23:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
23:2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother.
23:3 They became prostitutes in Egypt, engaging in prostitution from their youth. In that land their breasts were fondled and their virgin bosoms caressed.
23:4 The older was named Oholah, and her sister was Oholibah. They were mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
23:5 “Oholah engaged in prostitution while she was still mine; and she lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians–warriors
23:6 clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all of them handsome young men, and mounted horsemen.
23:7 She gave herself as a prostitute to all the elite of the Assyrians and defiled herself with all the idols of everyone she lusted after.
23:8 She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when during her youth men slept with her, caressed her virgin bosom and poured out their lust upon her.
23:9 “Therefore I handed her over to her lovers, the Assyrians, for whom she lusted.
23:10 They stripped her naked, took away her sons and daughters and killed her with the sword. She became a byword among women, and punishment was inflicted on her.
23:11 “Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister.
23:12 She too lusted after the Assyrians–governors and commanders, warriors in full dress, mounted horsemen, all handsome young men.
23:13 I saw that she too defiled herself; both of them went the same way.
23:14 “But she carried her prostitution still further. She saw men portrayed on a wall, figures of Chaldeans portrayed in red,
23:15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like Babylonian chariot officers, natives of Chaldea.
23:16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
23:17 Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. After she had been defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.
23:18 When she carried on her prostitution openly and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister.
23:19 Yet she became more and more promiscuous as she recalled the days of her youth, when she was a prostitute in Egypt.
23:20 There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
23:21 So you longed for the lewdness of your youth, when in Egypt your bosom was caressed and your young breasts fondled.
23:22 “Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I will stir up your lovers against you, those you turned away from in disgust, and I will bring them against you from every side–
23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, handsome young men, all of them governors and commanders, chariot officers and men of high rank, all mounted on horses.
23:24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots and wagons and with a throng of people; they will take up positions against you on every side with large and small shields and with helmets. I will turn you over to them for punishment, and they will punish you according to their standards.
23:25 I will direct my jealous anger against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and your ears, and those of you who are left will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and those of you who are left will be consumed by fire.
23:26 They will also strip you of your clothes and take your fine jewelry.
23:27 So I will put a stop to the lewdness and prostitution you began in Egypt. You will not look on these things with longing or remember Egypt anymore.
23:28 “For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am about to hand you over to those you hate, to those you turned away from in disgust.
23:29 They will deal with you in hatred and take away everything you have worked for. They will leave you naked and bare, and the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your lewdness and promiscuity
23:30 have brought this upon you, because you lusted after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.
23:31 You have gone the way of your sister; so I will put her cup into your hand.
23:32 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup large and deep; it will bring scorn and derision, for it holds so much.
23:33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, the cup of ruin and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
23:34 You will drink it and drain it dry; you will dash it to pieces and tear your breasts. I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD.
23:35 “Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Since you have forgotten me and thrust me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your lewdness and prostitution.”
23:36 The LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then confront them with their detestable practices,
23:37 for they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; they even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to me, as food for them.
23:38 They have also done this to me: At that same time they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my Sabbaths.
23:39 On the very day they sacrificed their children to their idols, they entered my sanctuary and desecrated it. That is what they did in my house.
23:40 “They even sent messengers for men who came from far away, and when they arrived you bathed yourself for them, painted your eyes and put on your jewelry.
23:41 You sat on an elegant couch, with a table spread before it on which you had placed the incense and oil that belonged to me.
23:42 “The noise of a carefree crowd was around her; Sabeans were brought from the desert along with men from the rabble, and they put bracelets on the arms of the woman and her sister and beautiful crowns on their heads.
23:43 Then I said about the one worn out by adultery, ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is.’
23:44 And they slept with her. As men sleep with a prostitute, so they slept with those lewd women, Oholah and Oholibah.
23:45 But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of women who commit adultery and shed blood, because they are adulterous and blood is on their hands.
23:46 “This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Bring a mob against them and give them over to terror and plunder.
23:47 The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords; they will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses.
23:48 “So I will put an end to lewdness in the land, that all women may take warning and not imitate you.
23:49 You will suffer the penalty for your lewdness and bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Sovereign LORD.”
23:1 And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying,
23:2 Son of man, there were two women, the daughters of one woman;
23:3 And they committed fornication in Egypt; in their youth they committed fornication; there their breasts were pressed, and there their virgin bosoms were handled.
23:4 And their names were Oholah, the older one, and Oholibah, her sister; and they became Mine, and they bore sons and daughters. And as for their names, Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.
23:5 And Oholah committed fornication instead of remaining with Me, and she lusted after her lovers, after the Assyrians, who were close to her,
23:6 Who were clothed in purple, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding horses.
23:7 And she bestowed her fornication upon them, all of them the choice men of Assyria; and with all whom she lusted after, with all their idols, she defiled herself.
23:8 And she did not abandon her fornication from her time in Egypt; for in her youth they had lain with her, and they had handled her virgin bosom, and they had poured out their fornication upon her.
23:9 Therefore I gave her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians whom she lusted after.
23:10 They uncovered her nakedness; they took her sons and daughters, and they slew her with the sword. And she became a byword among women, and they executed judgments upon her.
23:11 And her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was more corrupt in her lust than she and more corrupt in her fornication than the fornication of her sister.
23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officials, who were close to her, clothed splendidly, horsemen riding horses, all of them desirable young men.
23:13 Then I saw that she was defiled. Both had taken the same way.
23:14 And she increased her fornication: When she saw men portrayed upon the wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,
23:15 Girded with belts upon their loins, with flowing turbans on their heads, all of them looking like officers, like the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their birth;
23:16 She lusted after them, her eyes seeing them; and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
23:17 And the Babylonians came to her at the bed of love and defiled her with their fornication. And when she had been defiled by them, her desire for them departed.
23:18 Thus she uncovered her fornication and she uncovered her nakedness, and My desire for her departed, as My desire for her sister had departed.
23:19 Yet she multiplied her fornication by recalling the days of her youth, when she committed fornication in the land of Egypt.
23:20 And she lusted after their paramours, whose flesh is like the flesh of donkeys and whose issue is like the issue of horses.
23:21 Thus you sought after the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your bosom because of the breasts of your youth.
23:22 Therefore, O Oholibah, thus says the Lord Jehovah, I am now rousing your lovers against you, from whom your desire departed, and am bringing them against you from all around:
23:23 The Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod and Shoa and Koa, all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, governors and officials all of them, officers and men of renown, all of them riding on horses.
23:24 And they will come against you with weapons, chariots and wheels, and with a company of peoples; they will set shield and buckler and helmet against you all around. And I will set judgment before them, and they will judge according to their judgments.
23:25 And I will set My jealousy against you that they may deal with you in wrath; they will remove your nose and your ears, and your residue will fall by the sword; they will take your sons and your daughters, and they will consume your residue with fire.
23:26 They will also strip you of your garments and take your beautiful articles.
23:27 Thus I will put an end to your lewdness and to your fornication brought from the land of Egypt, so that you will not lift up your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.
23:28 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, I am now giving you into the hand of those whom you hate, into the hand of those from whom your desire has departed.
23:29 And they will deal with you in hatred and will take all that you have gained; and they will abandon you, naked and bare, and the nakedness of your fornication will be uncovered, both your lewdness and your fornication.
23:30 These things will be done to you because you have gone after the nations as a harlot, because you have defiled yourself with their idols.
23:31 You have walked in the way of your sister; therefore I will give her cup into your hand.
23:32 Thus says the Lord Jehovah, You will drink your sister’s cup, / Deep and wide; / You will be a laughingstock and a mockery; / It contains much.
23:33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, / The cup of horror and desolation, / The cup of your sister Samaria.
23:34 And you will drink it and drain it / And gnaw at its shards; / And you will tear out your breasts; / For I have spoken, declares the Lord Jehovah.
23:35 Therefore thus says the Lord Jehovah, Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, bear now as well your lewdness and your fornication.
23:36 And Jehovah said to me, Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare their abominations to them.
23:37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands; indeed they have committed adultery with their idols and have also caused their children, whom they bore unto Me, to pass through fire to their idols, to be devoured.
23:38 Moreover they have done this to Me: They have defiled My sanctuary on the same day and have profaned My Sabbaths.
23:39 For when they slaughtered their children to their idols, they entered My sanctuary on the same day to profane it; and they have even done this in the midst of My house.
23:40 Furthermore, they sent for men who come from afar, to whom a messenger was sent; and indeed they came; for them you bathed, painted your eyes, and decked yourself with ornaments;
23:41 And you sat upon a splendid bed with a table prepared before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil.
23:42 And the sound of a multitude without care was with her; and drunkards were brought from the wilderness with people of the common sort, who put bracelets upon the hands of the women and beautiful crowns on their heads.
23:43 Then I said concerning her who was worn out by adulteries, Will they now commit fornication with her when she is thus?
23:44 But they went in to her as they would to a woman who is a harlot; thus they went in to Oholah and to Oholibah, the lewd women.
23:45 And righteous men, they will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and with the judgment of women who shed blood, because they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.
23:46 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, Bring up a company against them, and give them up to terror and plunder.
23:47 And the company will stone them with stones and cut them down with their swords; they will slay their sons and their daughters and burn their houses with fire.
23:48 Thus I will cause lewdness to cease from the land, that all women may be admonished not to conduct themselves in the way of your lewdness.
23:49 And they will bring your lewdness upon you, and you will bear the sins of having your idols, and you will know that I am the Lord Jehovah.