Oholah and Oholibah
The word of the Lord came to me: 2 a“Son of man, there were btwo women, the daughters of one mother. 3 aThey played the whore in Egypt; athey played the whore bin their youth; there their breasts were pressed and their virgin bosoms handled. 4 Oholah was the name of the elder and Oholibah the name of her sister. aThey became mine, and they bbore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is cSamaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
5 “Oholah played the whore awhile she was mine, and bshe lusted after her lovers cthe Assyrians, warriors 6 clothed in purple, agovernors and commanders, ball of them desirable young men, chorsemen riding on horses. 7 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. 8 She did not give up her whoring athat 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. 9 Therefore aI delivered her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians, after whom she lusted. 10 aThese uncovered her nakedness; bthey seized her sons and her daughters; and as for her, they killed her with the sword; and she became ca byword among women, dwhen judgment had been executed on her.
11 a“Her sister Oholibah saw this, and she became bmore corrupt than her sister in her lust and in her whoring, which was worse than that of her sister. 12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and commanders, warriors clothed in full armor, horsemen riding on horses, aall of them desirable young men. 13 And I saw that she was defiled; they both took the same way. 14 But she carried her whoring further. She saw men aportrayed on the wall, the bimages of cthe Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion, 15 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. 16 When she saw them, she lusted after them and asent messengers to them bin Chaldea. 17 And the Babylonians came to her ainto the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoring lust. And after she was defiled by them, bshe turned from them in disgust. 18 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. 19 Yet she increased her whoring, aremembering the days of her youth, when she played the whore in the land of Egypt 20 and lusted after her lovers there, whose members were like those of donkeys, and whose issue was like that of horses. 21 Thus you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom and pressed your young breasts.”
22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I will stir up against you your lovers afrom whom you turned in disgust, band I will bring them against you from every side: 23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, aPekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, bdesirable young men, bgovernors and commanders all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses. 24 And they shall come against you from the north with chariots and wagons and a host of peoples. aThey shall set themselves against you on every side with buckler, shield, and helmet; and bI will commit the judgment to them, and cthey shall judge you according to their judgments. 25 And I will direct my jealousy against you, athat they may deal with you in fury. They shall cut off your nose and your ears, and your survivors shall fall by the sword. bThey shall seize your sons and your daughters, and your survivors shall be devoured by fire. 26 aThey shall also strip you of your clothes and take away your beautiful jewels. 27 aThus I will put an end to your lewdness and byour whoring begun in the land of Egypt, so that you shall not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.
28 “For thus says the Lord God: aBehold, I will deliver you into the hands of those whom you hate, binto the hands of those from whom you turned in disgust, 29 and athey shall deal with you in hatred and take away all the fruit of your labor band leave you naked and bare, and cthe nakedness of your whoring shall be uncovered. Your lewdness and your whoring 30 have brought this upon you, because ayou played the whore with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. 31 You have gone the way of your sister; atherefore I will give bher cup into your hand. 32 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;
33 you will be filled with adrunkenness and sorrow.
aA cup of horror and desolation,
the cup of byour sister Samaria;
34 ayou shall drink it and drain it out,
and gnaw its shards,
and tear your breasts;
for I have spoken, declares the Lord God. 35 Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because ayou have forgotten me and bcast me behind your back, you yourself cmust bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.”
36 The Lord said to me: a“Son of man, bwill you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare to them their abominations. 37 For athey have committed adultery, band blood is on their hands. With their idols they have committed adultery, and they have even coffered up to them for food the children whom they had borne to me. 38 Moreover, this they have done to me: athey have defiled my sanctuary on the same day and bprofaned my Sabbaths. 39 For when athey had slaughtered their children in sacrifice to their idols, on the same day bthey came into my sanctuary to profane it. And behold, cthis is what they did in my house. 40 They even sent for men to come from afar, ato whom a messenger was sent; and behold, they came. For them you bathed yourself, bpainted your eyes, cand adorned yourself with ornaments. 41 You sat on aa stately couch, with a table spread before it bon which you had placed my incense and cmy oil. 42 The asound of a carefree multitude was with her; and with men of the common sort, drunkards were brought from the wilderness; and they put bbracelets on the hands of the women, and cbeautiful crowns on their heads.
43 “Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Now they will continue to use her for a whore, even her!’ 44 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! 45 But righteous men ashall 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.”
46 For thus says the Lord God: a“Bring up a vast host against them, and make them ban object of terror and ca plunder. 47 aAnd the host shall stone them and cut them down with their swords. bThey shall kill their sons and their daughters, and cburn up their houses. 48 aThus will I put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not commit lewdness as you have done. 49 And they shall return your lewdness upon you, and ayou shall bear the penalty for your sinful idolatry, and byou shall know that I am the Lord God.”