Ezekiel 23:1–21

THE TWO IMMORAL SISTERS

23The word of the Lord came to me again: ²“Son of man, there were two women,^ah daughters of the same mother, ³who acted like prostitutes in Egypt,^a behaving promiscuously in their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin nipples caressed. ⁴The older one was named Oholah,^B and her sister was Oholibah.^C They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah represents Samaria and Oholibah represents Jerusalem.

⁵“Oholah acted like a prostitute even though she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians:^b warriors ⁶dressed in blue, governors and prefects, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on steeds. ⁷She offered her sexual favors to them; all of them were the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all those she lusted after and with all their idols. ⁸She didn’t give up her promiscuity that began in Egypt,^c when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin nipples, and poured out their lust on her. ⁹Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers,^d the Assyrians she lusted for. ¹⁰They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. Since they executed judgment against her, she became notorious among women.

¹¹“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was even more depraved in her lust than Oholah, and made her promiscuous acts worse than those of her sister.^{e 12}She lusted after the Assyrians:^f governors and prefects, warriors splendidly dressed, horsemen riding on steeds, all of them desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path. ¹⁴But she increased her promiscuity when she saw male figures carved on the wall,^g images of the Chaldeans, engraved in bright red,^{h 15}wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers, a depiction of the Babylonians in Chaldea, their native land. ¹⁶At the sight of them^A she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.^{i 17}Then the Babylonians came to her,^j to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. But after she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust. ¹⁸When she flaunted her promiscuity and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust just as I turned away from her sister.^{k 19}Yet she multiplied her acts of promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth when she acted like a prostitute in the land of Egypt ²⁰and lusted after their lovers, whose sexual members^B were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. ²¹So you revisited the depravity of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your nipples to enjoy your youthful breasts.^l