Ezekiel 23

23The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying, ²Son of man, there were ^atwo women, the daughters of one mother: ³And ^bthey committed whoredoms ^cin Egypt; ^bthey committed whoredoms ^din their youth: there were their breasts pressed, and there ^ethey bruised ^fthe teats of their virginity. ⁴And the names of them were Aholah the elder, and Aholibah ^aher sister: and ^gthey were mine, and ^hthey bare sons and daughters. Thus were their names; ⁱSamaria is ^||Aholah, and Jerusalem ^||Aholibah.

⁵And Aholah played the harlot ^kwhen she was mine; and ^lshe doted on her lovers, on ^mthe Assyrians her neighbours, ⁶Which were clothed with blue, ^nocaptains and rulers, ⁿall of them desirable young men, ⁿhorsemen ^priding upon horses. ⁷Thus she ^†committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were ^†the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom ^lshe doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. ⁸Neither left she her whoredoms brought ^cfrom Egypt: for ^din her youth they lay with her, and ^ethey bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her. ⁹Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of ^rthe Assyrians, ^lupon whom she doted. ¹⁰These ^sdiscovered her nakedness: ^ssthey took her sons and her daughters, and slew her with the sword: and she became ^†famous among women; for they had ^texecuted judgment upon her.

¹¹And ^uwhen ^aher sister Aholibah saw this, ^v†she was more corrupt in ^lher inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms ^†more than her sister in her whoredoms. ^12lShe doted upon ^wthe Assyrians her neighbours, ⁿcaptains and rulers ^xclothed most gorgeously, ⁿhorsemen riding upon horses, ⁿall of them desirable young men. ¹³Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, ¹⁴And that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men ^ypourtrayed upon the wall, ^zthe images of ^athe Chaldeans pourtrayed ^bwith vermilion, ¹⁵Girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians ^aof Chaldea, the land of their nativity: ¹⁶And ^†as soon as she saw them with her eyes, ^hshe doted upon them, and ^csent messengers unto them into ^aChaldea. ¹⁷And the ^†Babylonians came to her into ^ccthe bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and ^dher mind was ^†alienated from them. ¹⁸So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then ^dmy mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister. ¹⁹Yet ^eshe multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance ^fthe days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot ^gin the land of Egypt. ²⁰For ^hshe doted upon their paramours, ^giwhose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and ⁱwhose issue is like the issue of horses. ²¹Thus thou ^lcalledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, ^fin bruising thy teats ^gby the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth.

²²Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, ^dfrom whom thy mind is alienated, and ^kI will bring them against thee on every side; ²³The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, ^lPekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them: ^mall of them desirable young men, captains and rulers, great lords and ⁿrenowned, all of them riding upon horses. ²⁴And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and ^owheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee ^pbuckler and ^pshield and ^qhelmet round about: and I will set judgment before them, and ^rthey shall judge thee according to their judgments. ²⁵And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and thy remnant shall fall by the sword: ^sthey shall take thy sons and thy daughters; and ^ssthy residue shall be devoured by the fire. ^26tThey shall also strip thee out of thy clothes, ^tand take away thy ^†fair jewels. ²⁷Thus ^uwill I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and ^vthy whoredom brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. ²⁸For thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them ^wwhom thou hatest, into the hand of them ^dfrom whom thy mind is alienated: ²⁹And they shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy ^xlabour, and shall leave thee ^ynaked and bare: and ^zthe nakedness of thy whoredoms shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms. ³⁰I will do these things unto thee, because ^athou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and because thou art polluted with their idols. ³¹Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give ^bher cup into thine hand. ³²Thus saith the Lord God; Thou shalt drink of thy sister’s cup deep and large: ^cthou shalt be laughed to scorn and had in derision; it containeth much. ³³Thou shalt be filled ^dwith drunkenness and sorrow, ^ewith the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of ^fthy sister Samaria. ^34bThou shalt even drink it and ^egsuck it out, and thou shalt ^hbreak ⁱthe sherds thereof, and pluck off thine own breasts: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord God. ³⁵Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because ^kthou hast forgotten me, and ^lcast me behind thy back, therefore ^mbear thou also thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

³⁶The Lord said moreover unto me; Son of man, ⁿwilt thou ^||judge Aholah and Aholibah? yea, ^odeclare unto them their abominations; ³⁷That they have committed adultery, and ^pblood is in their hands, and with their idols have they committed adultery, and have also caused their sons, ^qrwhom they bare unto me, ^rto pass for them through the fire, to devour them. ³⁸Moreover this they have done unto me: ^sthey have defiled my sanctuary in the same day, and ^thave profaned my sabbaths. ³⁹For when ^rthey had slain their children to their idols, then they came the same day ^ttinto my sanctuary to profane it; and, lo, ^uthus have they done in the midst of mine house. ⁴⁰And furthermore, that ye have sent for men ^†to come from far, ^vunto whom a messenger was sent; and, lo, they came: for whom thou didst ^wwash thyself, ^xpaintedst thy eyes, and ^ydeckedst thyself with ornaments, ⁴¹And satest upon a ^†stately ^zbed, and a table ^aprepared before it, whereupon ^bthou hast set mine ^cincense and mine ^doil. ⁴²And a voice of ^ea multitude being at ease was with her: and with the men ^†of the common sort were brought ^||fSabeans from the wilderness, which put ^gbracelets upon their hands, and ^hbeautiful crowns upon their heads. ⁴³Then said I unto her that was old in adulteries, Will they now commit ^†whoredoms with her, and she with them? ⁴⁴Yet they went in unto her, as they go in unto a woman that playeth the harlot: so went they in unto Aholah and unto Aholibah, the lewd women.

⁴⁵And the righteous men, ⁱthey shall judge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women that shed blood; because they are adulteresses, and ^kblood is in their hands. ⁴⁶For thus saith the Lord God; ^lI will bring up a company upon them, and will give them ^†to be removed and spoiled. ⁴⁷And ^lthe company shall stone them with stones, and ^||dispatch them with their swords; ^othey shall slay their sons and their daughters, and ^pqburn up their houses with fire. ⁴⁸Thus ^qrwill I cause lewdness to cease out of the land, ^sthat all women may be taught not to do after your lewdness. ⁴⁹And they shall recompense your lewdness upon you, and ^tye shall bear the sins of your idols: ^uand ye shall know that I am the Lord God.