Ezekiel 23

Two Harlot Sisters

23The word of the Lord came again to me, saying:

²“Son of man, there were ^atwo women,

The daughters of one mother.

^3bThey committed harlotry in Egypt,

They committed harlotry in ^ctheir youth;

Their breasts were there embraced,

Their virgin bosom was there pressed.

⁴Their 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,

⁶Who were clothed in purple,

Captains and rulers,

All of them desirable young men,

Horsemen riding on horses.

⁷Thus 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.

⁸She 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.

¹⁰They 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.

¹³Then I saw that she was defiled;

Both took the same way.

¹⁴But she increased her harlotry;

She looked at men portrayed on the wall,

Images of ^mChaldeans portrayed in vermilion,

¹⁵Girded 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.

¹⁶ⁿAs 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.

¹⁸She 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.

²⁰For she lusted for her ⁴paramours,

Whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys,

And whose issue is like the issue of horses.

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

When the ^tEgyptians pressed your bosom

Because of your youthful breasts.

Judgment on Jerusalem

²²“Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord God:

^u‘Behold, I will stir up your lovers against you,

From whom you have alienated yourself,

And I will bring them against you from every side:

²³The Babylonians,

All the Chaldeans,

^vPekod, Shoa, Koa,

^wAll the Assyrians with them,

All of them desirable young men,

Governors and rulers,

Captains and men of renown,

All of them riding on horses.

²⁴And they shall come against you

With chariots, wagons, and war-horses,

With a horde of people.

They shall array against you

Buckler, shield, and helmet all around.

‘I will delegate judgment to them,

And they shall judge you according to their judgments.

²⁵I will set My ^xjealousy against you,

And they shall deal furiously with you;

They shall remove your nose and your ears,

And your remnant shall fall by the sword;

They shall take your sons and your daughters,

And your remnant shall be devoured by fire.

^26yThey shall also strip you of your clothes

And take away your beautiful jewelry.

²⁷‘Thus ^zI will make you cease your lewdness and your ^aharlotry

Brought from the land of Egypt,

So that you will not lift your eyes to them,

Nor remember Egypt anymore.’

²⁸“For thus says the Lord God: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hand of ^bthose you hate, into the hand of those ^cfrom whom you alienated yourself. ^29dThey will deal hatefully with you, take away all you have worked for, and ^eleave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your harlotry shall be uncovered, both your lewdness and your harlotry. ³⁰I will do these things to you because you have ^fgone as a harlot after the Gentiles, because you have become defiled by their idols. ³¹You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will put her ^gcup in your hand.’

³²“Thus says the Lord God:

‘You shall drink of your sister’s cup,

The deep and wide one;

^hYou shall be laughed to scorn

And held in derision;

It contains much.

³³You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow,

The cup of horror and desolation,

The cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You shall ⁱdrink and drain it,

You shall break its ⁵shards,

And tear at your own breasts;

For I have spoken,’

Says the Lord God.

³⁵“Therefore thus says the Lord God:

‘Because you ^jhave forgotten Me and ^kcast Me behind your back,

Therefore you shall bear the penalty

Of your lewdness and your harlotry.’ ”

Both Sisters Judged

³⁶The Lord also said to me: “Son of man, will you ^ljudge Oholah and Oholibah? Then ^mdeclare to them their abominations. ³⁷For they have committed adultery, and ⁿblood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and even sacrificed their sons ^owhom they bore to Me, passing them through the fire, to devour them. ³⁸Moreover they have done this to Me: They have ^pdefiled My sanctuary on the same day and ^qprofaned My Sabbaths. ³⁹For after they had slain their children for their idols, on the same day they came into My sanctuary to profane it; and indeed ^rthus they have done in the midst of My house.

⁴⁰“Furthermore you sent for men to come from afar, ^sto whom a messenger was sent; and there they came. And you ^twashed yourself for them, ^upainted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments. ⁴¹You sat on a stately ^vcouch, with a table prepared before it, ^won which you had set My incense and My oil. ⁴²The sound of a carefree multitude was with her, and ⁶Sabeans were brought from the wilderness with men of the common sort, who put bracelets on their ⁷wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads. ⁴³Then I said concerning her who had grown old in adulteries, ‘Will they commit harlotry with her now, and she with them?’ ⁴⁴Yet they went in to her, as men go in to a woman who plays the harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women. ⁴⁵But righteous men will ^xjudge them after the manner of adulteresses, and after the manner of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and ^yblood is on their hands.

⁴⁶“For thus says the Lord God: ^z‘Bring up an assembly against them, give them up to trouble and plunder. ^47aThe assembly shall stone them with stones and ⁸execute them with their swords; ^bthey shall slay their sons and their daughters, and burn their houses with fire. ⁴⁸Thus ^cI will cause lewdness to cease from the land, ^dthat all women may be taught not to practice your lewdness. ⁴⁹They shall repay you for your lewdness, and you shall ^epay for your idolatrous sins. ^fThen you shall know that I am the Lord God.’ ”