Ezekiel 23:1–21

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.