in Egypt. They aplayed the harlot in their youth; there their breasts were pressed and there their virgin bosom was handled.
4 “Their names were Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister. And they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
5 “Oholah played the harlot 1while she was Mine; and she lusted after her lovers, after the aAssyrians, her neighbors,
6 who were clothed in purple, agovernors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses.
7 “She bestowed her harlotries on them, all of whom were the choicest 1men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols she adefiled herself.
8 “She did not forsake her harlotries afrom the time in Egypt; for in her youth 1men had lain with her, and they handled her virgin bosom and poured out their 2lust on her.
9 “Therefore, I gave her into the hand of her alovers, into the hand of the 1Assyrians, after whom she lusted.
10 “They auncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and her daughters, but they slew her with the sword. Thus she became a 1byword among women, and they executed judgments on her.
11 “Now her sister Oholibah saw this, yet she was amore corrupt in her lust than she, and her harlotries were more than the harlotries of her sister.
12 “She lusted after the 1aAssyrians, governors and officials, the ones near, magnificently dressed, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men.
13 “I saw that she had defiled herself; they both took 1the same way.
14 “So she increased her harlotries. And she saw men aportrayed on the wall, images of the bChaldeans portrayed with vermilion,
15 girded with belts on their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, 1like the 2Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth.
16 “1When she saw them she alusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
17 “The 1aBabylonians came to her to the bed of love and defiled her with their harlotry. And when she had been defiled by them, 2she became disgusted with them.
18 “She auncovered her harlotries and uncovered her nakedness; then 1I became bdisgusted with her, as 1I had become disgusted with her csister.
19 “Yet she multiplied her harlotries, remembering the days of her youth, when she played the harlot in the land of Egypt.
20 “She alusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
21 “Thus you longed for the alewdness of your youth, when 1the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.
22 “Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord 1God, ‘Behold I will arouse your lovers against you, from whom 2you were alienated, and I will bring them against you from every side:
23 the 1aBabylonians and all the bChaldeans, cPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the 2dAssyrians with them; desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and 3men of renown, all of them riding on horses.
24 ‘They will come against you with weapons, achariots and 1wagons, and with a company of peoples. They will set themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet; and I will commit the bjudgment to them, and they will judge you according to their customs.
25 ‘I will set My ajealousy against you, that they may deal with you in wrath. They will remove your nose and your ears; and your 1survivors will fall by the sword. They will take your bsons and your daughters; and your 1survivors will be consumed by the fire.
26 ‘They will also astrip you of your clothes and take away your bbeautiful jewels.
27 ‘Thus aI will make your lewdness and your harlotry brought from the land of Egypt to cease from you, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’
28 “For thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will give you into the hand of those whom you ahate, into the hand of those from whom 1you were alienated.
29 ‘They will adeal with you in hatred, take all your property, and leave you naked and bare. And the nakedness of your harlotries will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotries.
30 ‘These things will be done to you because you have aplayed the harlot with the nations, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.
31 ‘You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give aher cup into your hand.’
‘You will adrink your sister’s cup,
Which is deep and wide.
1You will be blaughed at and held in derision;
It contains much.
33 ‘You will be filled with adrunkenness and sorrow,
The cup of horror and desolation,
The cup of your sister Samaria.
34 ‘You will adrink it and drain it.
Then you will gnaw its fragments
And tear your breasts;
for I have spoken,’ declares the Lord God.
35 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have aforgotten Me and bcast Me behind your back, bear now the punishment of your lewdness and your harlotries.’ ”
36 Moreover, the Lord said to me, “Son of man, will you ajudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then bdeclare to them their abominations.
37 “For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. Thus they have committed adultery with their idols and even caused their sons, awhom they bore to Me, to pass through the fire to 1them as food.
38 “Again, they have done this to Me: they have adefiled My sanctuary on the same day and have bprofaned My sabbaths.
39 “For when they had slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My asanctuary on the same day to profane it; and lo, thus they did within My house.
40 “Furthermore, 1they have even sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and lo, they came—for whom you bathed, apainted your eyes and bdecorated yourselves with ornaments;
41 and you sat on a splendid acouch with a btable arranged before it on which you had set My cincense and My coil.
42 “The sound of a 1acarefree multitude was with her; and bdrunkards were brought from the wilderness with men of the 2common sort. And they put cbracelets on 3the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
43 “Then I said concerning her who was aworn out by adulteries, ‘1Will they now commit adultery with her when she is thus?’
44 “1But they went in to her as they would go in to a harlot. Thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.
45 “But they, righteous men, will ajudge 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.
46 “For thus says the Lord God, ‘Bring up a company against them and give them over to aterror and plunder.
47 ‘The company will astone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will slay their sons and their daughters and bburn their houses with fire.
48 ‘Thus I will make lewdness cease from the land, that all women may be admonished and not commit 1lewdness as you have done.
49 ‘Your lewdness 1will be arequited upon you, and you will bear the penalty of worshiping your idols; thus you will know that I am the Lord God.’ ”
1 And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying,
2 “Son of man, write the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon 1has alaid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
3 “Speak a aparable to the brebellious house and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord 1God,
“Put on the cpot, put it on and also pour water in it;
Every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder;
Fill it with choice bones.
5 “Take the achoicest of the flock,
And also pile 1wood under 2the pot.
Make it boil vigorously.
Also seethe its bones in it.”
6 ‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
“Woe to the abloody city,
To the pot in which there is rust
And whose rust has not gone out of it!
Take out of it piece after piece,
1Without making a choice.
7 “For her blood is in her midst;
She placed it on the bare rock;
She did not apour it on the ground
To cover it with dust.
8 “That it may acause wrath to come up to take vengeance,
I have put her blood on the bare rock,
That it may not be covered.”
9 ‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God,
“aWoe to the bloody city!
I also will make the pile great.
10 “Heap on the wood, kindle the fire,
1Boil the flesh well
And mix in the spices,
And let the bones be burned.
11 “Then aset it empty on its coals
So that it may be hot
And its bronze may 1glow
And its bfilthiness may be melted in it,
Its rust consumed.
12 “She has awearied Me with toil,
Yet her great rust has not gone from her;
Let her rust be in the fire!
13 “In your filthiness is lewdness.
Because I would have cleansed you,
Yet you are anot clean,
You will not be cleansed from your filthiness again
Until I have 1bspent My wrath on you.
14 “I, the Lord, have spoken; it is acoming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not bpity and I will not be sorry; caccording to your ways and according to your deeds 1I will judge you,” declares the Lord God.’ ”
Death of Ezekiel’s Wife Is a Sign
15 And the word of the Lord came to me saying,
16 “Son of man, behold, I am about to take from you the adesire of your eyes with a bblow; but you shall not cmourn and you shall not weep, and your dtears shall not come.
17 “Groan silently; make ano mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache and bdo not eat the bread of men.”
18 So I spoke to the people in the morning, and in the evening my wife died. And in the morning I did as I was commanded.
19 The people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things that you are doing mean for us?”
20 Then I said to them, “The word of the Lord came to me saying,
21 ‘Speak to the house of Israel, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I am about to profane My sanctuary…