Ezekiel 23

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² ‘Son of man, there were once two women, daughters of the same mother.

³ They became prostitutes in Egypt, when they were girls. There their nipples were handled, there their virgin breasts were first fondled.

⁴ Their names were: Oholah the elder, Oholibah her sister. They belonged to me and bore sons and daughters. As regards their names, Samaria is Oholah, Jerusalem Oholibah.

⁵ Now Oholah played the whore, although she belonged to me; she lusted for her lovers, her neighbours the Assyrians,

⁶ dressed in purple, governors and nobles, all of them young and desirable, and skilful horsemen.

⁷ She granted them her favours – they were all the flower of the Assyrians – and she defiled herself with all the idols of all those she lusted for.

⁸ She did not renounce the whoring begun in Egypt, where men had slept with her from her girlhood, fondling her virgin breast, debauching her.

⁹ ‘And that is why I have handed her over to her lovers, to those Assyrians for whom she lusted.

¹⁰ They uncovered her nakedness, they seized her sons and daughters and put her to the sword. She became notorious among women for the justice done on her.

¹¹ ‘Though her sister Oholibah saw all this, her own lust and whorings were even more shameful than her sister’s.

¹² She lusted for her neighbours the Assyrians, governor and nobles, dressed in sumptuous clothes, skilful horsemen, all young and desirable.

¹³ I saw that she was unchaste, that both sisters were as bad as each other.

¹⁴ She began whoring worse than ever; no sooner had she seen wall carvings of men, paintings of Chaldaeans coloured vermilion,

¹⁵ men with sashes round their waists and elaborate turbans on their heads, all so imperious of bearing, portraits of Babylonians from Chaldaea,

¹⁶ than she fell in love with them at first sight and sent messengers to them in Chaldaea.

¹⁷ The Babylonians came to her, shared her love-bed and defiled her with their debauchery. Once defiled she lost interest in them.

¹⁸ She flaunted her whoring, she stripped naked; then I turned away from her as I had turned away from her sister.

¹⁹ She began whoring worse than ever, remembering her girlhood, when she had played the whore in the land of Egypt,

²⁰ when she had been infatuated by profligates big-membered as donkeys, ejaculating as violently as stallions.

²¹ ‘You were hankering for the debauchery of your girlhood, when they used to handle your nipples in Egypt and fondle your young breasts.

²² And so, Oholibah, the Lord Yahweh says this: I intend to call up against you those of your lovers in whom you have lost interest; I will bring them against you from everywhere,

²³ the Babylonians and all the Chaldaeans, the men of Pekod and Shoa and Koa,[*a] and all the Assyrians with them, young and desirable, all governors and nobles, all famous officers and horsemen.

²⁴ They will advance on you from the North, with chariots and wagons, at the head of a horde of peoples. From every side they will arm against you with shield, buckler and helmet. I have told them to pass sentence on you; they will pass sentence on you as they think fit.

²⁵ I shall direct my jealousy against you; they will treat you with fury; they will cut off your nose and ears, and what is left of your family will fall by the sword; they will seize your sons and daughters, and what is left of you will be burnt.

²⁶ They will strip off your garments and rob you of your jewels.

²⁷ I mean to put an end to your debauchery and to the whorings you began in Egypt; you will not look to the Egyptians any more, you will never think of them again.

²⁸ For the Lord Yahweh says this: I now hand you over to those you hate, to those in whom you have lost interest.

²⁹ They will treat you with hatred, they will rob you of the fruit of your labours and leave you completely naked. And thus your shameful whoring will be exposed. Your debauchery and your whorings

³⁰ are the cause of these afflictions, since by playing the whore with the nations you have defiled yourself with their idols.

³¹ As you have copied your sister’s behaviour, I will put her cup in your hand.

³² The Lord Yahweh says this: You will drink your sister’s cup, a cup that is wide and deep, leading to laughter and mockery, so ample the draught it holds.

³³ You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow. Cup of affliction and devastation, the cup of your sister Samaria,

³⁴ you will drink it, you will drain it; then it will be shattered to pieces and lacerate your breast. I have spoken – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.

³⁵ ‘And so, the Lord Yahweh says this: Since you have forgotten me and have turned your back on me, you too will have to bear the weight of your debauchery and whorings.’

³⁶ And Yahweh said to me, ‘Son of man, are you willing to judge Oholah and Oholibah and charge them with their filthy crimes?

³⁷ They have been adulteresses, their hands are dripping with blood, they have committed adultery with their idols. As for the children they had borne me, they have made them pass through the fire to be consumed.

³⁸ And here is something else they have done to me: they have defiled my sanctuary the same day and have profaned my sabbaths.

³⁹ The same day as sacrificing their children to their idols, they have been to my sanctuary and profaned it. Yes, this is what they have done in my own house.

⁴⁰ ‘Worse still, these men summoned from distant countries, invited by messenger, arrived; you bathed and painted your eyes, put on your jewels

⁴¹ and sat on a sumptuous bed, by which stood a table on which you had put my incense and my oil.

⁴² The revelry of a carefree company re-echoed because of the crowd of men brought in from the desert; they put bracelets on the women’s arms and magnificent crowns on their heads.

⁴³ I thought: The prostitutes are at work in the house of a woman worn out with adulteries. And she is still playing the whore too,

⁴⁴ and men keep visiting her just like a prostitute, just as they went to those profligate women Oholah and Oholibah.

⁴⁵ But upright men will judge them as adulteresses and murderesses are judged, since they are adulteresses and their hands are dripping with blood.

⁴⁶ ‘The Lord Yahweh says this: Summon an assembly to deal with them, and hand them over to terror and pillage;

⁴⁷ let the assembly stone them and hack them to death with the sword; let their sons and daughters be slaughtered and their houses be set on fire.

⁴⁸ I mean to purge the land of debauchery; all the women will thus be warned, and ape your debauchery no more.

⁴⁹ Your debauchery will recoil on your own heads, and you will bear the weight of your idolatrous sins; and so you will learn that I am the Lord Yahweh.’