The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, there were two
women, the daughters of one mother. They played the whore in Egypt;
they played the whore in their youth; there their breasts were
pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. Oholah was the name of the
elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. They became mine, and
they bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is
Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
“Oholah played the whore while she was mine, and she lusted after
her lovers the Assyrians, warriors clothed in purple, governors and
commanders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on
horses. She bestowed her whoring upon them, the choicest men of
Assyria all of them, and she defiled herself with all the idols of
everyone after whom she lusted. She did not give up her whoring
that she had begun in Egypt; for in her youth men had lain with her
and handled her virgin bosom and poured out their whoring lust upon
her. Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into
the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. These uncovered
her nakedness; they seized her sons and her daughters; and as for
her, they killed her with the sword; and she became a byword among
women, when judgment had been executed on her.
“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became more corrupt than
her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than
that of her sister. She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and
commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on
horses, all of them desirable young men. And I saw that she was
defiled; they both took the same way. But she carried her whoring
further. She saw men portrayed on the wall, the images of the
Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, wearing belts on their waists,
with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them having the
appearance of officers, a likeness of Babylonians whose native land
was Chaldea. When she saw them, she lusted after them and sent
messengers to them in Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into
the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And
after she was defiled by them, she turned from them in disgust.
When she carried on her whoring so openly and flaunted her
nakedness, I turned in disgust from her, as I had turned in disgust
from her sister. Yet she increased her whoring, remembering the
days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt
and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of
donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. Thus you longed
for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your
bosom and pressed your young breasts.”
Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I will
stir up against you your lovers from whom you turned in disgust,
and I will bring them against you from every side: the Babylonians
and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the
Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and commanders
all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on
horses. And they shall come against you from the north with
chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. They shall set
themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and
helmet; and I will commit the judgment to them, and they shall
judge you according to their judgments. And I will direct my
jealousy against you, that they may deal with you in fury. They
shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall
fall by the sword. They shall seize your sons and your daughters,
and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. They shall also strip
you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. Thus I
will put an end to your lewdness and your whoring begun in the land
of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or
remember Egypt anymore.
“For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will deliver you into the
hands of those whom you hate, into the hands of those from whom you
turned in disgust, and they shall deal with you in hatred and take
away all the fruit of your labor and leave you naked and bare, and
the nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and
your whoring have brought this upon you, because you played the
whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. You
have gone the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup
into your hand. Thus says the Lord GOD:
“You shall drink your sister's cup
that is deep and large;
you shall be laughed at and held in derision,
for it contains much;
you will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow.
A cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of your sister Samaria;
you shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. Therefore thus says
the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your
back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and
whoring.”
The LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and
Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. For they have
committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. With their idols
they have committed adultery, and they have even offered up to them
for food the children whom they had borne to me. Moreover, this
they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary on the same
day and profaned my Sabbaths. For when they had slaughtered their
children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day they came
into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, this is what they did
in my house. They even sent for men to come from afar, to whom a
messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed
yourself, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with ornaments.
You sat on a stately couch, with a table spread before it on which
you had placed my incense and my oil. The sound of a carefree
multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards
were brought from the wilderness; and they put bracelets on the
hands of the women, and beautiful crowns on their heads.
“Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will
continue to use her for a whore, even her!’ For they have gone in
to her, as men go in to a prostitute. Thus they went in to Oholah
and to Oholibah, lewd women! But righteous men shall pass judgment
on them with the sentence of adulteresses, and with the sentence of
women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses, and blood is
on their hands.”
For thus says the Lord GOD: “Bring up a vast host against them,
and make them an object of terror and a plunder. And the host shall
stone them and cut them down with their swords. They shall kill
their sons and their daughters, and burn up their houses. Thus will
I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take
warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. And they shall
return your lewdness upon you, and you shall bear the penalty for
your sinful idolatry, and you shall know that I am the Lord GOD.”
