2 “Son of man, there were atwo women,

The daughters of one mother.

3 bThey committed harlotry in Egypt,

They committed harlotry in ctheir youth;

Their breasts were there embraced,

Their virgin bosom was there pressed.

4 Their names: 1Oholah the elder and 2Oholibah dher sister;

eThey were Mine,

And they bore sons and daughters.

As for their names,

Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

The Older Sister, Samaria

5 “Oholah played the harlot even though she was Mine;

And she lusted for her lovers, the neighboring fAssyrians,

6 Who were clothed in purple,

Captains and rulers,

All of them desirable young men,

Horsemen riding on horses.

7 Thus she committed her harlotry with them,

All of them choice men of Assyria;

And with all for whom she lusted,

With all their idols, she defiled herself.

8 She has never given up her harlotry brought gfrom Egypt,

For in her youth they had lain with her,

Pressed her virgin bosom,

And poured out their immorality upon her.

9 “Therefore I have delivered her

Into the hand of her lovers,

Into the hand of the hAssyrians,

For whom she lusted.

10 They uncovered her nakedness,

Took away her sons and daughters,

And slew her with the sword;

She became a byword among women,

For they had executed judgment on her.

The Younger Sister, Jerusalem

11 “Now ialthough her sister Oholibah saw this, jshe became more corrupt in her lust than she, and in her harlotry more corrupt than her sister’s harlotry.

12 “She lusted for the neighboring kAssyrians,

lCaptains and rulers,

Clothed most gorgeously,

Horsemen riding on horses,

All of them desirable young men.

13 Then I saw that she was defiled;

Both took the same way.

14 But she increased her harlotry;

She looked at men portrayed on the wall,

Images of mChaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

15 Girded with belts around their waists,

Flowing turbans on their heads,

All of them looking like captains,

In the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea,

The land of their nativity.

16 nAs soon as her eyes saw them,

She lusted for them

And sent omessengers to them in Chaldea.

17 “Then the 3Babylonians came to her, into the bed of love,

And they defiled her with their immorality;

So she was defiled by them, pand alienated herself from them.

18 She revealed her harlotry and uncovered her nakedness.

Then qI ralienated Myself from her,

As I had alienated Myself from her sister.

19 “Yet she multiplied her harlotry

In calling to remembrance the days of her youth,

sWhen she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt.

20 For she lusted for her 4paramours,

Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys,

And whose issue is like the issue of horses.

21 Thus you called to remembrance the lewdness of your youth,

When the tEgyptians pressed your bosom

Because of your youthful breasts.